Hey Alyb45,
Thanks for the advice! It's the best I've gotten, and thanks to all of you for putting up with my rantings. I'm at the point where I can say I was involved with a cult, even though it's not like the ones you see on the news. Instead of money I gave my time and energy over to it, and did not know how deeply I was immersed in it until I'm now just starting to come out of it. I was so dependent on the next energy alert, or the next thing that would somehow make my life happier, that I couldn't focus on reality.

So now I'm just starting to feel that it's okay to be human and judge people. As in, "I have an oppinion about this person and that's completely okay based on what I've seen of them." I'm going to spin classes, taking music lessons, meeting people. Normal people who do normal activities, and would be considered to the lightworker community as "them" or "the rest of humanity" because they're not enlightened like them.

Recovery is a slow process, though. I still waver back and forth between accepting everything and questioning things, because nobody likes when I question things, and I thought they would, since they said they were nonjudgmental, and I took that at face value, and believed them, because why would they lie? I'm realizing that I will never be completely, 100 percent happy with my life. There is always something in life that I'm not happy with. It makes me sad sometimes, and I guess that's why I went into this whole thing in the first place. Imagine being able to be, have, or do anything you want, be happy all the time, etc. Do this and you can have it, they say.

Who wouldn't want that? A new world of peace and harmony, no natural disasters, where everyone gets along and everything is ideal, is coming, they say. Who wouldn't want that either, especially when you've worked hard all your life and dealt with difficult people all your life, and you really don't want to do that anymore?"?

And you just are tired of it all, and here comes this thing that says, "do x, y and z and you can have whatever you want, it's possible." But they make x, y and z so difficult, if not impossible, to complete that you feel like you'll be "dead by the time you're spiritual" in the words of one friend, and then they say "you never get it done. Isn't it wonderful? That's what you want, you just don't know it, you just can't remember" and you think "maybe they're right".

Then a couple logical thoughts occurred to me last week. Why bother having concious free will if all the non-reversable decisions you made were on a spiritual level, and you can't access spirit anyway? Why give your decision-making to something that is inaccessible, or at the very least, accessible through a lot of work? If you truly have free will, you should be able to change everything, including people's responses to you, what happens to you, and what circumstances befall you in life. If you can't do that, your will is limited, not free. If you have limited free will, that's a cop-out. It's either one or the other.

The second thought was: Of course it's easy to be happy when you live in an ideal world. In the spirit world you don't have to deal with any of the crap you get on earth, so of course would have an "easier said than done but it's possible" mentality.
I don't want spirituality. That's too much work for me. I'd rather be human. Lesser of 2 evils.

I'm beginning to see that the new-age movement is just fancy-sounding psychology, nothing new at all, and there's no instant way to happiness, much as I believed the testimonials of people who claimed they were completely happy followinh the teachings of Abraham Hicks, or any other teachings, for that matter. I read some now, and laugh about how ridiculous they are, and I read some energy alerts and found my mind going "this is the same old recycled information" and becoming bored. I still have the urge to look at new-age information, I won't lie, but if I do look, which is less and less, it no longer has a hold over me and I no longer believe it, or have the joyful anticipation that it would happen. I'm getting back into reality and not depending on it as I used to do.

Recovery is a long, slow process. And not being able to have everything I want makes me sad sometimes. But I'd rather be where I am now than back there. It took over my life, it wasn't fun. When I was there, I was like, "I'm unlimited? Really? Awesome!" They said, "your thinking is the only thing that limits you."

Which is true to an extent, but now that I'm out of that, I'm forced to deal with my own limitations. It crushes me sometimes to know I am limited. But that's the way it is. So much for creating your own reality.

I'm glad this group is here.

hey Brynhild Tudor

I certainly understand. In leaving new age its tough to look at reality and admit that , yes, this is how it is.

It's like someone deflated the bubble and you are back where you began.

The hard part is trying to figure out what to believe in again. What's right and wrong? What really works and what doesn't?



