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Consequently, I'm happy to report that I no longer feel the same flood of guilt and self-denegration for having been so gullible and consequently used/abused. - Spartacus

That ^ is part of the conditioning - you *must* stay in, or you will be crushed with guilt and remorse! Look at all the people we will tell you about, whom we can (maybe even) point to, who went taiten only to see their lives collapse! They came crawling back, and boy, are they ever glad they did! They'll NEVER go taiten again!

You will never speak to one of these formerly taiten members. But you will hear *ALL* about them. And I'd be willing to bet $100 that 1) if they exist, then 2) the reality is *nothing* like what you are hearing.

Either this is right, or you've wasted [fill in the number of years you were a member] like a complete moron tool. Gawd, how pathetic you are if this isn't true! Therefore, it MUST be true, right? How could you possibly face being *such* a colossal LOSER? Therefore, it is true!

This is powerful manipulation - do not underestimate, and do not blame yourself. If you can see it for what it is, it can no longer drive you to doubt yourself. Someone can say ugly things about you, but that doesn't define you - it only reveals THEM to YOU. No one can define you - only you can do that. So don't let someone else feed you an unpleasant definition and embrace it as your reality!

I *really* hate scare tactics. How childish!

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through our inner love of truth and life.

As you may have gathered from my posts, Spartacus, I'm a bit all over the board as far as interests go. Just today, I got this *wonderful* reprint of a book from 1829, called "The Diegesis". It was written by the Rev. Robert Taylor, the founder of the Christian Evidence Society and of the Society of Universal Benevolence. A trained clergyman, he started reading some of the Enlightenment texts (I'm guessing Diderot and the Baron de Holbach, France, 1700s), and realized that organized religion was a complete crock. He is talking about Christianity, but you can easily see that SGI or Nichiren Buddhism could be readily substituted. Here is what he has to say about being asked to suspend reason in order to believe:

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On all hands 'tis admitted that the Christian religion is matter of most serious importance: it is so, if it be truth, because in that truth a law of faith and conduct measuring out to us a propriety of sentiment and action, which would otherwise not be incumbent upon us, is propounded to our observance in this life; and eternal consequences of happiness or of misery, are at issue upon our observance or neglect of that law.

We could, of course, be talking of the Mystic Law, neh?

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To deny that the Christian religion such a degree of importance, is not only to launch the keenest sarcasm against its whole apparatus of supernatural phenomena, but is virtually to withdraw its claims and pretensions altogether. For if men, after having received a divine revelation, are brought to know no more than what they knew before, nor are obliged to do any thing which otherwise they would not have been equally obliged to do; nor have any other consequences of their conduct to hope or fear, then otherwise would have been equlaly to be hoped or feared; then doth the divine revelation reveal nothing, and all the pretence thereto, is driven into an admission of being a misuse of language. On the other hand, the Christian religion is of scarce less importance, if it be false; because, no wise and good man could possibly be indifferent or unconcerned to the prevalence of an extensive and general delusion. No good and amiable heart could for a moment think of yielding its assent to so monstrous an idea, as the supposition that *error* could possibly be useful, that imposture could be beneficial, that the heart could be set right by setting the understanding wrong, that men were to be made rational by being deceived, and rendered just and virtuous by credulity and ignorance.

That's from his Prologue - the entire work is almost 500 pages, so you can imagine he goes on in a bit more detail. But I think that, if you can wade through the antique language, you can see that what he's setting out is exactly what our goal is as well.

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To be in error one's self, is a misfortune; and if it be such an error as mightily affects our peace of mind, it is a very grievous misfortune; to be the cause of error to others, either by deceiving them ourselves, o rby connivance, and furtherance of the councils and machinations by which we see that they *are* deceived, is a crime; it is a most cruel triumph over nature's weakness, a most barbarous wrong done to our brother man; it is the kind of wrong which we should most justly and keenly resent, could we be sensible of its being put upon ourselves.

