The blog linked to below reproduces Rod Windle's and Michael Samko's "Hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnotherapy, and Aikido" from the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, vol. 34 no. 4, April 1992, pp. 261-270: Windle and Samko compare the hypnotist's gaze with a technique called "soft eyes" from Aikido. They say: "Stephen Gilligan (1987) outlines a pr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Nityananda/Muktananda lineage is another that's produced any number of unsavory characters. The latest harm report concerns Swami Chetanananda:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSahara71 New anti-Mooji website, sure to be a big hit! Thanks. I also noticed the connection with H.W.L. Poonja, but I'm skeptical of his stance of disavowing responsibility. Churning out all these dubious characters is surely more than a coincidence. And Poonja is the one who started this business of going on stage under a giant picture of Ramana, despite the fact that Ramana never
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteLeslie Read 90 percent of the so-called masters in the modern world are not enlightened at all but are in fact occult magicians That's certainly food for thought. I found more of that interview online at Google Books in The Return of the Mother by Andrew Harvey, credited to the Catherine Ingram interview with Andrew Harvey that appeared in Yoga Journal no. 123 for July/August 1995. E
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Source Family were one of the twentieth century's oddest religious cults. Emerging from a Hollywood vegetarian restaurant where Yoko Ono, Marlon Brando, and Woody Allen were all regulars, the Source Family were not your typical restaurant-owners. They were part of a secret cult led by professed guru, musician, and vegan bank-robber Father Yod. Influenced by the teachings of Yogi Bhajan a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In this hour-long interview, a psychiatrist describes the power of intense eye-gazing accompanied by empathy:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would like to know whether there is anything in > the literature on hypnosis that describes (or > explains) why gazing into a person's eyes would > have such a powerful effect. There's no need for any special gazing technique. Staring by itself can induce bizarre phenomena. Italian psycholog
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

She's quite the character. "Mystic Pearl Alchemy" has an Instagram page at and a YouTube channel at . I actually thought Tony dealt with her quite skilfully.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The current affairs > program "60 Minutes" has just done an > expose on this church - with allegations that two > women were sexually assaulted/ indecently > assaulted while the church turned a blind eye. > > [9now.nine.com.au] If anyone gets a message, "This video is restrict
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The one “Stay as the Witness,” published July 6, is dated June 22. If that date is accurate, the video is reasonably recent.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It’s like our whole society needs to be vaccinated against the guru virus. That would stop this sort of thing from spreading around. I’d be interested in her take on what caused the blissful initial six weeks, and what happened after they were over.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is a new book out titled Emissary of Insight. The first half is a biography of Goenka; the second half is a collection of his writings. What stayed in my mind was Goenka’s gradual retreat into an entrenched position of his own rightness and everybody else’s wrongness. At one point Goenka was one of a handful of students authorized to teach by U Ba Khin. As the years went by, he broke awa
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dennis Swanson, a former insider in John MacArthur's empire, reveals that ghost-writers were involved in writing John MacArthur's books. He describes the practice of trashing reputations, and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation that reigned in John MacArthur's organization.
Forum: Destructive Churches

New allegations have emerged that John MacArthur draws multiple salaries, own multiple homes, and has family members on the board supposed to supervise him:
Forum: Destructive Churches

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Sahara. I thought the whole thing was amusing at first, but now I'm concerned for Jeff.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The second hour of this interview examines the hypnotic hold that Tibetan Buddhist gurus have over their followers.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I would guess that this derives from the cult that centered around Chandra Mohan Jain a.k.a. Rajneesh a.k.a. Osho. He is the one who took the genuine tantric tradition and packaged it for Westerners as “neo-Tantra” a.k.a. “sacred sexuality” a.k.a. prostitutes pretending to be priestesses.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSahara71 I thought I would laugh It's hilarious. I laughed as I read your story. I'm almost disappointed that you may miss a few weeks, so we won't get an update next week!
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I can't offer much in the way of comments except to say yes, I agree with you: confident and charismatic speakers are very persuasive. They're also very pleasant to listen to. Even so, I was slightly surprised to learn that the crowd grew for the second week. The demographic for this kind of material must be larger than I realized.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

BTW, this talk of spiritual superiority reminds me of the Jed McKenna character in the books written by Peder Sweeney.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You can click through to the authors' original paper at . The paper didn't display online properly for me, and I had to download the PDF to read it. As Vonk and Visser say in their conclusion, "The phenomenon of spiritual superiority is widely recognized." I've heard it referred to before as the "spiritual ego." It's neat that they claim to be able to me
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Maria Lena Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A highly recommended short video by Jac O'Keeffe > with an approach to the presentation he gave at > THE WORLD UNITED congress. The title was: Finding > balance with the dualities of being human and > embracing spirituality. > > It's worth listening to and lasts only 15 minutes.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The latest news about Hillsong is "Hillsong Pastor and Justin Bieber's One-Time Spiritual Confidant Carl Lentz Fired for 'Moral Failures'". A large collection of complaints about Hillsong is catalogued at .
Forum: Destructive Churches

The Financial Times also put together a video titled "Is QAnon a game gone wrong?"
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

zizlz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I hope someone can make a more easily digestible > text/video with the information, for the less > informed/intelligent like me. Searching around on Google, I found this story from the Financial Times Alphaville site for October 16, 2020. The article is titled “The ‘game theory’ in the Qanon conspiracy theory.”
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You don’t need Tor to view 8kun. It’s on the regular web at [8kun.top]. Also, I believe @codemonkeyz no longer works on the site. I don’t know why he quit.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I was thinking of Sudhir Kakar, The Inner World, and V. S. Naipaul, An Area of Darkness.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

zizlz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I can > imagine that this negative view of material > reality can lead to a decrease in initiative to > improve material or even societal conditions. That was certainly the nineteenth-century Western view of the East. Several authors, learning about Indian spirituality for the first time, characterized it a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The other thread on NXIVM is under "Large Group Awareness Training, Human Potential" at Latest news is that Keith Raniere has just been sentenced to 120 years in prison.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Keith Raniere, a self-improvement guru whose organization Nxivm attracted millionaires and actors, was sentenced on Tuesday to 120 years in prison on convictions that he turned some female followers into sex slaves branded with his initials."
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"