Quote
tsukimoto
__________________________Quote, LisaJones.com____________________________________________________________________________
December 5, 2004
Oblivious to the Irony
Your enlightenment, salvation, or worth does not depend on your involvement with a particular group or organization. No matter how "liberating" the teachings of a group may sound, if the group fosters emotional dependence on the group itself (telling you "we're the one true sangha," etc.) run and don't look back.
If a friend or co-worker says "Ever since I joined this group, my life has gotten much better," be cautious. Members of cults have learned to re-frame their lives in terms of the group and its teachings. All life-events (good or bad) are looked at as opportunities to deepen one's involvement with the group, and thereby become "more enlightened." When you hear testimonials from group members, pay attention to how often they praise the group and its leaders, and how they attribute their own happiness and success to involvement with the group.
When people say "I am the organization" a red flag should go up. Cult members are taught to merge their personal identity with the group identity. Any criticism of the group, then, becomes a personal attack.
Members of cults are not consciously aware of their emotional dependence and have learned to dismiss or ignore critical information about the group. Members usually have to keep selling the group to themselves and to other people as a way of reinforcing or justifying their emotional dependence on the group.
Be extremely cautious around groups that use "lovebombing" -- excessive displays of warmth, kindness and concern -- to get you to "overcome your mistrust" and ignore your qualms about the group.
Does the group provide full financial disclosure? Are there dozens of negative news reports about the group? Does the group appear on cult watch lists? Are dissent and debate of policies and beliefs welcome?
In short: Beware of groups that appeal to emotion or "tolerance" to override your suspicions. "Trust us because we're nice and we mean well," is not a valid resolution to informed concerns about the group.
Cult members aren't stupid. In fact, studies show that they are often intelligent and more likely than other people to be open to new experiences and take personal risks, especially if they are in a period of transition such as starting college, losing a job or ending a marriage.
Cult groups exploit this openness and seeking spirit. Some groups misrepresent themselves -- claiming, for instance, that they are a humble, informal gathering of people who care about world peace when in fact they are a multibillion-dollar religio-political corporation. But the central deception propagated by all cults is the lie that members need the group.
Through "fellowship," "guidance," and "training," cults groom "deployable agents," people who have internalized the message of the cult so deeply that their self-interest and the cult's interests are one and the same. This is why it's so hard to leave a cult after you've been a member for years -- it's hard to sort out what's genuine religious faith, what's cult-serving programming and what's "you."
Cults make it all very simple, black and white. Cults regard people who have left the group as traitors, betrayers, deluded ones or enemies. You're either with us or against us. Cults do not recognize the possibility that a reasonable, healthy person might choose to dissociate from the group based on honest disagreement with the group. On the contrary, anyone who has left the group is regarded with pity, contempt or anger.
It's not wacky rituals or peculiar doctrines that define a cult. Rather it's the whole bundle of messages and peer pressure tactics that foster dependency: Without us and our special interpretation of truth you cannot achieve your potential. Our critics don't know what they're talking about. If you want to be happy, you must surrender yourself to your special mission which you can understand only within the context of the group. When you and the group/leader become one, all your doubts will be resolved and you will be able to accomplish absolutely anything.
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***To me, the absolutely critical section is: "It's not wacky rituals or peculiar doctrines that define a cult. Rather, it's the whole bundle of messages and peer pressure tactics that foster dependency:'Without us and our special interpretation of truth, you cannot achieve your potential.' " (salvation, enlightenment, happiness, whatever.)
SGI's messages and peer pressure tactics:
--Love-bombing, especially of potential and new recruits
--Black and White thinking: "You're either for us or against us."
--Merging your identity with the group: "I am SGI." "SGI is my life."
--Reframing your thinking: Everything good and bad that happens is because of what you did, or didn't do for SGI.
--Misrepresentation: "We're all about Buddhism."
--Simple Solutions to complicated problems.
--Negative fortune-telling: "Bad things will happen to you if you leave the group/stop chanting."