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Spartacus
Herbie Hancock joined the SG cult in 1973. I saw him many times during the 1973 Tozan/Shohondo Convention, as he was assigned to the same sobo (lodge) that I stayed in. A jazz musician friend of mine (Dave Robertson- pro bass trombonist) pointed him out to me - I had never heard of Herbie at the time. I don't think he had attained the widespread success and fame of later years.

I distinctly remember that Herbie was a newly appointed jr leader, with a big bullying overlord senior leader that was constantly chewing Herbie a new ass. This butthead leader was so abusive, I was truely embarrassed for poor Herbie. Ah yes, Gestapo, er, I mean Gakkai training! So lovely and endearing.

After that, the only times I saw Herbie he had been elevated in status to big cheeze NSA celebrity, and was usually playing with Wayne Shorter, Nester Torres, and their tight circle of famous jazz cats at big NSA cult events.

I dont think any idiot leaders were screaming at him by then. So looks like you're right T&P, if you're famous, all is forgiven. Too bad I never became a celebrity - my ears would have spent a lot less time bleeding as well.

Spartacus

I remember Patrick Duffy (of TV soap opera "Dallas" fame) strutting around at one cult venue down in L.A., dressed to the hilt in a suit & tie playing Universal Super $oka-han Man and behind the scenes stage manager-director. He looked real spiffy and looked to me to be eating his role up. He was crouching down trying to be unnoticed, with a starry-eyed byakuren in tow. He had a flashlight and was going on about something regarding the stage lighting during some big wig cult "leader" speeches. I half expected him to fly up to the ceiling in a single bound to fix the stage lighting problem. I remember spotting him and laughing. He just struck me as being so full of himself. But, yep, he was really enjoying and playing to the hilt, his star power role in the cult org.. Btw, I've never seen any other ordinary $oka-hans having so much "authority", to be able to tow around byakuren, go anywhere they please for all to see and play around the edges of the stage while important speeches were going on (and I've been to A LOT of cult meetings).

There also used to be a video clip up on YouTube with Duffy really feeling the ichinen (cult-speak for gakkai "spirit" / "life force") and singing in front of The Dear Leader for one of his last public anniversary celebrations (shortly before Ikeda became The Phantom Leader and disappeared). The clip has long since been removed, of course.

If you're famous and do a lot of cult $zaimu$, you get to meet The Dear Leader regularly (e.g., Herbie Hancock, Orlando Bloom). Duffy, of course, is no longer so famous, so he doesn't quite get those center stage photo-ops any more with The Dear Leader (but, he's still *special*).

$oka Gakkai Cult Org. double standards - we all know they've ALWAYS existed (and not just for celebrities, but cult org. "leaders", as well, who are different kinds of celebrities within the cult org. itself).



- Hitch

SGI Venezuela sings Forever Dear Leader - The $GI Cult Master [www.youtube.com]. Notice the large color photo over their shoulders on the wall behind them.

They've got the cult fever, bad [www.youtube.com].

The $oka Cult spreading like wildfire in South America. Pretty hardcore stuff.


- Hitch

The SGI, as with all religions, preys on the lonely, poor, and desperate - ideally all three. Christianity is only growing in the most ignorant hell-holes of Africa - you know, the places where they're still burning witches. The SGI will have no better luck - sure, they'll install some salarymen in various countries to be able to claim a presence there (you know what a number whore the SGI is) but the converts they DO get won't last long unless they get "benefits" of some major money. Hell, even here in the US, my sponsor told me about his friend's boyfriend, who was on the verge of bankruptcy and needed cash like *NOW*, chanted desperately with them for an hour or so (my sponsor said he'd never seen anyone chant so intensely), and the next day, he received a $500 check from the military, which he'd just recently left, that he hadn't realized was on its way. Even with that great "benefit", he didn't start practicing. He just took the money and went on with his life. The supernatural is an ever more difficult sell in these educated times - that's why the religion seek out the least educated populations to prey upon. I'm afraid that what the SGI is selling is past its sell-by date, frankly. And it's developed a bad smell....

