is behaving strangely. First he invalidates all dissent as evidence that people are not doing their assigned coursework. He allows no room for the possibility that someone can have a valid disagreement with him. That's the essence of an authoritarian mind-set--thats not compatible with high education at all.. Two, he's discouraging students from discussing their concerns and m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

'This teacher does not respond well to criticism, and during class, we are not allowed to disagree with him. He either ignores or makes fun of people who challenge him. ' Excuse us, but higher education is all about dialogue, the free exchange of ideas, and yes, CRITICISM according to rules of evidence. Your 'professor' is practicing indoctrination, not education. Big di
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

My therapist specializes in working with traumatized people and those with dissociative disorders. So he sees lots of people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) I asked K if he used EMDR, a technique that is supposed to be great for alleviating PTSD. He replied 'No I dont use EMDR. I reviewed the literature (which meant he went to high quality peer-reviewed journals) and overall
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

First, how to educate the world? One way is via Craigslist is a free bulletin board that has franchises in most major cities. Note to people who use Craigslist in New York City Hope and I put cult alert warnings on Craigslist in both SF and NYC. *We only do this with groups that have a documented track record of abuse. But warnings about worrisome groups are often flagged and re
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I recommend writing a chronology--who, what, when where. See if there is a listing for a city in Florida. CL is an excellent free way to warn people about scams. Expect to be flamed. Ignore it. See if you can contact the state attorney general and state organizations that oversee elder care, home nursing and social workers. All caregivers in these catagories have intimate contact with peop
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Register here
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I first saw Indigo child stuff posted on an otherwise good website for parents of children with ADD. If you have a troubled child, you're so vulnerable.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

At the top of any list, I would put Len Oakes book Prophetic Charisma, based on his interviews of 20 charismatic leaders, and many of their followers. Oakes is a clinical psychologist, and a researcher. (The bibliography covers the literature up to about 1996. He does the reader a great favor by summarizing the work of Heinz Kohut, and lets us know that yes, Kohut is quite difficult to unders
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Reader Michael Hopkins shares this with us. 'I grew up in a house where people claimed to see disembodied spirits, live with spirit guides, read minds, did whatever that load of people do when they hold jewelry and tell you about the owner. I dealt with psychics and indulged heavily in the 70's proclivity for "warm fuzzies." 'Other "on the same wavelength&q
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

read 'Prophetic Charisma' by Len Oakes These charismatic types have wildly different belief systems but remarkably similar life trajectories Oakes interviewed 20 charismatic leaders and found that they were all narcissistic, and compensated for personality flaws by working hard to develop their social skills--learning to play people like violins. Many had been teachers and enterta
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Excellent article here
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

by this group. The first-person reports are of great value to persons in distress who need information and come here to do research. Barbara is referred to as a 'channel' or a 'medium.' She supposedly receives communications from extra terrestrial beings. A remarkable number of people put their trust in 'channelled' teachings. They will insist 'But you ca
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If anyone can spot bullshitology a mile away, its the Irish. Let people know about this site.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

First, as you do research, look both on Google and also click 'groups' and go to the Google listserves. The listserves are discussion groups and you often find information there that you cant find on Google itself. Note the types of discussion groups which yield the most information for you. That can give a clue what types of people are interested. I found the material on Humanity&#
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

dont let the rowdies wear you out. Cant wait to see how you all look in your satin bathrobes and those nifty Everlast boxing shorts (grin)
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

1) In online 'communities' you dont have the non verbal cues or physical presence that generate empathy. Its harder to demonize someone when you see them face to face, see thier eyes, hear their voices. (Harder, not impossible). But usually we lay off if we see someone in person. But in an online community, you dont have this humanizing factor. An important 'safety catch' is m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Agehananda Bharati though, took issue with gurus who pretended to be experts but were not. Its one thing when a genuine guru who has 'served time' in a karma-based tradition invokes karma. Its different when a shyster who grows up in a western culture (and that includes Westernized upper class Indian culture, from which most 'export gurus' originate) appropriates karm
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

experience in our bodies, not only our minds, that wakes us up and causes us to realize 'I want out of here.' Thinking ones way out of indoctrination is nearly impossible. I was in other bad situations, and what got me out was often nausea, deep fatigue, or a sense of physical disgust, which is a mixture of nausea and fatigue. It is possible that physical fatigue plays a much gre
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

(Names the person goes by) Tantra Master, Tibetan Master, White Light Tantra, Maraj, Miraj, Marajh, Mirajh, Mirage Tantric Buddhism False Prophet (**Once after seeing this page, his story may change, but the mind control methods he uses are hypnotic and have been developed over years of contacting people by phone.) 'This page is dedicated to exposing an evil that is pur
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

if you have confidance and assemble the right titles, stage props, etc. Thing is, Westerners grow up in a culture that was affected by Roman Catholicism, even in nations that have since gone Protestant. (The Reformation was an attempt to reform Catholicism, so even churches that ultimately rebelled against Catholicism incorporated large portions of Catholic culture and sociology into their mak
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

For fun, read our collections of articles and discussion on 'memes'-aka 'viruses of the mind'. Some of the veterans have found this concept very helpful. Very lively thread on concentration problems reported by members who are LGAT graduates. A couple of articles on how language about consciousness and enlightenment can be easily perverted into thought stoppi
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

this fellow is much younger than Ravi Shankar and is named Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. 'Shri' is an honorific title given to very highly respected persons in India. So being called 'Shri Shri' X means your qualities are so very superlative that one honorific is not enough! If you do a google search and pair Sri Shri Ravi Shankar and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the all words slo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Over thirty years ago, Agehananda Bharati analyzed the coded discourse of Vedantic scholars and monks. In his two books The Ochre Robe and The Light at the Center:Context and Pretext of Modern Mysticism, Bharati, identified several evasion tactics that could easily fall under the heading of what Renard calls ‘Advaita Shuffle’. Agehandanda Bharati was born Leonard Fisher in Vienna where he fou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This thread started as a discussion of reportedly worrisome behavior in an online group. But the discussion is now mutating into an exhausting fight about the desirability/non desirability of BDSM. This is a topic no one can ever reach consensus on. (just as when we compute the number PI, we can never compute it to an exact decimal point.) It is impossible to arrive at a consensus about des
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Read this thread--title is 'Try to identify a group named "The Work"'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(This seems to be a relatively new group. But anything that is a spin-off of TM is worth a close look. Up to date information appreciated.) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a guru who spent some time with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Transcendental Meditation) and then went his own way. - 25k Powerful breathing techniques (pranayama) were part of TM and also part of 'Art of Livng' (a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

An excellent article on a complex subject. Read this and we may be able to identify some of the tricks used to play with our heads. May be especially useful for persons who have served time in LGATs and other groups that purloin doctrinal material from Hinduism and Buddhism,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I want to make it clear that my reflections on 'ethical BDSM' come from information from friends and acquaitances who practiced the art in relationships with living breathing adults. My comments probably do not apply to 'virtual' BDSM where there is no direct contact between people. I think the online BDSM has dangers that do not exist for practitioners of ethical BDSM
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

between BDSM when performed between consenting adults and cultic guru/slave dynamic. I have been able to talk with well informed persons who are practitioners of the art. What my informants told me is that persons who 'do' BDSM conduct a great deal of conscious negotiation beforehand. They are 100% clear with each other about what they want, what they do not want, and even set up
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"