Troll attacks are an energy drain---it pulls our attention away from the stuff that they dont want discussed. It never hurts to take a pause for station identification and ponder two areas that LGATs dislike us knowing about: Room set up and sleep deprivation. Both of which were discussed on these two threads (which you may have to copy and paste into your browser to take you there)
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There is a remarkable book by Joyce Colin Smith entitled 'Call No Man Master.' She became involved with and practiced Subud when Pak Subud arrived in the UK and Bennett had become interested in it. Joyce has a chapter on this in her book. She found the practice powerful and was quite experienced in these matters. But she chose to leave. 1) Pak's wife felt entitled to shopl
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

"also my mom has a phd in social work and she is very good at it(she loves to study) but when i tell people that they seem to think that I am crazy...how can she be so devoted to this crazy cult if she has been educated especailly in the field of socail work...." Its complicated. First, people may experience their own children as extensions of themselves. They may behave beautifu
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

This essay, by Professor Lane, is highly valuable. For anyone doing research, he would be a good man to confer with. He is a practitioner in one of the Shabd Yoga lineages, and has tracked various departures and also the highly intricate lineage disputes. There are additional essays by Professor Lane here (this website is for a group different from the Master Path) Finally
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

(Yawn) Have you ever tried using Google.com? Yourself? Instead of showing up begging others to do your homework for you?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I consult a practitioner of Chinese Medicine who is well regarded as an authority on HIV treatment. X's name has an instant credibility. As a result, X has learned to ask, very carefully, who will be participating in any discussions where X is invited to sit and participate in the dialogue. Once, X was invited to participate in a public educational event on HIV and be one of the pres
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

A friend of mine was very badly shaken. She had another friend who was an RN. She saw how well her pal had functioned in crisis situations, and her friend was knowledgeable and helpful about medical matters. So my friend trusted her RN buddy, and trusted her to a very special degree, with particular respect because she was a health care professional and had been so capable. As a res
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Guys, here is a problem with becoming famous. You are busy. Your life becomes hectic. And, the more famous you are, the more prestigious your name, everyone wants a piece of you. The more marketable your name, the greater the crediblity it lends. That means famous people and their publicists are innundated with proposals, pleas, come ons. And a famous person may not have the time or
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Thanks, ON 2LF. Today's troll may perhaps become tomorrow's cult education consultant. In the mean time, the Prime Directive on the message board has always been courtesy--to support this as a sanctuary/boundaried space where people feel free to raise questions about whatever group, project or relationship they've been through. That means keeping discussion at a level wh
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

(I am just making this up, allowing my imagination to roam and go free-range) Imagine some group that dislikes RR.com. A really great way for this hypothetical entity to install a no-exit state of mind would be to train its members to go to RR.com and be disruptive. That way, if they get dumped on and then get banned, this would subconsciously leave them believing that RR.com is an unwelcom
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

And, no one visits RickRoss.com due to false advertising. RR.com is up front about what it is. Two, RR.com never tries to spook dissidents by using intimidating litigation. (Ahem! Ahem!) The only disciplinary action taken by RRcom is the same as what other message boards employ: users are banned from the board for violating the rules that they've agreed to when registering to b
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Americans are among the most sleep-deprived people in the world, doctors and sociologists say. About 40 percent of Americans get less than seven hours of sleep a night, according to a 2005 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, and 75 percent reported having some sort of sleep disorder one or two nights a week. National guidelines recommend people get between seven or eight hours of
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Freedom Fighter writes: I have kept up that learned loyalty attitute after leaving the cult and stayed in situations far too long trying to better them thinking I was the problem rather than the source of the problem that was there already. 'I was thinking I was the problem, rather than (recognizing that) the source of the problem was there, already.' Part of what blew me away
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

What Freedom Fighter described I always saw,even at 11, how many double standards and inconsistancies in what she was preaching. I resented my mom for starting to relay what this woman was saying to her. I quit talking to my mom about anything that I was going through at school, etc. I do beleive that was the thing that saved me. I took on that same attitude with the cult leader. I secretly re
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I am still sorting this out. And Yasmin is right. There's a huge difference between being recruited into a cult, versus being raised within a cult. Those recruited from the outside have had some exposure to norms different from the cult, whereas those raised within a cult will have internalized the special norms of the group. I still think it worth focusing on loyalty rather than love
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