New age gives you the option of a distanced, isolated, state of happiness. Relying on thoughts vs action to create an illusionary world in your head. Calm down your mind, your negative opinions and observations in order to achieve that calm, serene bliss. Focus on energy , and energy alone...

But we need reality. we need our individual thoughts and opinions, even when they are negative. What's the point of being here if we shouldn't allow ourselves to go through human emotions, struggles, and trials?

At first I was angry and depressed in leaving new age..then I started to feel like myself, with opinions and views on the world that weren't always pretty. I felt I'd gotten back from a far off imaginary land in my head and landed back on solid ground.

I wish you the best of luck with this. sounds like you're figuring it out!

Hi Alyb45,
Depressed. Yeah, that's what I am. I don't know why. I wasn't really happy in the new age, but reality is depressing too, although it feels much better than new age ever did. How long were in the new age, and how long did it take you to start feeling like yourself again? It screws with your mind, and as you know, it has no concept of right and wrong. Well, according to it, judgment and negative thinking are wrong, but they don't say that. They just say you're unenlightened, and say it without judgment. Except that that statement is totally judgmental...

There were storms in the Midwest today, and at first my brain thought "the earth is cleansing herself and all those people had a spiritual agreement to die so there's no tragedy, and all those people who think tragedy exists are wrong." Then I thought, that's not how I really feel at all. I think natural disasters are tragic, and I'm going to feel that way. It's really happening, and it's an awful tragedy, and that's my oppinion.

It was scary and weird to think that, because for so long the new age tells you only spirit and bliss are real, this isn't reality, this is a game, blah blah blah. You know the drill. And when I had my own oppinions, I was like, "you're judging. You shouldn't do that, that's bad." and then I said, "but I'm a human" and another part of me says no, you're not, you're just a spirit in a human body having this experience and nothing is real. And another part of me says yes, it's real, and I am human and I can have judgments and oppinions if I want to. I'm still in the early stages and am afraid because what if they are right and I am wrong, and they are happy and I'm missing out? Then I think, I wasn't happy when I was in new age. I was sleeping all the time, didn't feel like myself when doing daily activities (Karen Bishop says that's a good thing) or having conversations with people. I didn't feel happy or energetic. I felt, I can't describe it, unfocused. Like I was somewhere else. I'd try to smile and laugh in fitness classes, but couldn't. They were fake and robotic. You don't laugh in the new age, except if it's at yourself for being imperfect or a work in progress "doesn't growth ever end" type thing. Or you laugh inwardly at other people because you posess some secret knowledge they don't know, or everybody knows on a spiritual level but they just forgot and you remembered. Even when you didn't conciously remember it. I'm still trying to form my own oppinions about right and wrong. It's hard when you're so influenced by other people. I do care what others think. I just like to get along with people is all.

I find that the Abers and the other new agers who don't care what people think, are, in truth, kind of flaky. Carefree, nothing means anything, islands-unto-themselves people. As in, "we don't care how our behavior or words influence or impact other people, they only do if you believe it." Part of me thinks, how I enby them, because they seem so happy and get whatever they want. But part of me thinks, that sounds so fake, cold, harsh, uncaring, distant, you know?

How did you recover from it? What did you do to get started on the path back to reality? What did you say to yourself to give yourself permission to have human oppinions and judgments again?
The Abraham Hicks people have this weird thing about emotion? Feel all of them, but then get out of it and get happy, and when you're feeling all the unhappy emotions be happy you are feeling them, and then be happy you're moving up the scale gradually because you can't jump up (even though it's implied you should be at the top all the time, because everything else doesn't look fun) and when you're at the top, you're happy even though you can't, or don't want to, stay there. It's weird. Be happy with contrast, be happy with no contrast, be happy period. Um, if you're sad, you're not happy. You're not happy that you're sad. You're just sad, and you want the thing that made you sad to go away so you can be happy again.

Here's the thing I don't get with new agers. It's never the thing or person or situation that causes negative emotions, it's always you. I never see them notice somebody is feeling a negative emotion, and want the person/situation that caused that negative emotion to go away. It's always the person's perception of what happened that's at fault.

