. Hi people! ''What The B . . .''is the 'in thing' in New Age groups right now. I first heard of it when my 'Landmark' friend called me in June. I just talked with another, totally unrelated friend in another state who mentioned the movie. It is being shown in small theaters so far, but like most fads it will probably spread for a while, until pe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hey Jojo, I'm glad to be helpful. Good luck with suing those guys. It will be helpful to your case to get your medical records together and have 'psychiatric records' as evidence too. Also, try not to feel 'stupid'. You can read in many threads here that very smart people have been taken for BIG money when they weren't thinking straight. I myself have spent tho
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hello Jojo Laughing Willow, Who was it? It was YOU - and the minister, and God. I’m sorry to hear that you lost $20,000 to that ‘church’. I hope that eventually you will come to consider it a good, but painful investment in your spiritual education, even though at the time you ‘gave’ it to them you were in an altered state of consciousness (psychotic mania). You could try to sue them and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Liebnitz, You really must get a clue. NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME. We are not all like the same model of car. We have different biologies. Basically, we are not all like you. Also, whether or not TM practice damages a person's ability to think clearly depends on how many years someone did TM, how many hours a day, etc. You are not sufficiently distinguishing, recognizing or per
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. BRA-VO Yellowbeard! I have been finding the same information this summer. I have been trying to decide on a way to warn two of my nephews that they need to 'watch it' with meditation. Manic-depression runs in our family and my nephews are already on psychiatric drugs. AND, they are hanging out at the local Zen Center, and probably making their symptoms worse. 'Kundalini
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey Lakefield, There are several web sites listed on Google. Here is one I found: www.infoplease.com/spot/israel1.html I haven't studied the Khazar tribe, but from what I have read, a lot of Europeans have at little a little Jewishness in their backgrounds because of Jews leaving Israel at various times in history. The name of one of my great-great grandmothers was Maria Goldin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey Hope, That's so interesting about Neal and Benjamin Elliott. I haven't read Neal's books, but it sounds more like the title should have been 'Conversations With Myself'. In the past when I have been manic (actually a mixed state) I would become 'obsessed' with language. I guess that the 'language' part of my brain became over-stimulated. I
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey Richard, What was the name of the guy, I think it was during the 1600's, who was really wacky and said he 'married the Torah'? People really believed his stuff for a while, but eventually realized that he was crazy. I was thinking about him today and I can't remember his name. Thanks! Sylvia .
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey Yellowbeard, Thanks for the quick take on Kriya Yoga and Yogananda. Wow. I would say that stopping breathing should be on the list of ‘Things Not To Do’ in one’s spiritual quest. Who needs brain damage? But, some people like the ‘living on the edge’ aspect of dangerous practices like that. It makes them feel cool and special. I suppose that some people have had something like a ‘near
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey Yellowbeard, While I agree with your points, especially about religion keeping people subservient, submissive, and unquestioning, I must point out that people believe their religious (and other) beliefs because they make them feel safe. The whole idea of salvation is to save people’s souls from eternal damnation. Considering how many people were raised with a belief in heaven or h
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

. Hey people, My friend who tried to enroll me in Landmark this summer called me the other day. I was having a nap. I looked at my Caller ID and it said . . . . Landmark, so I knew it must be her. She was in the sales office making follow-up calls. She said that the movie, ‘What The Bleep Do We Know?’ is now being distributed nationwide so I would be able to see it soon. She had mentioned
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake! You sure had a challenging mother. She really kept you going didn’t she? (laughing) I hope you don’t mind me using some humor here, like the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme. It helps me deal with MY mother right now. She was such a non-communicator, verbally anyway. So, I guess that the New Woman Magazine was kind of your mother’s daily battle plan material. Maybe it had con
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

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Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake, I was just thinking about the ‘Best Sister Contest’ you were in. You may not have won officially, but I have learned recently that the ‘rebel’ kids in a family are actually the most sane. Their behavior is a pain in the butt to the rest of the tribe just because they are trying to point out how their parents and siblings are really hurting each other. They try to get the
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake, Yes, I have had an interesting life. It sure has worn me out though. I’m still in recovery - from the ‘Workhardist Cult’. I started working when I was 26 and nothing could get me out of the cult until my step-father’s illness and death when I was 38. It has all been wacky since then. My exit experience from the cult has been difficult but it is starting to pay off. I can l
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Hope, Thanks for the info on John Gray’s lack of credentials. I’m not terribly surprised. It seems to be an epidemic among new age authors. Isn’t there some similar problem with Deepak Chopra? I understand that he uses ghost writers too. It’s difficult to separate the information from the author. What we know about an author’s life and credentials really colors how we perceive
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