Perhaps you noticed how I related earlier that a single mom was chanting 4 hours a day "to change her financial karma." A highly intelligent woman, through a combination of abuse and victimization, she had ended up in her mid-30s with no advanced education, no certificates of accomplishment, and no significant work experience, so she was only qualified for low-paying entry-level positions. The child support she received from her ex-husband didn't go far enough, but she didn't want to put all that time into a job that wouldn't pay much in return. She dreamed of being the next J.K. Rowling, riding her bike to a nearby Starbucks every morning after she dropped her boys off at school, to nurse a hot chocolate she couldn't afford, and write. She tried to start a business making home accessories, but didn't have enough experience, ability, funding, or access to the markets she needed. She tried buying at garage sales and reselling, but this proved too low margin to make the effort worthwhile. So there she was, chanting.

When I told her, as gently as I could, that even the most experienced pioneers said it typically took 10 years to change financial karma (long enough, in other words, to get a college degree and/or accumulate relevant work experience), she flipped out and attacked me: "I don't HAVE 10 years! I need my financial karma to change RIGHT NOW!" She wanted to become instantly well-off, prosperous, without having to actually earn it the way other people did, you see. And to this day, I feel guilty for having led her to believe that was possible, if one only said the right words...to the right object...for the right amount of time...

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A Nero playing upon his harp, in view of a city in flames, is a less frightful picture than that of the solitary philosopher basking in the serenity of his own speculations, but indifferent to the ignorance he could remove, the error he could correct, or the misery he could relieve.

So while I will not attempt to pressure you in any way, that last sentence ^ explains why it is so important that you continue your memoirs!!

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As then there is no falsehood more apparently false, and more morally mischievous, than to suppose that error can be useful, and delusion conducive to happiness and virtue: so, there can be no place for the medium or alternative of indifference between the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. Every argument that could show it to be a blessing to mankind, being true, must in like degree tend to demonstrate it to be a curse and a mischief, being false.
...
To suppose that belief or unbelief can either be a virtue or a crime, or any man morally better or worse for belief or unbelief, is to assume that man has a faculty which we see and feel that he has *NOT*; to wit, a power of making himself believe, of being convinced when he is *NOT* convinced, and not convinced when he *IS*: which is a being and not being at the same time, the sheer end of "all discourse of reason."

To suppose that a suitable state of mind, and certain previous dispositions of meekness, humility, and teachableness are necessary to fit us for the reception of divine truth, as the soil must be prepared to receive the seed, is in like manner to argue preposterously, and to open the door to the reception of falsehood as well as of truth; as the prepared ground will fertilize the tares (weeds) as prolifically as the wheat, and is indifferent to either.
...
All the mighty question now before us requires, is, attention and ability; without any presentiment, prejudication, or prepossession whatever; but with a perfect and equal willingness to come to such conclusion as the evidence of moral demonstration shall offer to our conviction, and to be guided only by such canons or rules of evidence as determine our convictions with respect to all other questions.

This was written nearly 200 years ago, but it serves as proper guidance today, its usefulness and timeliness untarnished.

For myself, I prefer to examine and discuss doctrines and policies - I recoil from generalizing about other people, especially those I don't know or have any information about, as from a hot flame. Whereas I can offer opinions on a public person such as Daisaku Ikeda, whose "poetry" and "photography" and "peace policies" and activities and articles I have been able to become familiar with, I cannot make any similar observations about anyone within the SGI membership, especially those I haven't met. To compare them, as has been done here, to "users of illicit drugs" is appalling and offensive to me, although people addicted to illicit drugs suffer likewise from injury, betrayal, and trauma (which is why the drugs have appeal to them). It is my conviction that the membership are good hearted and well intentioned; their only flaw is that they are perhaps gullible, too willing to believe what is being told to them. Most of them, from our experiences here, were/are vulnerable, damaged, hurting people, seeking solace and healing within a "value-creating society". That is a virtuous ideal! They don't realize it's a con! I would not insult or condemn their idealism, even their naivité. They're all doing their best, just as we are. If we could have done differently, better, earlier, we would have. Naturally! At every moment, each of us is doing the best he can. And back then, we were doing our best then, too. "A gentle healing for us all" starts with each of us, embracing our path and what our lives have consisted of. If it weren't for each of these details, we couldn't be who we are today. I hope everyone here likes who they are today enough to accept that it took every single event in the past to create *this* person we are today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2013 01:59PM by TaitenAndProud.