If a natural disaster happens, you have 2 options about it: either be totally positive (the new agers), either negative or with mixed feelings (the rest of humanity.) There's never a third option, that of making natural disasters cease to exist. If we could have whatever we wanted, I'd pick the third option. How bout natural disasters never exist in the first place? Now, that's a miracle.

hey Brynhild Tudor

I was into the new age for about a year and 1/2. I got introduced through an Eckhart Tolle book "power of now" and then got into his work. Afterwards I watched the movie the Secret and through a loa group I started to get into Abraham Hicks. I would say I was really into Esther Hicks for about 8 months. I even went to her workshop.

In honesty what snapped me out of it was going back to college where I needed critical thinking skills for a career in the medical field.
As health care professionals we cannot use the "hocus pocus" law of attraction stuff simply because it doesn't work. If a good, happy person gets sick we use science to make them better. We rely on proof. You can't argue with scientific studies or proven discoveries of the body, this is how we have evolved.


The biggest thing is realizing that bad things happen to good people. Their thoughts don't matter. Then you start to empathize again and relate to people more. I actually am more social since leaving the new age because I truly care about others. I no longer judge them because they aren't new age and "don't get it." Trust me, they get it.... I believe Esther Hicks is a very clever fraud with her sales husband Jerry. When I realized that she is a fraud and that her teachings are one big, fat lie I was angry. For about a week 1/2 I got depressed and just wanted to acknowledge the world around me. Negative thoughts and feelings are necessary for survival because they act as a survival mechanism. We need the negative thoughts and opinions to steer us away from danger without them we could get hurt.

Since leaving the new age I feel much more confident in my critical thinking abilities and wiser. I feel less robotic and numb in social interactions. I allow myself to engage without restricting my opinions for fear of negativity. I will stick up for myself. I will acknowledge the bad (and good) in the world. I will be smart about people and realistic. I don't believe many things until I see it or there is proof and validity.

Also if a psychic can prove their psychic and energy abilities then they can go to the link below to win 1 million. Not surprisingly no one has passed it.


[www.randi.org]

Hey Alyb45,
I was in it for 5 years. Karen Bishop's energy alerts, Sal Rachele, lightworkers, LOA, the Abraham teachings, Caroline Myss, Eckhart Tolle, channeling. Lots and lots of channeling. All the messages said, "beware of channeled messages, because there's so many chances for inaccurate information. Except ours. Ours is accurate, and only for loving beings." I even had a couple free readings done. It'll really suck you in. I first got involved with the whole thing because I didn't get the job I wanted, even after I did everything I could do. I was depressed, having sent out resumes and got no responses, didn't think I would ever find employment. I'd just gotten out of grad school at 23 and by 25 started to get into the movement. I don't even remember the first site I saw, but it had an email list that led me to Karen Bishop's energy alerts, which basically said, "a new world of peace and harmony is coming, just hold on a little longer." I'd look at them monthly and got so dependent on them because they play the hope card, you know? Then it kinda spiraled. One author's site led to another, and I thought if I changed my thoughts/feelings, I could have whatever I wanted. I did all the worldly actions to get things done, but nothing was getting done or moving forward. I never fit into traditional society, never have. As a kid, I was never girly (didn't care about fashion, makeup, boys. Never wanted kids) but I wasn't a rough-and-tumble tomboy either. I cannot see, and being disabled, I was given a lot of controlling people (classmates, state social workers, an abusive childhood by my parents that would not have been considered abusive then, but is now. It's how they were raised, you know?) who pointed out numerous flaws in my oersibakuty ir aooearance, all in a *loving* attempt, they said, to integrate me into the sighted world so I wouldn't be seen as weird, strange or uncivilized. If I said something kids felt was inappropriate, my classmates would surround me on the playground and berate me until I was in tears. My vission teacher wrote in my high school yearbook, "I know I've made a lot of changes in you, but they've been for the better" leaving me to think, though I could never admit it to them, that I wasn't good enough as I was. In high school, I had to stand up and apologize to the whole class because I'd done a social studies project that expressed my oppinion on premarital sex (the teenage mother was offended even though I showed her my chart beforehand). Basically, I made a chart giving the major disadvantages of premarital sex (pregnancy, STDs, no social life if you're tied down with a baby or relationship, etc.) and said why I was against it. As you can imagine, I was not held in popularity or in high regard for my stance, and was told to publicly apologize to the class for my views, or else I'd receive a bad grade, which would prevent me from graduating. In college I had an extremely critical teacher when I was student-teaching (the director of the music department's wife) and was sent to a meeting after 7 weeks that, even though she had said nothing to me, she had sent a letter to the department saying that though she knew I was trying as hard as I do, and was doing everything I could, I was not living up to her expectations/standards, and she requested I be removed immediately, or I could stay, but she assured me I would fail. Miraculously, another placement was found for me for the last 3 weeks, but the emotional damage was already done.