My own observations from The Cult Org. Motherland is that a good portion of the membership is comprised of uneducated people. I don't intend this statement to be a pejorative one, just a statement of fact, nothing more. I also noticed another strata of members, comprised of the physically and mentally handicapped. There is also yet another strata of people who are second or third generation (mis)fortune-babies born into the practice, after adopting it unthinkingly by tradition. They've all fallen for the easy answers and instant hope that the cult org. sells, in a world where there is none. That said, all strata of society are vulnerable to the ploy.

Regarding cult org. growth, just like it did in America, all it needs is a rising slope, an eventual peak and then a relatively (averaged) horizontal linear straight line (in multiple countries), before it declines too much, to maintain itself.

****

I have a $oka-han "experience" to share (that I just remembered). I was doing $oka-han out at my local temple, I think it was for some kind of large shakubuku event. I was assigned out back to the dirt "parking lot" in a huge field. In between directing cars in and out of their spaces, shuttling members to and from, etc., I noticed that somebody has dropped their black scheduling notebook in their haste. It was starting to sprinkle rain a little bit, so I picked it up in order to save it. I didn't want to keep it in my pocket for too long and risk being accused or giving the impression that I was adopting it as my own, so ... I made a quick dash to the front of the temple, to find a bigger cheese $oka-han to turn it in to. I still remember the lisp speaking, bottle-capped four-eyed, greasy haired guy I was directed to. He snatched it from my hands in the blink of an eye, without even so much as a "thank you" and then got several inches away from my face, towering over me (I was a high school kid at the time) and screamed at me (while spraying spittle in my face) ... "WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR POST?!?!?! GET BACK THERE AND DON'T LEAVE IT AGAIN UNTIL THE LAST CAR LEAVES THE PARKING LOT!!!!!" I remember physically pulling back, shaking my head a bit and walking back to my post (I didn't run this time) thinking, "Geeze, I come here for this?"

Just another one of those little straws that kept on being added to the growing haystack for me.

****

Here is a rare full version of The Dear Leader doing his cult dance for the unthinking masses in the motherland, posted by a (South American?) hardcore gakkai cult member:

[www.youtube.com]

The Dear Leader is really feeling the "ichinen" (and constipation) in this clip. Reminds me of some of The Nuremberg Rallies.

(Ever seen a dancing grouper fish [www.fishingfury.com] on dry land, performing for all the little fish around him? Well, after watching the above clip, you will have.)

CULT!



- Hitch

You can either laugh, cry or give respect after watching the following clip [www.youtube.com].

I give my respect to the lady in the front, wearing a gray t-shirt, off to the left side of the room when the camera pans around (she shows up a few times, at 0:25 seconds, 1:13, and 2:14 minute marks, before they stop including her in the pan around).

I know exactly how she feels. Bless her heart. My respect goes out to her for having the courage to not partake in the behavior regressing and thought-stopping cult org. rituals. There's always one or two in the crowd (thank goodness).

I just realized that salaried gakkai leaders (like the short balding asian guy in the dark suit in front) have no choice but to attend and participate in this kind of crap, everyday, sometimes multiple times a day, for their entire lives. No wonder most of them have mush for brains (some of them, IMO, looking back, also looked perpetually bored).


