oops wrong thread.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

So much for Tibetan Buddhist compassion - it doesn't exist. Just dead legalisms and pathetic excuses why they can't show a thread of human decency. As far as the Buddhist leaders are concerned, they are a bunch of primitive savages with minds to match if they believe that rape is the same thing as consensual sex in a marriage. Do you realize how creepy it is when you don't se
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Meston never had a chance at a normal life. His so-called parents saw to it. His parents were your typical self-absorbed navel gazing losers. His mother had her head so up her rear end she didn't even deserve to be called a mother. I just wonder how many other children are being wrecked by selfish parents getting suckered into Tibetan Buddhism.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

NLP'ers call it "anchoring". They use it a lot during training to tie strong positive emotional states to the workshop and teachers. But to do it right is a art, most can't. If done correctly, before you know it you want to attend more seminars and see those same trainers again and you don't know why but you feel good when you think about them. But in the long term
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

In Yoga culture "ego" is only a dirty word for the minions, see the gurus want the flock docile and their egos get in the way of that. Now for the Guru, he is excused from following the Yamas and Niyamas and can engage his ego to the fullest extent possible. If he wants to fornicate like Hugh Hefner and extort money from his followers and hurt merely for entertainment purposes like Iyen
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bikram, I'm not surprised, I heard for years he runs his outfit like a cult and has a ego the size of the Goodyear Blimp. IS there any Hindu import yoga teacher that isn't a creep and abuser? Nope. Lets see: Iyengar - a abusive tyrant, misogynist and ego maniac who can twist himself into a pretzel and violate the Yamas and Niyamas during every day activities. He may not molest
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Run don't walk away from Cunov. This guy is another predator/con-artist/NLPer in the mold of Carmine Baffa and Ross Jeffries. He preys on weak and insecure men and their inability to get dates, etc. See the pictures of all those foxy ladies he has as coaches, etc? They are desperate man bait to make you look past the $2500 price tag for some watered down NLP/Speed Seduction garbage and
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

DL I had pretty much all the symptoms listed except the marriage stuff since I'm single. In my case it happened after I took a NLP seminar, it got worse after my 2nd seminar. The emotional high was better than a dose of Demerol, the emotional lows were just sheer hell. To be blunt, it wrecked my career and made me a nervous wreck and emptied my bank account. It took me several ye
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Indeed Wilber never apprenticed under the Bad Boys he so extolls. Being a recluse and ersatz academic and theologian of the New Age, he had little time for that. But he has no problem urging others to join up with these monsters who supposedly practice "crazy wisdom" He certainly doesn't care how many lives will be ruined by his proclamations. He is not one to care for anyone
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What Corboy posted is spot on. This thread is about Ole. But Ole got his mystique from a system that, in its ancient and 'authentic' forms, is itself corrupt. I contend that Vajrayana is corrupt and corrupting because it contains escape clauses (tantrically rationalized) giving permission for its elite cadre of master/senior practitioners to ditch ethical precepts --ethical precepts
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Corboy nailed it. This Nicole Grace comes off quite vague and quite phony. Won't release her lineage and teacher's name. Calls herself "kundalini". Does the pious and mysterious routine by not putting out photos or herself. All of this should set off alarm bells. Gets better though. She calls herself a Buddhist monk and not a nun. So what order is she in? No information
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This sort of twisted thinking is endemic in the New Thought community. Byrne and Katie are just the latest of a long line of monsters who engage in 'blame the victim'. Neale Donald Walsh is another promoter of this evil. Here's Walsh: " The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused. Those souls were released from their earthly bondage,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

She's more than a fraud, she's setting up a cult. All the things described in the second post are methods for manipulating and enslaving people. Stay away from her. She won't just take your money, she'll take your mind and autonomy as well.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