Then came grad school and beyond, where earthly actions produced no tangible, visible results that my life would get better. I was without a job, without friends (mainly because I'm not into the same social activities as the people in my age group, including shopping, consumerism, challenging romantic relationships with lots of drama, bars, clubs, dating, romance) None of that appeals to me. I tried to get into them, but it made me unhappy, so I elected to be myself, but how can anyone be comfortable with being themselves when they feel so lonely? You're either lonely or unhappy. Pick your poison. Of course, me given 2 choices, I pick a 3rd, the choice that is not given. If someone gave me a choice between A or B, I'd inevitably say, "Why can't I have choice C? You said I have free will and can have whatever I want, right?" which didn't thrill people.

I tell you all this because it primed me for the new age. What did I have to do, I asked eagerly. The lightworkers said they were all different too, and for reasons that most people didn't understand, just as I never felt understood by my peers, so I thought it made sense. I kept waiting hopefully for this coming new world (never happened. Time and space don't matter in the world of multi-demensionality, they say back). I tried the Abe Hicks route, tried action and inaction, but that didn't work either. If you point out a contradiction, you're unpopular and get kicked off the forum, you're not understanding the teachings properly, or you're patronized and talked down to with condescension as if you're a child (you're getting there but you're not there yet.)

Another contradiction: If you're perfect just as you are, the self-improvement industry wouldn't exist. If you're imperfect, it means you're supposed to improve to an implied "perfection" an unattainable goal you can strive for but will never reach. What's the point? This whole "goal" thing is just a trick in the new age movement to keep you moving forward. If you want us to achieve something, don't make it difficult or near impossible for you to do so.

So my head was swimming with all these contradictions, made worse by the fact that my pointing them out got me kicked off an Abe forum, and as I appeared to be the only one to find anything negative to say about Abraham teachings until now, I thought there was something wrong with me, or I was missing the boat, because they seemed to be working for everyone else and they were happy, they said. I wanted that too, but it was so fake to me, just take negative observations/situations/disasters and "put a happy sticker" on them by reframing them in a positive way, even though the Abers said they weren't putting on a happy sticker on anything. So that made me think maybe they knew something I didn't.

Basically, I notice things they won't admit to, I'm unpopular for it, and I get kicked off. So much for peace and harmony.

That's my new age story, and how I came to be here.

I didn't realize how far I'd fallen into it until I had a dream that I was at a new age conference (though I'd never attended one before) and in another room were 2 real-world people I wanted to see, but when I pleaded to go see them, I was told to wait just a little longer, I'd find the next new age speaker hilarious. And I said I wanted to leave, but I woke up with this horrible feeling like "oh crap, what have I gotten myself into?" And since the new age movement is all about extreme self-responsibility, it didn't help I was blaming myself.

What was your life like when you were involved in it? I mean, were you happy? Or were you trying to force yourself to be? Was it fake? Did you feel the way all those Abers were, or all those new-agers felt? You know, "I followed these teachings/went to this healer, and now I am so happy! My life couldn't be better..."

