Fixed gaze trance work is apparently practiced in some Western esoteric groups. The problem with the way certain groups are set up is that beginning students are not told the complete story about what will be studied and the actual nature of the group doctrine. The alibi is often that the new students are at too low a level of consciousness to understand the information. So they may not be tol
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

let us hope that more people will visit this thread, read it, and contribute their observations and insights. From the Google listserve thread, 'Habib' describes what was done to him. (Habib's quote) I was given shaktipat without even asking for it or giving my permission, by a guru (of a friend) who is a lineage-holder for the American-born Swami Rudrananda (Rudi). &
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The writer is telling a correspondant that 'freezing one's thoughts' is not the same as enlightenment. It makes me wonder whether the prolonged trancy stare of the gurus you've all met cause our thoughts to freeze, merely because our eyes become fixed on them, whether by fascination, adoration, or terror (which is probably what happens to his victims when certain abusive t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

years ago, a woman who had been in Elizabeth Clare Prophet's cult (Church Universal and Triumphant--they were the ones building underground shelters near Yellowstone Park so they could survive armageddon)--she told us how her family had assisted her in waking up. Her account follows the lines of Harriet's advise. Her family shared their concern, but not to the point of making her fee
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(quote) So he comes down to Los Angeles this weekend with a couple friends that are into it big time and they seemed really nice and told me how it really changed there life and was worth a million bucks, blah blah blah *Could it be that your friend's & buddies deliberately arranged to target you for recruitment? Certain LGATS reportedly coach their newly indoctrinated members
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Unity is a very open place. Many self help groups (eg 12 Step meetings) lease meeting rooms at Unity churches. This applies to other churches, too. This hospitality could potentially be abused by persons and groups with ulterior motives if they lease space for meetings and events at a Unity church, or any other church.. In such a case, the church would not know what was being done. Whe
Forum: Destructive Churches

we advise that you re-read all the Sterling related posts and archived information very carefully. First, bear in mind that Sterling has been getting a LOT of publicity, thanks to RR.com and other sites like it. They may have toned down their approach, perhaps coaching to their newly indoctrinated members (eg your friend) to 'go slow' at work and when with friends, precisely so
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

the url is There are CL 'general community' bulletin boards for most of the major cities in the US. The LA, SF and NYC CL's are the most active. There are also various forums/fora on CL--health, spirituality, psychology, parents, etc. Unlike the 'General Community' bulletin boards which are city-specific, you can post from any city and it will land on the foru
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

if anyone tries to advertise Kabbalah Centre on Craigslist, do a counter post and tell folks to come here and read up on them. Keep your post sober and factual--'Before you get involved with Kabbalah Centre please read this first'. You might mention KC is the outfit Madonna is involved with--enough by itself to put a lot of people on notice. A lot of people who disagree with posts
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

is actually the source of their material. Never take someone's word for it. We have to fact check everything.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Apologies for sounding grim and paranoid, but this is one of the rare situations in civilian life where a degee of paranoia can come in handy. Again, be sure to check all this with an attorney.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I dont have any further advice than this. After you read this, look for a lawyer--corboy) This website is for persons who are partners of someone with borderline personality disorder So even if someone does not actually have BPD, a cult- created new personality may react in ways that resemble BPD--and you'll be in for the same roller coaster ride as
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Rick by e-mail. This is Rick's site. I will abide by whatever he decides. Until I get instructions from Rick, to do otherwise, I will stand by my original decision to block posts that are offensive name calling because they are the equivalent of schoolyard bullying.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

things written by nycupperes who is one of our new members. 'nycupperes' told us he/she was perturbed by LGAT jargon in dating ads. NYC diligently ran a quick statistical analysis of vocabulary and linguistic content, comparing personals ads by graduates and those written by non-LGAT graduates. HIs reported findings were fascinating and funny.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Out of consideration for members who have privately communicated their concerns to me, I will no longer permit further posts to go through that continue this pattern of name calling. I will keep the offensive posts queued and refer them to Rick for his consideration. Helpful posts will go through. If anyone disapproves of this, they are welcome to discuss the matter with Rick. Vigorous dis
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

looks like a new organization.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

this site exists as an archive, a salon, and above all, a sanctuary for persons who have had painful experiences with LGATs and who feel they have been harmed, or that one of their loved ones has been harmed. Calling people names is not helpful, and does nothing to remedy the problem. It only makes new visitors feel unwelcome, and we dont want that to happen. Many, many persons are concern
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

and an excellent checklist for evaluating whether a particular group is likely to benefit you, this site has a lot of info--a shopping mall of data. Grab some coffee and reach for your mice.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

including Avatar. You have to scroll down a long time to the bottom to 'other programs' and there you'll reach Avatar You can also go to Google and put 'eldon' into one slot and 'avatar' into another slot and get lots and lots o' stuff. The psychology department at your school is being threatened with something that will rob it of scientific a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

An interesting collection of articles (pro and con) about Gurdjieff work can be found here: Before anyone gets involved with Gurdjieff work, I recommend the articles 'Gurdjieff and Work' written by Arvan Harvat. He points out logical inconsistencies in Gurdjieff work and says, among many other things: 'If exercised radically and isolatedly, without other "uni
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There is some kind of power when a person is capable of staring others down. This first URL is a description of how someone was nearly recruited by a bogus guru who had perfected 'The Stare' This second thread has a bunch of articles about various forms of hypnotic gaze used in some LGAT training and by bogus gurus. In some forms of 'guru-devotion' the devotee s
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

In 1997 I attended a class entitled 'The Trial of Jesus--A Life Sentence For Jews? by Nitzia Shaked, a lawyer. Shaked had a mentor, Haim Cohen, who had been a lawyer in Germany, then fled the Nazis, took refuge in Palestine and became a judge in the new State of Israel. In his student days, Dr. Cohen studied Talmudic law, which required fluency in both Aramaic and Hebrew. Later, he decid
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

For One Catholic, 'Passion' Skews the Meaning of the Crucifixion By MARY GORDON Published: February 28, 2004 The Passion of the Christ" is not just another movie. No one in America is saying, "What do you want to see this weekend, `The Passion of the Christ' or `50 First Dates'? " None of us can see it innocently. If audiences were juries, there is
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And some of it is downright hilarious. If you go here you can read how he got involved in Anton La Vey's Church of Satan and discovered that La Vey was an imposter. - 36k
Forum: Celebrities associated with "cult-like" groups

I am writing to let everyone know that there is a man out there that claims to be a tantra master trained in tibet that is a fraud and con man. he seduced my wife via phone and talked her into meeting him saying only through him she would recieve the white light of spirituality. he is only a master at fraud. she met him, had sex numerous times, he talked her out of a donation (several th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

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

THere are quite a few Google citations for various entities going by the name 'Legacy Center.' When you do Google searches for this one, make sure to mention 'North Carolina'--that will reduce the URL's to a manageable number. Here's what I found in a preliminary search. You can continue it on your own. Dont forget to go to the Google groups and search there. A g
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

As a Zen poet once remarked, "A person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between work and play, between labour and leisure, between love and religion. They hardly know which is which; they are always doing both." First, 'They hardly know which is which'....that doesnt sound like a true Zen poet. We need to know 1) who the 'Zen poet' was
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There are fashions for buzz words (memes) just as there are fashions for clothes and kids' toys. In the Human Potential/New Age racket, 'passionate' is a fashionable buzz word. My translation of 'passionate' is 'someone will scream at you a lot.'
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"