- Hitch

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Hitch

I have a $oka-han "experience" to share (that I just remembered). I was doing $oka-han out at my local temple, I think it was for some kind of large shakubuku event. I was assigned out back to the dirt "parking lot" in a huge field. In between directing cars in and out of their spaces, shuttling members to and from, etc., I noticed that somebody has dropped their black scheduling notebook in their haste. It was starting to sprinkle rain a little bit, so I picked it up in order to save it. I didn't want to keep it in my pocket for too long and risk being accused or giving the impression that I was adopting it as my own, so ... I made a quick dash to the front of the temple, to find a bigger cheese $oka-han to turn it in to. I still remember the lisp speaking, bottle-capped four-eyed, greasy haired guy I was directed to. He snatched it from my hands in the blink of an eye, without even so much as a "thank you" and then got several inches away from my face, towering over me (I was a high school kid at the time) and screamed at me (while spraying spittle in my face) ... "WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR POST?!?!?! GET BACK THERE AND DON'T LEAVE IT AGAIN UNTIL THE LAST CAR LEAVES THE PARKING LOT!!!!!" I remember physically pulling back, shaking my head a bit and walking back to my post (I didn't run this time) thinking, "Geeze, I come here for this?"

Just another one of those little straws that kept on being added to the growing haystack for me.

That's awful what a power trip he must have been on!

Hitch - you have reminded me of a couple of my own lilac experiences. I wasn't shouted at or bullied in the horrible way that you were by any means but I still felt a subtle humiliation and embarrassment. At one time I left my 'post' at a Gohonzon ceremoney to dash to the loo (I had got up at 5am to drive several young women to our centre at Taplow, had to rush straight in and do gongyo, attend the 'training' session about how to give a glass of water to a leader, etc, etc. I was meant to be sitting at the side (sorry 'protecting the gohonzon with my ichinen') but I got so desperate I thought I would nip off and come back before anyone noticed. However, I wasn't so lucky and on my way back one of the UK leaders spotted me and asked me why I wasn't in the ceremony. I explained my predicament, and ever so nicely she suggested that in future maybe I could think about a better time to go. I felt so ashamed - here was I in my late 30's being slightly scolded by someone 10 years younger than me about when I should go to the toilet and I just took it!

Another time when I was about the same age, the same leader got called to my area when a member complained that the tea I was making was too weak. At one point I had about 5 lilacs/leaders trying to 'support' me with making a better cup of tea (which I know how to do perfectly well by the way) - I wish I could tell you that I told them all to 'butt out' and get off my back, but no, I'm afraid that once again I smiled meekly and listened carefully to their advice. These lilac responsibilities were sold to us as a way of us feeling empowered in our lives but in my case it just heightened my anxieties and made me more and more obsessive about trying to get all the details (of which there were many) slowly turning into a lilac 'robot' - submissive, compliant with no 'negative' emotions (or at least none on the surface, there were plenty underneath believe me) lol!

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Hitch
You can either laugh, cry or give respect after watching the following clip [www.youtube.com].

I give my respect to the lady in the front, wearing a gray t-shirt, off to the left side of the room when the camera pans around (she shows up a few times, at 0:25 seconds, 1:13, and 2:14 minute marks, before they stop including her in the pan around).

I know exactly how she feels. Bless her heart. My respect goes out to her for having the courage to not partake in the behavior regressing and thought-stopping cult org. rituals. There's always one or two in the crowd (thank goodness).



- Hitch

I agree about the lady in gray - Respect due! It takes a lot of inner strength not to go along with the herd. Hope she gets out.

Holly Golightly wrote:

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Another time when I was about the same age, the same leader got called to my area when a member complained that the tea I was making was too weak. At one point I had about 5 lilacs/leaders trying to 'support' me with making a better cup of tea (which I know how to do perfectly well by the way) - I wish I could tell you that I told them all to 'butt out' and get off my back, but no, I'm afraid that once again I smiled meekly and listened carefully to their advice.

These lilac responsibilities were sold to us as a way of us feeling empowered in our lives but in my case it just heightened my anxieties and made me more and more obsessive about trying to get all the details (of which there were many) slowly turning into a lilac 'robot' - submissive, compliant with no 'negative' emotions (or at least none on the surface, there were plenty underneath believe me) lol!

One can find something, anything to use as a target point to put someone down and instill insecurity. Telling you to find a better time to go to the toilet--what an insult to an adult.