I live in a low-income apartment building with people who are physically/mentally disabled or elderly. And though I like a lot of things about the situation, the only thing I don't like about it is the clientel. I got into the new age precisely because I was just so tired of hearing people talk about their illnesses, smoking, drug/alcohol habits, how their partner/kids/housework was such a huge part of their lives that it *was* their life. I love classical music and Olympic sports, but not enough to make it the only thing in my life. That doesn't mean I'm not dedicated.

But I've had an acquaintance tell me that I don't listen to support her through her problems, or if I do, I listen with the goal of finding solutions to the situation. Yeah, that's true. I'm empathetic to a point, but I balance that with action. I'm slowly getting out of this new age cult by doing things, like you say. That's why I came here. I teach voice, take spinning classes and music lessons. I find solutions to problems. I love watching documentaries and learning what science discovers. I like to talk about religion with people secure enough that they won't get offended. I like to make fun of politicians. I like to ask someone how their day was and have them not complain about their house/spouse/kids because they're conscientious enough to know they chose to have that life so they shouldn't whine about how it's their whole life and they have no time for fun activities (I know 2, count 'em, 2 people personally with this positive attitude, and they're adults in their forties who have all their stuff together, with a good head on their shoulders.) People who treat me like everyone else and only acknowledging my disability when it's absolutely relevant to the situation at hand (same 2 people again).
Those are the kinds of friendships I want. Not "I'll be a shoulder to cry on when you have problems" or "ohmigod, you're so amazing, how do you do that" people, as 95 percent of people seemingly are. There's a difference between admiration and worship. Difference between asking me questions out of genuine curiosity and asking with a preconveived notion, followed by shock that I didn't answer the way you thought I would.

So in accepting reality, I acknowledge that I am mostly happy but very lonely, and that's the way it is. I will never be completely, truly happy, except in the afterlife. Maybe nobody is completely happy in this life anyway.

Hey Alyb45 it's me again,
When and how did you realize Esther Hicks was a fraud, and the Abraham teachings were a lie? One of the things that is tough for me is being in the minority and standing up against the majority. Even though the teachings are rock-solid consistent that nobody can find a thing wrong with them, and something doesn't feel right to me about them, even though I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, because whatever apparent contradictions I find with them, the teachings always retort with "yes, they say this but also that, you're partly right, right" thing, or else you're just not understanding it properly. Like, if you take it a certain way, they find a grain of truth and agree with you, even if you try to disagree with them. Do you know what I mean? I wish I could explain it better.

hey Brynhild Tudor

There are a lot of people out there thinking they're different and tapped into some higher power so it's not surprising that new age uses that to lure people in. (as with every other religion that ever existed lol)
I think its great you balance empathy with action. You seem very practical . I myself have a non conformist streak and am very independent. I think outside of the box so something like the new age naturally attracted me.


True happiness to me is when you can be in reality but still be happy. 'Fake happiness' is when you avoid accpeting reality so that you can be happy. If someone were standing in a fire and still smiling I'd think 'wow that's one strong person'. If someone were always safe and smiling then they don't seem so strong.

So you asked when I realized Esther was a fraud? I was listening to an audio recording (a you tube one ) and when she was 'channeling' Abraham she messed up and said 'I' instead of 'We.' For some reason I just knew then..'this woman is faking it.' Also her voice in the earlier recordings is completely different with an accent as opposed to nowadays. At a seminar a man asked her if she knew his name, she didn't (although he'd been to workshops before). So if she is really 'source energy' shouldn't she know everything including a strangers name?!

Why else do I think Esther Hicks is a fraud? She simply cannot prove her ability. Therefore she has about as much credibility as someone walking around saying the world is going to be run by unicorns and leprechauns. I won't put all of my blind faith into that.