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Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake, No. I don’t work in psychology. I studied some psychology in college and double majored in Cultural Anthropology and Middle East Studies. I also went to Iran in 1975 on an exchange program. I never graduated though. My depressed phases kept me down too often and I chose to just work, as I have mentioned in another post. Maybe someday I'll finish college and get those deg
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. What I meant about growing up in a Small Group Awareness Training is that a family is a small group whereas organizations like Landmark work in large groups. The parents are like the seminar leaders and the children are the ‘participants’ who have come to the seminar to learn the parents’ ways of dealing with life. So, since you already learned a lot of the philosophies of LGATs at home when y
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake, I have read more of your posts today and have had some more thoughts on your situation. My first post on this board was about how I have been saying no to EST and Landmark for about twenty-five years. My most recent encounter with Landmarkism started when an old childhood friend called me to try to enroll me in Landmark. She had done EST in the 1970’s and went to Land
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

. Hey Savernake, Your parents’ philosophies really are like the concepts taught at Large Group Awareness Trainings. They were developed from the same sources. So, you could say that you grew up in a SGAT - Small Group Awareness Training! We all did really . . . It appears that you disagreed with the philosophy because you were trying to get your needs met as a child and these ‘gems o
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Leah, I absolutely agree with Cosmo. Kick her out. Replace her in your mind. Connect your breathing to another image or experience - a positive one. Patience and determination and practice are all you will need. Sylvia
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

. There are many behaviors associated with manic-depression - aka bi-polar personality disorder: Hypersexuality Those in the psychotherapeutic field used to say promiscuity is a commom symptom of manic-depression. Now they call it hypersexuality. You may notice that a religious or spiritual teacher has sexual relationships with many followers and even family members, even though this g
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi people, I was just reading an article about Jane Pauley. She developed bi-polar disorder after taking a steroid medication for hives. The article is at bipolor.about.com Here is an article about how steriods can cause mental effects: This is interesting to me because my mother used Prednisone to treat cervical dysplasia in her fifties. I believe that this contributed to triggering
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi people, I just edited my original post a little and would like to add some information. One of the big clues I got about the connection of diet and altered mental states was from a book ‘’The Bipolar Child’’ by Demitri Papolos, M.D. and Janice Papolos. He is one of the rare psychiatrists who knows very well that anti-depressants can flip people from depression into mania. Here is the p
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Cosmo and all, Here is an excellent article that I found here on this site about relaxation induced anxiety caused by meditation: www.culteducation.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing23.html It is under the mind control section on the home page. I read it a while ago and couldn't remember where it was until today. It is about the research done by Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Cosmo, I don’t see anything wrong with meditating either - for most people. However, it does raise serotonin levels, etc. Like people who start taking an anti-depressant when they are depressed and it flips them into mania, so meditation can do the same thing to previously ‘normal’ people, even those who have no previous mental health problems or family history of mental illness. Info is ava
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi people! I have been thinking about dissociation and depersonalization for the last few days. Yesterday I was listening to a radio health show and a young man called in to say that he had been diagnosed with depersonalization syndrome when he was a teenager. He is now in his thirties and a new doctor he visited said he probably actually had painless migraines - Basilar Artery Migraine. Th
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hey T.B.O., I’m sorry I misinterpreted what you wrote. It must have been that first sentence, ‘’From my own experience . . . ‘’ that you wrote. Maybe something more clear like, ‘’From the experience of people I know . . . ‘’ would have saved some confusion there. I’m sorry that you thought I was being pushy about the nutrition post. It wasn’t written specifically for you. I started working
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Hey T.B.O. Most of us resist psychiatric diagnosis. I had three major manic episodes before I got a grip and turned myself in. Seven years of roller coaster living, just hoping it wouldn’t happen again . . . But when you do get a diagnosis it is a place to start finding a ‘cure’. Of course some of the mainstream cures are not pleasant but if you can get stable enough you can then start look
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"