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TaitenAndProud

For myself, I prefer to examine and discuss doctrines and policies - I recoil from generalizing about other people, especially those I don't know or have any information about, as from a hot flame. Whereas I can offer opinions on a public person such as Daisaku Ikeda, whose "poetry" and "photography" and "peace policies" and activities and articles I have been able to become familiar with, I cannot make any similar observations about anyone within the SGI membership, especially those I haven't met. To compare them, as has been done here, to "users of illicit drugs" is appalling and offensive to me, although people addicted to illicit drugs suffer likewise from injury, betrayal, and trauma (which is why the drugs have appeal to them). It is my conviction that the membership are good hearted and well intentioned; their only flaw is that they are perhaps gullible, too willing to believe what is being told to them. Most of them, from our experiences here, were/are vulnerable, damaged, hurting people, seeking solace and healing within a "value-creating society". That is a virtuous ideal! They don't realize it's a con! I would not insult or condemn their idealism, even their naivité. They're all doing their best, just as we are.

I can not understand that. Please TaitenAndProud, could you be so kind and stop the baiting here. Nobody did the compare of Ikedas stuff to the SGi members to illicit drug users on this board. You draw a wrong conclusion out of something, but it was your own twisted perception. Like comparing apples and oranges with umeboshi. I do not want to fight with you it's only wrong to generalize about other people, like you said above, and it's wrong to generalize about the forum members. We are all doing our best, just as you do.

Sorry again me here,have forgotten the most important.

TaitenAndProud Quote: They are all doing their best,just as we are.

They are not doing their best.

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TaitenAndProud
A Nero playing upon his harp, in view of a city in flames, is a less frightful picture than that of the solitary philosopher basking in the serenity of his own speculations, but indifferent to the ignorance he could remove, the error he could correct, or the misery he could relieve.

The problem is, when I was in SGI and trying to do shakabuku -- I really believed that I WAS removing people's ignorance, correcting their errror, and relieving their misery. In those days, nobody could have convinced me otherwise.

Recently, I've had discussions with a devout Christian, and an equally devout Muslim -- and I think that both felt that way about me. Each person thought that he or she had the only truth, and that it was his/her obligation to share it with me. Both sincerely believed that they were correcting my ignorance and error. They both insisted that they just wanted me to be happy in this life -- and avoid going to Hell for all eternity.

We all meant well....but we all could not have been right.

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The problem is, when I was in SGI and trying to do shakabuku -- I really believed that I WAS removing people's ignorance, correcting their errror, and relieving their misery. In those days, nobody could have convinced me otherwise.

Recently, I've had discussions with a devout Christian, and an equally devout Muslim -- and I think that both felt that way about me. Each person thought that he or she had the only truth, and that it was his/her obligation to share it with me. Both sincerely believed that they were correcting my ignorance and error. They both insisted that they just wanted me to be happy in this life -- and avoid going to Hell for all eternity.

We all meant well....but we all could not have been right.

Exactly. They're not all Dick Dastardlies, twirling their moustachios and rubbing their hands together in sadistic glee. There are no doubt a few who are "in" on the biz, notably Daisaku Ikeda who, despite "Follow the Law, not the Person" wants everything in the world named after HIM, wants to share the spotlight with true greats such as Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and is perfectly all right with ALL the SGI members being told they need to regard HIM as their "mentor in life"!

All the members are good people. They're doing their best. What evidence do we have to say otherwise? For whatever reason, they're trapped in that web the way cults trap people - the way WE were trapped. Just look around this board - it's a horrible, but horribly common, thing.