Hey Alyb45,
Wow, Esther sounds like a fraud if she screwed up that bad! I don't mean to be argumentative, and I'm only asking out of curiosity, but if she is so fraudulent, how come hardly anyone's picked up on it? I mean, people have tried to spot inconsistencies so they could make the case of her being a fraud, but even they have trouble finding them because everything is so rock-solid consistent. I thought frauds were obvious and once they're outed, their followers dwindle, but she's got like, a cult following. Maybe they are so clever they can make tiny errors and because they're not glaringly obvious, people will overlook them? They'd have to be very clever to do that.

Smiling while standing in a fire sounds to me like something an Aber would do. I'm not much of a "trial by fire, let's see how strong you are and you'll be admired" person. If I'm standing in a fire, I'd be unhappy and run away. The only place I'd be truly happy is in a world with no fires. But that's just me. I'm just being honest. I'd rather be safe and keep smiling. Safety is what makes me smile. I think that's why I never was interested in any type of religion or spirituality to begin with. I didn't want a loving God to test me, and saw that as a contradiction, so Christianity was out. But I like heaven and angels. I didn't think humans were the mirror image of nature, and I'm a fair-weather person, so Paganism was out. Much as I want to live in a perfect world, I'm not going to deny, or refuse to acknowledge, the imperfections of this earth, and I'm not going to lie and say I'm happy when I'm not, but I'm not going to embrace my negative feelings and "bathe them with love" and be grateful for them because they teach you things. So new age was out. I'm not a "earth is a school and you're here to learn lessons and you should be grateful" person. I prefer unschooling (student-directed, learn only what interests you through the methods that interest you), but I also like flexible boundaries because I do think that everyone should learn kindness and be a good person. Much as I don't like Christianity, with its loving God who allows bad things to happen to good people, and much as I don't like restrictions and rules (spirituality has that limited-free-will thing so even they have rules), I think certain rules are good, and certain rules are not. Rules and limitations and fear are a good thing, because they stop you from having not-fun experiences. At the same time, while I recognize that rules provide structure, I also want my free will so i don't feel restricted, but not so much free will that people can run rampant and do whatever they want.

I know it's a whole bunch of contradictions but here's an example. Jehovah's Witnesses get a lot of bad rap, and probably for good reason. They're regimented, think homosexuality is wrong, believe in the end times and recruitment. I don't like those rules. But here are the ones I do like, whether they're self or devinely imposed or not: I had a friend who was one, and as I was interested in the Book of Relevation much as it scared the hell out of me, I went to one of their meetings. They are actually really nice people from purely a social standpoint. They don't smoke, drink, do drugs or jail time, they aren't promiscuous, they aren't violent, don't go to war or are against wars. I met some who were high school kids and they got good grades, were on the honor roll even. Just nice, clean people with a good lifestyle that I enjoy. I would readily be their friend, but obviously they want people who only believe in their faith in their circles. If they viewed homosexuality as okay, and took away the end-times beliefs, and didn't recruit, I wouldn't mind their other lifestyle rules. Pagans and new agers are too liberal for me, yet Christians were too restricted. Suppose I liked the Virgin Mary but had no interest in Jesus and had no desire to be like him, but I still wanted to go to heaven for eternity? What if you do have to be a certain way to get there, but the requirements are pretty flexible (just be a good secular person, follow the Golden Rule, don't hurt people's feelings or be sarcastic or rude) and make the requirements easy to follow? What if I like positive thinking, but recognize it doesn't work all the time in a world as imperfect as this one, where bad things happen to good people? What if I want a loving god who doesn't test me or make me endure things I don't want to? What if I like the "eliminate suffering" thing of Buddhism, but still want to have attachments (if you get what you want, you don't suffer), and don't want to reincarnate? There's always multiple ways of looking at things. What if I have my own definition of love that I want everyone else to have so I won't feel alone, instead of me having to follow everybody else's definition and conform to a worldview I don't want? Most people I know think the way you do, the "trial by fire and be strong" deal. That doesn't interest me. But it's not much outside the box, so you have plenty of company.

