I don't care either way unless the man was/is a humanitarian. Too many people on the New Age circuit who made millions are selfish pigs who couldn't care less about people and often screw them over. They hurt and bullshitted a lot of people out of hard earned money on their way to New Age sainthood. To me this is Karma. Look at Michael Roach, the guy looks 70 because of his lifestyle
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Roach went bad years ago, broke a boat load of Buddhist vows. Initially he was a wunderkind for the Tibetan Lama's but then started taking his then girl friend on his retreats and playing hide the salami with her. Now he's nothing but a oily con-man who knows Tibetan. As far as the cave dwelling goes, it's bad and usually a one way trip. I've read more than a few con
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

No he's just a exiled ex-lefty film maker who wrote things that were un-PC about radical Islam and was banned for it by the progressive grand pooh bahs. Certain political parties/groups often resemble cults to a large degree. They have their dogma, enforcers(party officials), a set of taboos, etc. Diviate. In order to progress you have to tote the party line, deviate and then you find fr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'd say organized sports in general come close to engendering a cult like mentality. Heck it's nothing to see sports fan(fanatics) come to blows over a game or develop obsession that borders on mental illness. Look at the riot at Penn State by the college students and the athletes(who could barely string a sentence together, bet they had people taking courses for them) right after the m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Lao Tze has to be one of the most ripped off authors in history(along with Buddha), just about every New Age guru quotes him without attribution in order to make themselves seem wise to a addlepatted and desperate audience who is looking for the express train to enlightenment. They don't get that all they'll ever get from the likes of Trolle is just more empty words from a man who is le
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The key is indoctrination, which comes in many forms: religious, political(Marxism, Nazism), commericially oriented that tells us what to eat, drink, wear and think. However to do what you want, would require a governmental apparatus that can at any time come in and tell parents what to teach and not teach their children. It would be Stalin's Russia all over again. You'd create a big
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Corboy The fact that people who are sick or traumatized have messed up perceptions and cognitize functions is nothing new. Nor should it be equated with taking a Yoga class at the local gym. For the record over the decades I've seen yoga insturctors at the gyms I've attended, not one ever had a following. As soon as class was over - boom out went the students. What I have seen is
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As long as you don't put your Yoga teacher on a pedestal and instead treat him/her like a coach you're fine. Provided of course that the class suits your needs.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Globe and Mail article describes exactly whats wrong with modern Yoga. That it's mostly a physical exercise program, no different than any basic stretching course you can take at a community college or at the Y. The problem arises is that we are led to believe that the more physically adept one is at Hatha Yoga the more spiritually evolved they are. Then you get the cults of personali
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

So folks are still peddling Hot Yoga. Bad idea for participants, but successful business model. Bikram's stuff is one size fits all, doesn't take into account people's tolerance for heat or body type for that matter. Then there is the question of instructor competence. Those who just went to his teacher class are woefully ill equipped to help people. It's those that are cr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hindu Tantra has never had a good rep in India and in many of the more rural areas Tantrics are viewed as outcasts and vagabonds, seen as Black Magicians obsessd with power to the point they'll do human sacrifices to get it. Hence they end up being migrants. I've seen film of the real practitioners and they'd scare the day lights out of normal Westerners. This alone should be a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bikram's stuff has always been faddish, sure Choudry is a total turd as a human being but the man is a astute marketer and understands the American obession with newness. Personally I wouldn't do his Yoga, as it's fraught with problems. Some people can progress in it but I couldn't. It's no different than Shiva Ray and her schitck or the Power Yoga people. Even Iyenga
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Integral Spirituality is a morally bankrupt and mentally deficient movement. It's founders and promoters are at best damaged people that no one should look to for spiritual advice or instruction. It's also clear that many of the leading lights are morally bankrupt and adamantly refuse to condemn even the most atrocious behavior of their compatriots. Not just once, but time after time
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yoga itself is generally quite safe if done correctly. The injuries are generally caused by a host of outside factors. 1) Bad instructors. It's caveat emptor here. 2) Over competitive students. Yoga should never be done competitively period. 3) Failure to take bodily pain as a source of feedback. 4) Failure to be aware of that only certain body types can safely accomplish the more comp
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One of the most serious issues facing the Yoga community is a flood of incompetent teachers equipped with a rotten pedagogy that insures the people they are teaching are going to get screwed up. And chain fitness centers are to blame for a lot of this since they allow about anyone to become a yoga instructor after a short class - usually less than week. Even better, some of the most incompetent t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't have direct experience with with 4th Way groups but I have read the works of several transpersonal pyschologists who did join them and they flatly stated all the 4th Way groups were rife with various psychopathologies and warned people from joining them. Heck just look at G, he was a authoritarian and role model for later teachers. If people were smart they should have figured
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Fear sells a lot of things. Remember the Y2K scare where you had certain self-appointed computer gurus telling everyone their computers would cease working on Jan 1 2000? And these same people were also selling survival goods and real-estate in Belize. Before them were the "survivalist movement" which oddly came about after the Mad Max movies. And here again there were promoters o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The problem is, is that the NLP big dogs have condoned unethical and illegal behavior from day one. They won't condemn Robbins or Bandler( I can understand why given the litgiousness nature of both) or stop mind-f**king clients anymore than they'd stop gouging people for their workshops. IMO people are better off avoiding it altogether outside of those who want to study how manipulat
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What makes Walsh's material so popular is that he essentially sells a sweetened religious variant of Post-Modernism mixed in with the latest New Age nostrums. NDW's view there is no right or wrong, no bad behaviors or anything. It's bland(as long as you don't through what he's really saying) and syrupy enough to appeal to a lot of readers. Here's another quote ab
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