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They are not doing their best.

How can anyone say that? What right do any of us have to judge others, their motivation, or their accomplishments? How do we KNOW that "they are not doing their best"? Are we talking about people we personally *know* here? Or making blanket statements about people we've never even met? I don't feel that's particularly helpful, to us who are out or to those who might be emerging from the swamp. The members remain members because they think it's a positive thing.

And if you look on page 553, you will see someone on this forum comparing the people who believe they are benefiting from being in the SGI to "illicit drug users." I am not baiting anyone - it's right there for anyone to see. Most all my fellow members in the SGI were nice, idealistic, and honestly *believed* that what they were doing was a good thing and necessary to improving society. A lot of the leaders were kinda control-freaky, but even they seemed to really, sincerely, believe that the practice worked. I saw them chanting a lot, for example. One WD leader had these nasty big calluses on her feet from chanting so much! Even as a HQ YWD leader, I believed that this practice worked and that I, in my capacity as a HQ YWD leader, could help more people. As I've explained before, during my tenure, I organized outings, everything from going to the park for an afternoon to going camping for the weekend, parties, matching up the grown YWD with the teen YWD (like a "Big Sisters" program), and opened up a lot of the programs - let the girls choose what they wanted to do and then made it happen rather than simply imposing a kotekitai schedule on them >.<

When I was in the SGI, for over 20 years, including in ALL my leadership positions, I believed I was doing the right thing for my life, helping other people, and I never ever took advantage of anyone or deliberately misled anyone. In retrospect, now that I am no longer in thrall to magical thinking, I can see that telling people that they could definitely get whatever they wanted by chanting was wrong, but I didn't realize that at the time. Magical thinking is a helluva thing.

No, I do not buy that with the membersheep is good hearted and well intentioned.
That would mean I have to feel guilty for leaving the membersheep.
The goodhearted membersheep, that I have left, is protecting a totalitarian system.
The man with the poetry is a dictator.
They want lifes from cradle to grave and they control every aspect of life and step you make. They have their own media, they have guidance- system for control, manipulation and punishment. They dictate education,culture, art. They isolate you from the world, they control your emotions.
They take your money, your time and your energy.
The good- hearted-ness of the membersheep is a very clever trick to lure people into the cult trap. And it works.

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No, I do not buy that with the membersheep is good hearted and well intentioned.
That would mean I have to feel guilty for leaving the membersheep.

First off, you don't have to agree with me - about anything.

I don't see how the second point follows, though. So they're doing something that, though they believe it's great, isn't what they think it is - what does that have to do with YOU? YOU have to live YOUR life - no one else can do it for you, and that goes for everyone else as well. They are not your responsibility in the end. They are free to continue to like it, but if YOU don't like it, you are free to leave. They and their characters don't define what you like or what you need, and no matter how nice they are, if you aren't getting your needs met, you have every right to leave. That goes for *any* group - book club, old friends from high school, volunteering, whatever. There are millions of choices out there, and we each are free to choose whatever suits us.

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The goodhearted membersheep, that I have left, is protecting a totalitarian system.

Sure, but they don't *REALIZE* it! It's not like they're fully informed! Remember all those articles, all the leaders speaking from the podium about how the members are the most important thing to Sensei? That he chants endlessly for the members' happiness and success in life? They actually *believe* that! I can't condemn them for that.

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The man with the poetry is a dictator.

You realize that, and I realize that, but THEY don't realize that. They see him as this benevolent, even kindly, man who has devoted his life to the cause of world peace, despite numerous obstacles and persecutions. You and I both know that's a con, but THEY don't. They think it's true! They really do!

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They want lifes from cradle to grave and they control every aspect of life and step you make. They have their own media, they have guidance- system for control, manipulation and punishment. They dictate education,culture, art. They isolate you from the world, they control your emotions.
They take your money, your time and your energy.

Agreed. That's the REAL goal, but those who are *inside* can't see it.