I actually think Jesus was a wimp and was mad when Sunday school said I had to follow him, else I wouldn't be loving. Yet when a Course in Miracles depicted him as having human emotions, but still loving, I didn't see the wow factor in him either, because he was just like us, and to me there was nothing special about him, yet I wanted something to be unique about him so I could find some reason to be interested in him. Since he was no different I was like "what's the point?"

Here's how I wish Holy Week could've gone. He gives into the devil's temptations instead of letting God test him. He's accused, brought before Pilot, makes some magic happen so Pilot will let him off instead of standing there like a wimp going "I'll die and there's nothing I can do about it." Pilot lets him go. Done. No crucifixion because Jesus stands up for himself and struggles all the way to the cross yelling "I didn't do it!" Or he vaporizes in front of all those people. If he was the great and all-powerful son of God, he could prevent his own death. If he couldn't prevent his own death, he wasn't the son of God after all, and was just like everyone else and we have no reason to venerate him since he's nothing special. If he's the son of God and chooses to die anyway, well that's very nice, but don't tell the rest of us that we have to forgive our enemies, or turn the other cheek so they'll slap the other one, or whatever. Just because you did it doesn't mean the rest of us have to, and we are unique individuals and handle situations differently than you, and not all of us want to be martyrs because we don't want a painful death experience, I don't care how eternal you think you are.

I always see something I'm not satisfied with in any path, I suppose. You can have free will or limited will, but not limited free will. You can't "do what you want, within limits" You can't control other people, and because you can't, you don't have free will. If you did have free will, you could do anything, literally anything, but you don't. So call it limited will, not free.

I just see contradictions in religion and spirituality, especially new age. I do like secular humanism, but it is depressing when they believe that you die and become worm food. If this imperfect world is the only chance you got, you'll never be happy, because if I were truly honest with myself (and I am, even if people think I'm a rebel), I'd admit that being happy would require me to change circumstances beyond my control, and that will never happen. I can be mostly happy, but never completely, totally, 100 percent, truly happy with everything in life.

Learn to fact-check the background on anything you consider participating in, even if so much as a volunteer group.

Here is a true story, told by a person who learned to do this after having been in a very destructive cult. The person now sees running background checks as a form of self inquiry.

Here is the story:

Confidential to "s":

I want to thank you for a comment you recently wrote which rings very true to me in light of recent personal developments. You said"

"I personally would not want to work in an office or teaching situation (both of which I have experienced)when there is a basic ethical problem that is not being addressed."

I recently considered applying for a job at the "Best Friends" no-kill animal sanctuary in Utah, but when I did a little research I learned that the founders of the shelter are the same people who founded the Process Church of the Final Judgment cult in the 1970's. The shelter was even incorporated as an off-shoot of the cult was it was set up with the IRS. In recent interviews these founders downplay every aspect of the former cults teachings and practices as "youthful enthusiasm" or naievete.

These are the same people who started out by establishing the Church of Scientology in England, before decamping to the US to get a cut of the lucrative American market by setting up their own outfit. Their 'religious' philosophy which equated Christ with Satan was also stolen and used to spectacularly destructive ends by Charlie Manson--who named his group "the family" after the first order of initiation in the Process Church hierarchy.

Needless to say, I'm no longer applying for work at "Best Friends". They may have gone on to do great things for animals, but I can't imagine what late night conversations must be like out in the Utah desert with no one but that bunch of lunatics to talk with.

November 3, 2010 10:28 PM

Quote

http://ritualsofdisenchantment.blogspot.com/2010/10/resurrection.html

If you type Process Church into the search slot on the bottom left corner of the RickRoss.com website, you get a list of citations. The first 3 or 4 of them give more information about this group.

Running a background check has to become an ingrained skill--that will be part of recovery. And part of what makes New Age cultic milieu so harmful is people are socialized to feel that doing exactly this is bad, negative, etc, when it is the first basic method of deciding how best to offer ones time and attention and energy.

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I applaud you for not taking this at face value, researching and uncovering information which gives you much more to consider. It seems that many of us who graduated from SY now like to dig our heels into research and investigation before making a leap into a committment. I like to consider this the field work of self inquiry.