Even when people are not in any sect or group, most of us want our adult autonomy and dread handing it over to health care professionals and hospitals. And people who most value autonomy are often the most reluctant to hand over their autonomy, even temporarily, to a professional health care team. Here is a tragic situation--a young woman who had a change of consciousness episode. She live
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hermes Trismegistus a Mother Sauce for Cooking Up a Myriad of Cultic Entities If one of these cultic entities fits the criteria posed by Robert J Lifton or the LGAT (Large Groups Awarness Trainings checklist, then its no longer a cultic neutral, non mainsteam belief system, but a CULT. Another suggestion for continuing education. Read at least the first 4 chapters of Frances Yates book
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This forum not a place for churches or belief systems to fight out their battles. QuoteThis forum is not a place for advertising or business promotions. Helpful relevant links posted are appreciated, but please don't post links for the purpose of promotion. The purpose of this message board is not to promote a specific religious and/or political viewpoint. Don't use it to preach
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Q2, if you feel confortable about doing so, could you describe some of this infilitration? You're not alone in noticing this. Do a search on the RR.com message board for Seung Sahn in the all dates option and Genpo and Big Mind in the all dates section. But if you have seen additional examples of this, and feel able to describe it (if concerned about retreat centers, you n
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Fast correction. When I wrote QuoteHowever, PB was unusual in that he was a bully. He did however, have a huge influence on the lives of his closest disciples and caused some of them much financial and emotional anguish I meant to say 'PB was unusual in that he was not a bully.' However, Masson demonstrates how PB could use hints, carefully situated pauses, to insinuate vast imp
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

it may be that what gets the process going full tilt is when a mythomaniac leader makes contact with and recruits enough persons who are in Bartley's predicment, searching for someone to look up to, to mythologize. Many go to India or South America, already mythologizing the scene and are ripe for the picking. As I not below, part of the cultic milieu may be that it not only contains ide
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Lordmayor, it may be that what gets the process going full tilt is when a mythomaniac leader makes contact with and recruits enough persons who are in Bartley's predicment, searching for someone to look up to, to mythologize. Many go to India or South America, already mythologizing the scene and are ripe for the picking. As I not below, part of the cultic milieu may be that it not only co
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This Saint German material is endlessly recycled--it is old stuff in a new container. Legions of different people and a myriad of groups claim to receive channeled information from SG. Some possible URLs When the weather's bad, the Count likes to show up in Greece. another group There have been a lot of groups that used Saint Germain. HP Blavatsk
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotecorboyRegarding ZM, I have not yet found any reliable descriptions or complaints that ZM fits the criteria given by Robert J Lifton, the psychiatrist whose studies represent the standard for assessing these matters. The information we have so far is the following: 1) ZM groups deleted by German equivalent of Facebook. What I think is telling is how little sensitivity the discussants h
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotecorboyhttp://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?12,98081,98374#msg-98374 QuoteZM, I have not yet found any reliable descriptions or complaints that ZM fits the criteria given by Robert J Lifton, the psychiatrist whose studies represent the standard for assessing these matters. The information we have so far is the following: 1) ZM groups deleted by German equivalent of Facebook. Wha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteZM, I have not yet found any reliable descriptions or complaints that ZM fits the criteria given by Robert J Lifton, the psychiatrist whose studies represent the standard for assessing these matters. The information we have so far is the following: 1) ZM groups deleted by German equivalent of Facebook. What I think is telling is how little sensitivity the discussants had with Ger
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Regarding ZM, I have not yet found any reliable descriptions or complaints that ZM fits the criteria given by Robert J Lifton, the psychiatrist whose studies represent the standard for assessing these matters. The information we have so far is the following: 1) ZM groups deleted by German equivalent of Facebook. What I think is telling is how little sensitivity the discussants had with Ger
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Some interesting cult facts and true stories A cult is a group with an authoritarian structure and established, rote methods for stopping thoughts, which centers to the exclusion of other activities on the goals and desires of the group's leader or leaders. This separates cults from "normal" religions, political affiliations, and belief systems which, although perhaps sharing
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

A cult is a group with an authoritarian structure and established, rote methods for stopping thoughts, which centers to the exclusion of other activities on the goals and desires of the group's leader or leaders. This separates cults from "normal" religions, political affiliations, and belief systems which, although perhaps sharing many of the aspects of a cult, do not harmfully
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