How long were you in, 67? Were you always suspicious and skeptical, as I know some are, or at some point, did you buy in whole-heartedly? I know I did *le sigh* That's how I can state that the members believe it's a good organization. They most likely joined because a friend introduced them, and some got in with a group that had people in it that they had a lot in common with, and they developed friendships. That's what goes on in these religious organizations - they're primarily social clubs. And someone who isn't socially connected can go to an activity every week and spend some time chitchatting with other people afterward. For some people, even lukewarm connections within an organization like that are the most social interaction they have.

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The good- hearted-ness of the membersheep is a very clever trick to lure people into the cult trap. And it works.

I don't understand what you mean here. When I read that, I see the idea that the members are not really good-hearted; that this is a calculated image projected by everyone in the organization to get more people to think they're harmless. Is that what you meant? Please explain if you wish.

From the $oka Cult Org. Gakkai International:

1. Another version of "Soul Train" thought and behavior regressing rituals [www.youtube.com].

2. YMD lead a gakkai cult song in the original "spirit" that I remember from when I was in [www.youtube.com].

3. YWD sing "Forever Dear Leader" in Japanese [www.youtube.com].

4. "The Dear Leader" himself [www.youtube.com] (Would love to see a SNL parody of this.) (Notice the cult secret service member at the very end of the clip from 1:45 min. on, eager and ready to run up to give sensei the microphone back and take his golden fan. Hardcore brainwashing in the cult motherland.) This clip may or may not remain up, if the cult org. doesn't want it out there.

5. Let's emulate our "Master In Life" (this was the slogan from when I was in, none of that PC "mentor" stuff) [www.youtube.com]. (Guy in the middle is deeply brainwashed and most likely a YMD "leader" of some sort.)


****

It's all pretty much the same everywhere all over the world.

CULT!!




- Hitch

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TaitenAndProud

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Consequently, I'm happy to report that I no longer feel the same flood of guilt and self-denegration for having been so gullible and consequently used/abused. - Spartacus

That ^ is part of the conditioning - you *must* stay in, or you will be crushed with guilt and remorse! Look at all the people we will tell you about, whom we can (maybe even) point to, who went taiten only to see their lives collapse! They came crawling back, and boy, are they ever glad they did! They'll NEVER go taiten again!

You will never speak to one of these formerly taiten members. But you will hear *ALL* about them. And I'd be willing to bet $100 that 1) if they exist, then 2) the reality is *nothing* like what you are hearing.

Either this is right, or you've wasted [fill in the number of years you were a member] like a complete moron tool. Gawd, how pathetic you are if this isn't true! Therefore, it MUST be true, right? How could you possibly face being *such* a colossal LOSER? Therefore, it is true!

This is powerful manipulation - do not underestimate, and do not blame yourself. If you can see it for what it is, it can no longer drive you to doubt yourself. Someone can say ugly things about you, but that doesn't define you - it only reveals THEM to YOU. No one can define you - only you can do that. So don't let someone else feed you an unpleasant definition and embrace it as your reality!

I *really* hate scare tactics. How childish!

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through our inner love of truth and life.

As you may have gathered from my posts, Spartacus, I'm a bit all over the board as far as interests go. Just today, I got this *wonderful* reprint of a book from 1829, called "The Diegesis". It was written by the Rev. Robert Taylor, the founder of the Christian Evidence Society and of the Society of Universal Benevolence. A trained clergyman, he started reading some of the Enlightenment texts (I'm guessing Diderot and the Baron de Holbach, France, 1700s), and realized that organized religion was a complete crock. He is talking about Christianity, but you can easily see that SGI or Nichiren Buddhism could be readily substituted. Here is what he has to say about being asked to suspend reason in order to believe:

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On all hands 'tis admitted that the Christian religion is matter of most serious importance: it is so, if it be truth, because in that truth a law of faith and conduct measuring out to us a propriety of sentiment and action, which would otherwise not be incumbent upon us, is propounded to our observance in this life; and eternal consequences of happiness or of misery, are at issue upon our observance or neglect of that law.