Wyatt Woodsmall was the only NLPer that ever criticised NLP and the behavior of it's so-called leaders. I never heard squat from the Andreas's or the staff at NLP Comprehensive as you put it "They are all hiding to protect their own careers and interests and income". And they do damage since they refuse to police their own. I'll give you a example, when I took my pr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

My bad, it was "Transformations". Robbin's study of Hitler, Mussolini and various TV evangelicals was well known when I attended my first NLP seminar in '95. All the old time trainers and hangers on knew about Robbins and his power trip. I even have a audio tape from Grinder chiding Robbins(but not using his name, but for insiders, they knew who he was talking about). I
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Robbins had a falling out with the NLP gurus decades ago. Heck Bandler and Grinder slammed him hard in their book "Frogs into Princes", in it they didn't name him, but got after him for using monsters like Hitler and Mussolini as along with various TV evangelists as role models. Not only did he pick up their charisma but also their collective inhumanity as well. As to why Robbi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Walsh is a huckster promoting some very toxic non-sense. Take this passage from book 2 " The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused. Those souls were released from their earthly bondage, like butterflies emerging from a cocoon" This is beyond sick and is just plain evil. No one should take advice from this creature.
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

Bandler and Grinder also used former students as 'helpers' in their seminars and I suspect that's where Robbin's learned it. Also you can find the same behavior in NLP seminars today like those by NLPCO that use "guardian angels" - who are nothing but former seminar participants who drank the kool aid and who work for free and get this, they still have to pay $$$ fo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Wineguy Ok, you've established your credentials as a defender of two cult leaders. Do you have anything else to add?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Even worse such people in the corporate or cult world are surround by sycophants and pod people who agree with everything that comes out of the executive's or guru's mouth. Talk about a echo chamber. Put anyone in such a environment and they will get a god complex in no time. The business world is full of such people. More obvious cases is where some executive gets a "cult fo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Guenon was no better than Schuon, equally batty and morose, if not outright paranoid. He spent his last years in Egypt fighting imaginary occult attacks from a Freemason lodge in Europe. His books are almost unreadable, some written in the style of European intellectuals like Gebser, Kant, etc. Most are worthy only of the round file. He wrote one book in particular book that is hard to find th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Frithjof Schuon was not only a author and supposed Sufi but a cult leader and convicted molester. People like Martin Lings were part of his coterie. Both men roped in a lot of European intellectuals with their promotion of Perennialism and many converted to Islam on account of their works.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Looks like Lerner is another enabler and protector of Cohen, the fact that he condenms those who critize Cohen is really telling - the man has no moral or ethical compass. Mr. Lerner is no friend of the truth nor a protector of people no matter how he promotes himself in such roles. He should be considered a liar and con-artist. As far as the mutual admiration society of so-called spiritual
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

When Ken Wilber gives a guru his seal of approval and even pimps for him, the guru is bad news. Wilber never promotes non-tyrants and/or con-artists. First it was Adi Da, Trungpa, Coen, now it's Tolle and Genpo Roshi. Here's what he says about Genpo Isn’t Genpo Roshi about the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen? It’s not just Genpo as a human being and as an Enlightened human being. He
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"