There can be two reasons: 1) Followers desperately need to believe their leader is more than human, so they refuse to accept that the person is human enough to get sick for ordinary reasons. They take it on themselves to see the leader's illness as having cosmic significance, or like scared kids in a divorce, blame themselves. All too often leaders fail to see that their followers ar
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteWe need to examine our need for cosmic super-parents if we wish to truly recover from our cult involvement. We may become disillusioned with our particular cult, but if our need is still there, we'll just find another Here is an excerpt from article that examines exactly the process Yellowbeard describes: QuoteSo we are left with a pressing questions, "How can one separate
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

and (This second item is especially interesting--one of the physicists who was interviewed states that he spent 4 or 5 hours teaching quantum physics to the producers of What the Bleep only to have them mis--represent what he told them.) What the Bleep was produced by people involved with the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. Here are links with info about this group if you're e
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

You can learn more here: For PSI, try a Google search, both on www.google.com and the google discussion groups. To search the groups, go to www.google.com and click the 'groups' tab.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

'Formerly when you did not know God you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods, but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggerly elemental spirits whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid I have labored over you in vain.' (Galatians, 4: 8-1
Forum: Destructive Churches

leave a message for this person that he can pick up the materials at a neutral drop-off point, not your house. Write out a receipt itemizing the materials and leave instructions that he's to sign it and date it before he can take the materials with him. That way you have proof that you didnt steal anything from them but gave it back. I'd advise against letting him visit you at hom
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

He wrote this after crossing paths with and getting entangled for ten years with a very charismatic individual who triggered remarkable experiences in many people but abused his powers. And this person also had a remarkable gaze.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

An article written by a former disciple who came to the conclusion that Rajneesh did have special abilities but that his many gifts were vitiated by just one thing: Rajneesh was willing to lie. 'Rajneesh never lost the ultimate existential truth of being. He only lost the ordinary concept of truth that any normal adult can understand. He rationalized his constant lying as "lefthan
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(note: the website article included photographs and links to videotapes, which could not be included.) an article describing problems in Muktananda's career and the consequences of his secretive use of energetic practices can be found here: The Heart of the Secret: A Personal and Scholarly Encounter with Shakta Tantrism in Siddha Yoga Sarah Caldwell (Caldwell was dedicated memb
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It does not appear that Castaneda got his material from any known LGAT. But someone may come up with a way to use Castaneda type material in an LGAT format. C created what some commentators call 'New Age Shamanism'. Castaneda did create a group and the dynamics are described by Amy Wallace in her memoir The Sorcerer's Apprentice: My Life with Carlos Castaneda. There'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

From an essay written by a Sufi who who suffered exploitation within his own tradition: 'Although we must all take full responsibility for the choices we make... an individual often does not know what they are becoming entangled in until it is too late and substantial toxicity already has spread through one’s system. '... no matter how intelligent or self-willed or indep
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This remarkable site was created by an Islamic Sufi. (The Islamic affiliation is mentioned because the reader who visits this site will encounter quite a few Islamic terms and may wish to keep a pen and notebook at hand to assist learning their meanings. This effort will be worth it because the essays in the spiritual abuse section are rich reading, detailed, full of substance. You may not ag
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The mission statement will probably have a familiar ring.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

things get interesting and its OK to go a bit off topic now and then, but this thread is about Herbalife, so we want to 'keep the line free' for anyone else who may have questions/concerns about HL. Good luck - your school may have resources and lists of meetings.
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

One thing that often happens is we grow up in families where someone (one parents, both parents, a brother or sister) is in constant pain or crisis. One of the kids (us!) may be assigned the role of rescuer. This can happen when you're so young that you are not even aware of this. You're trained to rescue others from pain before you are even old enough to imagine saying 'No,
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

A correction was made to material earlier in this post in response to a note posted on this thread.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I will add your correction to the post, and edit accordingly. And thank you for your translations of Karlfried Graf Durckheim. I would never have known about his material had you not offered it on your website. It would be a tremendous service if someone could persuade the publisher to re-issue 'Hara: The Vital Centre of Man'--copies are very difficult to find and prohibitively e
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