We could, of course, be talking of the Mystic Law, neh?

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To deny that the Christian religion such a degree of importance, is not only to launch the keenest sarcasm against its whole apparatus of supernatural phenomena, but is virtually to withdraw its claims and pretensions altogether. For if men, after having received a divine revelation, are brought to know no more than what they knew before, nor are obliged to do any thing which otherwise they would not have been equally obliged to do; nor have any other consequences of their conduct to hope or fear, then otherwise would have been equlaly to be hoped or feared; then doth the divine revelation reveal nothing, and all the pretence thereto, is driven into an admission of being a misuse of language. On the other hand, the Christian religion is of scarce less importance, if it be false; because, no wise and good man could possibly be indifferent or unconcerned to the prevalence of an extensive and general delusion. No good and amiable heart could for a moment think of yielding its assent to so monstrous an idea, as the supposition that *error* could possibly be useful, that imposture could be beneficial, that the heart could be set right by setting the understanding wrong, that men were to be made rational by being deceived, and rendered just and virtuous by credulity and ignorance.

That's from his Prologue - the entire work is almost 500 pages, so you can imagine he goes on in a bit more detail. But I think that, if you can wade through the antique language, you can see that what he's setting out is exactly what our goal is as well.

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To be in error one's self, is a misfortune; and if it be such an error as mightily affects our peace of mind, it is a very grievous misfortune; to be the cause of error to others, either by deceiving them ourselves, o rby connivance, and furtherance of the councils and machinations by which we see that they *are* deceived, is a crime; it is a most cruel triumph over nature's weakness, a most barbarous wrong done to our brother man; it is the kind of wrong which we should most justly and keenly resent, could we be sensible of its being put upon ourselves.

Perhaps you noticed how I related earlier that a single mom was chanting 4 hours a day "to change her financial karma." A highly intelligent woman, through a combination of abuse and victimization, she had ended up in her mid-30s with no advanced education, no certificates of accomplishment, and no significant work experience, so she was only qualified for low-paying entry-level positions. The child support she received from her ex-husband didn't go far enough, but she didn't want to put all that time into a job that wouldn't pay much in return. She dreamed of being the next J.K. Rowling, riding her bike to a nearby Starbucks every morning after she dropped her boys off at school, to nurse a hot chocolate she couldn't afford, and write. She tried to start a business making home accessories, but didn't have enough experience, ability, funding, or access to the markets she needed. She tried buying at garage sales and reselling, but this proved too low margin to make the effort worthwhile. So there she was, chanting.

When I told her, as gently as I could, that even the most experienced pioneers said it typically took 10 years to change financial karma (long enough, in other words, to get a college degree and/or accumulate relevant work experience), she flipped out and attacked me: "I don't HAVE 10 years! I need my financial karma to change RIGHT NOW!" She wanted to become instantly well-off, prosperous, without having to actually earn it the way other people did, you see. And to this day, I feel guilty for having led her to believe that was possible, if one only said the right words...to the right object...for the right amount of time...

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A Nero playing upon his harp, in view of a city in flames, is a less frightful picture than that of the solitary philosopher basking in the serenity of his own speculations, but indifferent to the ignorance he could remove, the error he could correct, or the misery he could relieve.

So while I will not attempt to pressure you in any way, that last sentence ^ explains why it is so important that you continue your memoirs!!

Quote

As then there is no falsehood more apparently false, and more morally mischievous, than to suppose that error can be useful, and delusion conducive to happiness and virtue: so, there can be no place for the medium or alternative of indifference between the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. Every argument that could show it to be a blessing to mankind, being true, must in like degree tend to demonstrate it to be a curse and a mischief, being false.
...
To suppose that belief or unbelief can either be a virtue or a crime, or any man morally better or worse for belief or unbelief, is to assume that man has a faculty which we see and feel that he has *NOT*; to wit, a power of making himself believe, of being convinced when he is *NOT* convinced, and not convinced when he *IS*: which is a being and not being at the same time, the sheer end of "all discourse of reason."