And the twaddle they gave you about how to make tea. Its enough to make one wonder if the SG gives some sort of training to its upper ranks on how to poke at underlings and instill insecurity.

Holly, its interesting that you express confidence in your ability to brew a proper cup of tea. Is it possible that you gave some hint that you enjoyed making tea for people, considered yourself competant to do so that perhaps, for that very reason, your SG supervisor knew that would be a good pressure point by which to instill insecurity?

ID a place where you felt confident in your abilities and rebuke you, so that you'd come to feel insecure right in an area where you formerly had confidence in yourself?

And to rebuke you for not finding a better time to go to the toilet--that's a rebuke that is outrageous when directed at an autonomous adult. A big part of leaving childhood is gaining privacy and autonomy over our usage of the bathroom. Wonder if its standard in SG to mind fuck someone about bathroom habits, just to have something, anything to mindfuck them about.

Here is a comment from a person who was in an entirely different group. Her kid was in a school run by the group, according to the groups religious principles--the religious principles (bizarre and demanding) were kept a secret from the parents. The result was, one had a feeling one couldnt give satisfaction no matter how hard one did volunteer work to support the school.

Substitute members for parents, Ikeda for Steiner and SG for Anthroposophic.

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[www.waldorfcritics.org]

"Volunteerism was required of all parents. My many hours, however, never seemed to satisfy the faculty because I naturally worked from my non-Anthroposophic perspective, oblivious of Steiner's esoteric doctrine, while Anthroposophists followed the dictates of their worldview, because:

The person in whom anthroposophical wisdom appears must be completely unimportant compared to this wisdom; the person as such does not matter at all. It is only essential that this person has developed so far that his or her personal likes, dislikes, and opinions do not taint the anthroposophical wisdom (Steiner, 1990, p. 17).

This caused in me a mounting sense of their deep ingratitude.

Using Find and Replace (in the Edit function) I did the game and here is what the text quoted above looks like when thus modified.

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Volunteerism was required of all members. My many hours, however, never seemed to satisfy the faculty because I naturally worked from my non-SG perspective, oblivious of Ikeda's esoteric doctrine, while SG followed the dictates of their worldview, because:

The person in whom SG wisdom appears must be completely unimportant compared to this wisdom; the person as such does not matter at all. It is only essential that this person has developed so far that his or her personal likes, dislikes, and opinions do not taint the SGl wisdom (Ikeda, 1990, p. 17).

This caused in me a mounting sense of their deep ingratitude.

First, is there a hidden, esoteric doctrine in SG that even relatively high ranking members dont know about?

Or at the very least a mandate to instill self reproach and eradicate self confidence in all members, no matter well the members perform their assigned tasks?

That getting the task done isnt the goal, its breaking the member's confidence thats the actual goal, and the assigned task is merely a pretext, a set up for shame tripping the member/s?

Maybe (we need some former high ranking insiders who can tell us if I am taking this too far) --Maybe there are instructions given to find something, anything, to make a member feel shame, so that he or she can be shifted off balance.

If you cant find anything, scold a member for being wrong to go to the bathroom. Maybe there is a shame tripping class taught as part of leadership training?

Correct me if I am taking this too far. Am shocked that anyone would have the nerve to rebuke adults for going to the bathroom.

Again, correct me if I am taking things too far.

If (and here I want to stress the 'if') -- if, the actual point of assigned tasks is not to get the tasks done but to set a situation where members are to be rebuked, then there is no way one can ever do ones work to the satisifaction of the leader.

What satisfies the supervisor is shaming the volunteer, not getting the task done?

A shame ridden person is more amenable to indoctrination. And in a group already bound by shame, a confident person would create discord, remind them of what they have lost.

Robbing someone of confidence and getting them to feel shame would boost the group solidarity.

All these are just speculations on my part. I am an outsider. Only insiders, especially those who were once supervisors, would know if these hunches of mine are accurate--or not.