My concern is with teachers of enlightenment who do not invite their students to investigate their own cravings for enlightenment, their own ideas of what enlightenment is. What do seekers think enlightenment consists of? And why do they crave it so desperately? A lot of us may, unconsciously assume enlightenment means never feeling pain, shame or fear, ever again. Others may see certai
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If she calls, or comes to your door, do NOT let her in or talk to her. Dont answer the door, even if she's wailing. If necessary call the police. You want to avoid a situation where you're alone together, she doesnt like what you say or do, then falsely accuses you of assault. Without witnesses, in a situation like that, a man is at a horrible disadvantage. Step One You hav
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

There's tremendous respect for authority in traditional Asian cultures, and you're socialized to keep group harmony and not be disruptive. All this would make a person very vulnerable in relation to LGATs. Two, you were recruited through a relationship with someone you doubly trusted both as your employer and one with a connection to your family. Three, this person had authorit
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Holy Smoke/s was a funny, entertaining movie, but IMO, it had two fatal flaws--both of which pandered to sensationalism, and propagated misleading information about the way exit counseling is done. 1) HS depicted a very outdated method of exit counselling--namely kidnapping the person in the group, then having the counselor (Harry Keitel) use the same methods of authoritarian indoctrination to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good luck at work. Read up the laws that protect your spiritual/intellectual autonomy. It would be interesting to know whether the group leader's behavior described by PSI is typical for a Tolle group leader, or whether this person was atypical. It would also be interesting to know what kind of training she received to function in this role, and whether her personality was different b
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In his essay 'Lotus Feet of Clay' Dr John Wren-Lewis describes an unsought awakening he had as a result of a medical crisis. He went to the mystical literature to do research. Lewis found himself 'drifting out' of his awakened condition, (though, once aware of it, he could return to it. But all the mystical writings and teachings he encountered made it seem there was such a th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Coz, thanks for starting this thread. The social and economic context in which ideas of all kinds are marketed these days can undercut the efforts of the kindest and most well intentioned teacher, unless that person is aware and is constantly, and strenuously taking precautions to ensure that social context and the pressures of marketing dont undercut the integrity of his or her teaching care
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As long as people are courteous and respect those who disagree. RR.com works the way a library does. If guests are courteous, no problem. But if someone starts getting sarcastic, disrespectful,other patrons can't concentrate & the person is asked to leave. It's like having a party at your house. If someone gets drunk and starts trashing you or is nasty to other guests, you�
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

When an entire tradition is removed from its cultural context and filtered through a single human personality, teaching in a foreign country, the risk exists that students will be exposed not just to the spiritual material but also to the biases and blind spots of the single person who transmits that material. It is desirable for a teacher to bring in other teachers from the home country so
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

No one can predict with pin-point accuracy how you will fare. No one can make that kind of decision for you. But there is a great deal of information available on the RR.com message board and in its groups database that you can read that will enable you to decide, for yourself, whether the risk to benefit ratio of participating will be sufficiently in your favor to justify giving up a weekend
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

is quite nice and reasonable but it seems to trivialize the dreadful suffering exacted by high demand groups (aka cults). It also ignores specific and observable characteristics of cults and high demand groups identified here--archived from many sources Members of the RR.com message board are glad to discuss and debate issues, but the one thing not appreciated is trivialization of perso
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

but many other persons involved with the Krishnas have not had positive experiences at all. Just make sure you dont become one of them. There is a wealth of information about the Krishnas on the RR.com database To learn more about how ordinary people can trigger seemingly spiritual experienes, this article by David Lane is very informative: (http://vm.mtsac.edu/~dlane/kstat.html
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Re: Subject? Spirit and truth, of course! Post by ChuckS on Aug 2nd, 2002, 1:08pm I remember, when researching the Indian background of this Knowledge, (one term for material taught by Maharaji/Elan Vital) when I came accross the Rhadasoami's website. Maharaji has borrowed heavily from that religion. (This can also be spelled 'Radhasoami'. There is a library of information
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"