One thing at play among the Tibetan Buddhist is that some of their meditation practices seem to have detrimental emotional effects in done consistently over a extended period. They just don't get upset no matter how serious the sexual, physical or monetary violations are. Trungpa and his successor are classic examples, Roach is another, Sogyal, etc. You can use Western Buddhists as doorm
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And most importantly learn to think for oneself. Never ever give anyone your power(decision making, thinking) to someone else. No legit spiritual path will ever ask you to give that up. Those that demand, are slave masters, nothing more.. The reality is the guy in the robe whether he is a Roshi, Lama, Rinpoche or Sat guru is either deluded or a schmuck. The last 30 years has been endless para
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's amusing that a bunch of wealthy secular Westerners who prize their independence and education and who disdain Western religion end up groveling before a bunch of debauched robed baldies from Tibet who teach them to be serfs in terms of thought and actions. Go to FMPT and read their prayer booklets, this ought to scare anyone that you are not dealing with a religion but a cult that turn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Highly sanitized - symbolic unlike the Aghori that still engage in ritual human sacrifice/cannibalism - when they can steal a child away from village and do you know what to them. Yes there are schools of Taoism that utilize sex in their rituals but most are entirely negative - basically for a form of energy vampirism. Up until 20 years ago there was a invite only club in Taiwan where it was
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It is quite a stretch to imply that Tibetan Buddhism got all it's notions of heaven, hell, demons, etc from Nestorian Christiainity. Buddhism had all this stuff in it before Christianity even existed. And Tantra existed long before Christianity and always had it's black magicians like the Aghori. And there's nothing like Tibetan Tantra in Christianity period. And nothing a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Avalon influenced everybody whose anybody in the Yoga scene. There wouldn't be Tantra and Kundalini fads without his works. His works are still the most accessible in regards to Tantra for the non-expert who doesn't read Sanskrit. Vivekananda IMS only promoted Raja, Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yogas. His stuff is quite mild compared to whats currently out there. He had no use for Hatha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotecorboyThis text, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, records an historic 21- day series of teachings given by a great rinpoche in the Gelugpa lineage (same as that of the Dalai Lama) Make sure to read pp 229-130 at the very least. This advice is given many days into the retreat, so by that time the audience would be very receptive. Contrast this with the reminder by Professor
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I just viewed The Integral Movement video. And it is a very slick and very deceptive piece of advertising. Very little truth lots of hype, lies and half-truths. Fraudulent would be a good label. Indeed there are very few men and women scientists, thinkers, and artists associated with it. It's mostly a watering hole for tainted psychologists looking for a new racket to make money off of. To m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Mr. Roach is no longer a monk even though he still calls himself one. He violated those monastic vows some time back. He's so notorious that even the Dalai Lama doesn't want anything to do with him. He's seen as a embarrassment. His own teachers think he is crazy and out of control sex maniac who goes both ways. Anyone and I mean anyone who takes teachings from this ego-manical
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Exactly what sort of parent underwrites/supports a teenager's experiment drug use in foreign country? The tickets aren't cheap. The idiocy and irresponsibility displayed by the parents is truly overwhelming. It would be interesting to know if they themselves where New Agers or heavy recreational drug users. I mean it's clear his father didn't do any real research on ay
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Wefe What your husband is experiencing is typical of what happens in a LGAT. It happened to me when I attended several NLP seminars(NLP is another kind of LGAT). I lost interest in my hobbies, my job, my view towards my close friends changed, I couldn't emotionally relate to people anymore, I had bouts of helplessness. The good news is that generally the person starts reverting
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hard to infer much of anything from this. If it happened here in CA, I'd chalk it up to a teenybopper wanting to get loaded. Others would say it's Darwinian selection at work.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good riddance. But he did provide some comedy, I've read about some of his bizarre coronation ceremonies where he had people dress up like Stalin and Hitler and had them crown him.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good list. Gold is mostly a scam artist, it is wise to stay away from him in all circumstances. He did make fun of the 4th Way people and their decision to turn Gurdjieff's system into a outright cult full of people who have no sense of humor.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The whole gluten free mania smacks of a fad. And shame on Dr. Oz for pushing this c**p. The fact is the vast majority of people don't have celiac disease. People are using it as a excuse why they are fat, lazy or gaseous. As for the positive results - ever hear of the placebo effect? If you think you have a problem with gluten, see a specialist, not a general practitioner but a speci
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A couple of points IMO people flow to these exotic Lamas and Tulkus not only out of curiosity but self validation or ego pumping. What a boost to ones self-esteem when you meet a some spiritual grand poohbah who acknowledges you and accepts you into his group. It's no different than the obsession with celebrities and trying to get to know them. You want to watch people lose all perspec
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What Anticult said. My guess is that Robbins leaves human wreckage wherever he holds his seminars. I remember my NLP training and it was sedate compared to the full on emotional and hypnotic assault of Robbins. Anyone who is emotionally fragile or has a underlying psychological issue can be serious messed up in these seminars. Thing is, higher the intensity the harder it is on certain people.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"