To suppose that a suitable state of mind, and certain previous dispositions of meekness, humility, and teachableness are necessary to fit us for the reception of divine truth, as the soil must be prepared to receive the seed, is in like manner to argue preposterously, and to open the door to the reception of falsehood as well as of truth; as the prepared ground will fertilize the tares (weeds) as prolifically as the wheat, and is indifferent to either.
...
All the mighty question now before us requires, is, attention and ability; without any presentiment, prejudication, or prepossession whatever; but with a perfect and equal willingness to come to such conclusion as the evidence of moral demonstration shall offer to our conviction, and to be guided only by such canons or rules of evidence as determine our convictions with respect to all other questions.

This was written nearly 200 years ago, but it serves as proper guidance today, its usefulness and timeliness untarnished.

For myself, I prefer to examine and discuss doctrines and policies - I recoil from generalizing about other people, especially those I don't know or have any information about, as from a hot flame. Whereas I can offer opinions on a public person such as Daisaku Ikeda, whose "poetry" and "photography" and "peace policies" and activities and articles I have been able to become familiar with, I cannot make any similar observations about anyone within the SGI membership, especially those I haven't met. To compare them, as has been done here, to "users of illicit drugs" is appalling and offensive to me, although people addicted to illicit drugs suffer likewise from injury, betrayal, and trauma (which is why the drugs have appeal to them). It is my conviction that the membership are good hearted and well intentioned; their only flaw is that they are perhaps gullible, too willing to believe what is being told to them. Most of them, from our experiences here, were/are vulnerable, damaged, hurting people, seeking solace and healing within a "value-creating society". That is a virtuous ideal! They don't realize it's a con! I would not insult or condemn their idealism, even their naivité. They're all doing their best, just as we are. If we could have done differently, better, earlier, we would have. Naturally! At every moment, each of us is doing the best he can. And back then, we were doing our best then, too. "A gentle healing for us all" starts with each of us, embracing our path and what our lives have consisted of. If it weren't for each of these details, we couldn't be who we are today. I hope everyone here likes who they are today enough to accept that it took every single event in the past to create *this* person we are today.

I disagree. Many SGI members and every single leader above Chapter Chief is pernicious. Initially, they may be absolutely sincere with the most noble of intentions but they are sincerely wrong and do irreparable damage. The road to hell is paved with the best intentions: For years ecologists and conservationists have been adopting wildland fire prevention strategies that have led to the biggest proliferation of forest fires in history; doctors overprescribing antibiotics in their desire to alleviate suffering has led to antibiotic resistant bacteria that threatens not only the most seriously ill hospitalized patients but the general public; the addition of MTBE [now outlawed] to gasoline to diminish air pollution has led to widespread water pollution; the addition of aggressive non-native species to fix some ecological imbalance leading to an ecological disaster; the overuse of pesticides and ever more powerful fertilizers to increase crop yields leading to ever increasing oceanic dead zones...the list goes on and on. We might be able to overlook the behaviors of SGI members were they unaware of their grievous principles and practices. However, most leaders and many members, thanks to the internet, are aware of their "sins". By demonstrating their unwillingless to change, they have become downright malevolent.

Nichijew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2013 09:40AM by Nichijew.

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sixtyseven
No, I do not buy that with the membersheep is good hearted and well intentioned.
That would mean I have to feel guilty for leaving the membersheep.
The goodhearted membersheep, that I have left, is protecting a totalitarian system.
The man with the poetry is a dictator.
They want lifes from cradle to grave and they control every aspect of life and step you make. They have their own media, they have guidance- system for control, manipulation and punishment. They dictate education,culture, art. They isolate you from the world, they control your emotions.
They take your money, your time and your energy.
The good- hearted-ness of the membersheep is a very clever trick to lure people into the cult trap. And it works.

Absolutely!

Nichijew