The essence of the cult experience is, IMO, not just unrequited love. It is unrequited loyalty. Most cult education guidelines note that cultic groups are often condensed around a charismatic leader. I would add...a charismatic and ungrateful leader. A leader who mysteriously has the ability to elicit gratitude & loyalty in followers, yet is incapable of showing reciprocol gratitude
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

" DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT ADI DA AND SCIENTOLOGY CONNECTION???? " Here's what you do: Go to Google.com and push the advanced search option. Type scientology into the 'all of the words' slot. Then, type Adi Da into the exact phrase slot. Then push the grey bar that reads 'Google search'. Then, with your own two eyes, read the material that is gi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You guys worked your butts off and on a project that took months and must have been complex. Thanks so much. Hope you didnt OD on take out food or Ramen noodles!
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

May the force be with you. One of our computer teachers at the local city college told us that she was very fed up with the tawdry forms of spam that landed in her e-mail. As she put it, 'If I get one more spam ad for Viagra, I am going to scream, and it wont be from ecstacy!'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

They capitalize on two things: Harmful people and groups often re-write their history and exploit that most seekers will not fact check. Rewriting History 1) Even in relation to ghastly scandals, public memory is short. All one has to do is wait a long time, then offer sanitized histories of controversial organizations and groups. Often, names of organizations or controversial leaders
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is a discussion forum concerning Adi Da located here. At some point the owner wants to sell the site. So you might try and register now and then correspond with members by e-mail to see if they can bring you further up to date The left hand sidebar lists additional resources. Broken Yogi was a close member of Adi Da's group for decades. It cost him a lot to realize it was tim
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What follows potentially applies when any untrained people try to do taboo breaking groups or workshops--no matter how benevolent their intentions. It is always good to ask whether a group offering to liberate via taboo breaking behavior is set up to ensure the following: *Informed consent *Whatever is done within the group will not expose participants to legal consequences or social
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There is a phrase recited at the end of Codependant's Anonymous meeting which goes, 'The pain of knowing (what we have been through) cannot be any worse than the pain of knowing and not remembering." It is possible to repress recognition of trauma yet still be affected by distress--the grey meatball between the ears can be tricked and bamboozled into believing that abus
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It is more than just the phrase. Its when you respect someone as a person, expect them to reciprocate by seeing you as a person, while what is really happening covertly is that they're regarding you as a malfunctioning machine making funny noises ('no I am not interested') and they keep right on tinkering until they get get the malfunctioning machine to emit the right set of noi
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

What tipped me off was something non verbal that lay behind the phrase 'What is holding you back?' I started out assuming the employee making the call was a person, like me. Someone under time pressure. Very likely a person with a long list of customer accounts to work through. So, I did not want to waste his time. I made it clear at the outside I wasnt open to buying anything.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Thanks Zorro. QuoteAlso the person was using a sales technique (possibly clouded by Landmark) to get you to the point of buying or the point of him cutting the interaction short. This type of technique is used to find out whether or not the person will buy or not and push them either way so the sales person can get on with business. This is the thing. At the start of the interaction, I TOLD
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I never (thank God) was processed through LEC or any other LGAT. As a confirmed introvert, I hate the idea of being cooped up all day in stuffy room, kept past my beddy-bye and being yapped at by a bully with a microphone. (Went through enough bullying early in life that I do not care to be in any relationship that repeats it. I create my own reality these days by avoiding those kinds of e
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hi guys. Am curious. Someone tried hard to sell me an updated version of a product I use. I am totally happy with what I already got. Period. So I told them that, and that I had no interest in a new version. I thought (ha! ha!) that would be the end of the exchange. The person then asked, "May I ask what is holding you back?' I went still, and suddenly wondered if
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It doesnt take much to trigger inner experiences in people. Here is an article by David C Lane Quote THE KIRPAL STATISTIC Using Inner Visions to Your Social Advantage Excerpt from: EXPOSING CULTS: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical. Author: David Christopher Lane Publisher: Garland Publishing, Inc. New York and London. Publication date: August 1994 It turns
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"