QuotecorboyThere are Jewish Holocaust/Shoah Denialists, so Israeli Jews are probably vulnerable to cultic milieu stuff as well. Anti Zionist Jews greeted Holocaust deniar in New York Ahmadinejad Greeted by Anti-Zionist Jews in New York so..some Jews who had an anti Zionist stance were willing to attend a Holocaust denial conference. So..if such mental contortions are possibl
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There are Jewish Holocaust/Shoah Denialists, so Israeli Jews are probably vulnerable to cultic milieu stuff as well. Anti Zionist Jews greeted Holocaust deniar in New York Ahmadinejad Greeted by Anti-Zionist Jews in New York so..some Jews who had an anti Zionist stance were willing to attend a Holocaust denial conference. So..if such mental contortions are possible, one can
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Shakti wrote: "It is in this right-wing milieu of conspiracy theories and venomous vilification that Loughner picked his target" Only change I would make is call it right wing cultic milieu. It is in this right-wing milieu of conspiracy theories and venomous vilification that Loughner picked his target.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A sociological analysis done in Denmark--processes of radicalization in different Muslim communities
Forum: Terrorist and Extremist Groups

An essay that is worth reading--Umberto Eco's reflections on Ur Fascism--14 checkpoints He writes: QuoteI think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Possible Sugestions for Education Hype machines and PR keep a lot of these entities alive. It would be good in education projects to point out the extent to which any guru or human potential type is a product of marketing. People need to understand derivative legitimacy--that rooms can be rented at hospitals, universities, honorable retreat centers and Buddhist practice centers. It doesn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotethey put the experience over and above the welfare of the individual. Friends, before I sign off, I want to alert you that there are unhealthy sectors of the New Age/Fake dharma scene in which a seeker will actually be socialized to believe that the experiences of enlightenment matters more than the welfare of the individual and that any ethos of care, any concern for the welfare of the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotecorboyIf you're happy committed to Advaita or happy with your guru, this website wont matter. Yes, you are probably right on this. QuoteThis site is skeptical and not devotional. It exists not to support or validate or mirror devotion--an inherantly unstable mood state that requires social support--this site exists to provide space and resources for a more skeptical and consumer
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hmmm compare this from Wineguy "There is nothing about this philosophy that is any different than that of Christian Desert father mystics, Sufis, Taoists and some famous Zen Buddhists like Huang Po" with this Wikipedia article on Eck Tolle "InfluencesAt the age of fifteen Tolle read several books written by the German mystic Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, also known as Bô
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Plus, Andrew Cohen, whom you appear to disapprove of, has interviewed Eckhart Tolle more than once, a willingness to associate with someone whose trouble record is very well documented. In Issue 18 of What Enlightenment? Magazine Fall/Winter 2000, magazine (currently has the title Enlightenext), page 46, there is a dialogue between Andrew Cohen and Eckhart Tolle entitled Ripples on the Surf
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A critique of Gurdjieff and the Enneagram. Suggestion made the if Sufis did use the enneagram, it was more likely the Ismailis--a very small subgroup, indeed.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Critique/Overview of Gurdjieff and enneagram
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Critique of Gurdjieff and a chapter on enneagram
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

As the term cultic milieu is referred to, here is a capsule definition from an article on a different topic. Quote"cultic milieu," which is a parallel religious tradition of disparaged and deviant interpretations and practices that challenge the authority of prevailing religions with rival claims to truth. These upstart movements are dynamic and novel, but usually short-lived. They a
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Steve Susoyev, who survived a dangerous psychotherapy cult, wrote a memoir entitled People Farm. He told of utterly horrible things he did in love and loyalty on orders from a leader who was a charming and ruthless psychopath. These actions included but were not limited to passport fraud, aiding in flight of fugitives from the law, concealing assets. The leader at one point considered throwing
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

There is a book entitled Why People Believe Wierd Things by Michael Shermer-- might be a good place to start. And people like Ickes do not work in a vacuum. Often they get their material from a variety of sources, novels, movies, books that have previously seeded the public imagination, and find ways to link the material to current social anxieties. They can only get attention and a fo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"