Westerners used to cultures of full disclosure may not understand that many groups operate on what can be called the onion model.
Cult leaders do not allow revealing/difficult/unwanted questions about cult/master from the members
One needs to have information in order to ask penetrating questions.
And in some groups, only the very upper echelons know the full details, while lower level members who do recruiting may not know this at all.
On the outside, a group may even manage a facade of doing charity work for the outside community, or even cultivate an image of 'those people who are incredibly nice'. In some cases, such as Anthroposophy, an elitist religion created by Rudolf Steiner, a cult may gain a benign reputation for its childrens schools and so called organic gardening.
But what is not generally known is that the Waldorf/Steinerian schools are organized according to Steiners highly idiosyncratic religion, but advertise as non sectarian and artistic. Parents are not told up front that the schools
are based on a religion, and a personality centered religion; and that it is considered quite all right to lie to non believers because it is assumed that that even non believing parents and children will receive good karma
from being in a Steiner designed environment.
So Anthroposophy is an example of a group in which outsiders are given a quite incomplete picture of the actual doctrine and its history.
If a group seems to offer a service that is much in demand (childrens schools) and conceals it actual disdain for the ordinary unevolved human person, penetrating a corporate lie of this kind can be difficult--unless one develops an index of suspicion.
Now...back to SGI.
---
Re "...they were doing some grand stuff in Botton." - Topica Email ...Jun 30, 2005 ... Steiner said offensive - even some Anthroposophists do. Another ... Waldorf is not
entitled to lie to prospective (and current) parents about the
lists.topica.com/lists/waldorf-critics/read/message.html?sort=t... - 33k - Cached - Similar pages
"...happy to work endlessly..." - Topica Email List DirectoryJun 30, 2005 ... Waldorf is not entitled to lie to prospective (and current) parents about the role of
Anthroposophy and Steiner's teachings - regardless of the fact
lists.topica.com/lists/waldorf-critics/read/message.html?sort... - 22k - Cached - Similar pages
Re "...happy to work endlessly..." - Topica Email List DirectoryJul 1, 2005 ... Waldorf is not entitled to lie to prospective (and current) parents about the role of
Anthroposophy and Steiner's teachings - regardless of the fact
lists.topica.com/lists/waldorf-critics/read/message.html?sort=d... - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
More here:
[
www.google.com]
I like to cite Anthroposophy because it has become politicall influential and is an example of a quite wealthy and well developed CULT that uses the onion model.
Even the nice person who shows you round the Waldorf school may not know the full details of Anthroposophy.
The parents who have made their discoveries public were persons who trusted their guts that something was just not right -- and did background research.
We are learning that there is a bundle of neurotransmitter receptors in our guts and spinal cords that is nearly as rich as in the brain -- some refer to this as the Second Brain.
All I can offer is, my grey meatball has been conned a million times.
But every time I ignored gut warnings from that brain in my belly, I have regretted it.
One cannot fool one's gut. And the worst dis-ease is when the brain in our guts and the brain in our heads are at war.
That may be part of the damage of cults and bad relationships.
And...sick societies, too.