that a family or a group is diseased. The first thing to go in a messed up family or a cult is play instinct--for both children and adults. Play is an essential nutrient for mind, emotions, body and soul. Even young animals play. Ive seen whales tumbling with each other in the Pacific Ocean the way puppies and kittens wrestle with each other. When I was still in a church, it attracted som
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Cosmo can go through the list. .
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

To research Geeta and her organization you can do the following if you have not yet tried it: The Google groups are a gold mine. Go to Google, click the 'groups' tab and then do an advanced search within the Google groups. They cover everything from mysticism, yoga, cult issues, and Indian/asian culture. You can also subscribe to the groups and post a query. Or you can post someth
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The mandate of a true mental health professional is 'above all, do no harm.' It sounds as though your sister needs to work on her boundaries. And there's plenty of worthwhile New Age info that supports exactly that. Its too bad that she keeps gravitating toward stuff that overwhelms her boundaries. You cannot be helpful to yourself and others if you're excessively sensitve
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

There are a lot of misconceptions about enlightenment that crooked spiritual teachers exploit when setting up personality cults and scams. If you can identify these bogus arguments, you can protect yourself. Emotional Battery is Not Crazy Wisdom The archetype of the 'enlightened crazy wise master' has been debased into an all purpose manipulative tactic for con artists, narcissis
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

You provided some wonderful information. Feel free to drop by any time. Too bad we cant yet offer you a 'virtual cup of coffee'!
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I read a New Yorker article describing the work of Dr Paul Ekman. For the past 25 years, Ekman has mapped the human face and has compiled a dictionary of human facial expressions and has linked clusters of these expressions to specific emotions. Ekman is a tenured faculty member at the medical school at UC San Francisco. His work has been of tremendous value for mental health professionals trying
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

A church like Unity may be OK, but a if a particular Unity church does not screen persons or groups who request use of its facilities, that particular Unity church can, unwittingly, wind up as a platform for cult activity. To use a computer analogy, You can run a variety of application programs using an operating system like Windows 98 (Unity). If one of the programs happens to harbor a virus (e
Forum: Destructive Churches

Thanks for alerting us to the Google group alt.fan.landmark There are good reasons why a sane society mandates that children must NOT be exposed to powerful experiences such as adult sexual energy, alcohol or drugs--or indoctrination and trance induction. It is precisely what Grizz says: your sense of identity and personal boundaries are are still being formed, and overwhelming experiences l
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I was in a peace group that maintained a 24 hour vigil at military installation. Initially we had a large number of people, and functioned well. Over the course of a year and a half, things changed. The more talented, socially adept people in our group found other things to do--they returned to school, or formed partnered relationships that needed attention. Or they decided to travel or just m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

conning basically healthy people into believing they are ill with something only the snake oil salesman can fix. Real healers will focus on YOUR strengths, no matter how ill you are, and try and teach you to activate those strengths and achieve some mastery in relation to your condition. Crooks and cults will focus on your alleged weaknesses, no matter how healthy you are. If you're not c
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

its not at all uncommon for crooks to engage in 'sheep stealing'--they infiltrate legitimate spiritual groups and snap up people who are vulnerable or too inexperienced to identify bullshitology. Buddist 'big sky mind' is not created from denial or dissociation--quite the contrary. People who are experienced practitioners are the most 'present' grounded people yo
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

on the thread collection named 'LGATS' someone named 375lighter went through Forum and describes the process. He/she was NOT impressed. IMO Thing about many controversial LGATs is that they are an indoctrination set up. You pay a big sum of money, which right away pressures you to believe you're involved in something worthwhile. Next, you spend 2 to 3 days binned up in a hotel
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

your cousins and give them a silent message, by your own well lived, happy life that there is indeed a larger world out there, that may plant a seed that can blossom later. They've done studies of resilient children--people who had hideous childhoods and who came out against all odds as strong, life affirming people. And overwhelmingly, these resilient people had this going for them: they
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The behavior you describe sounds worrisome. No genuine guru ever makes a display of power or attempts to override a person's rational intellect or freedom of will. Real teachers create an environment that supports insight, kindness and adult responsibility--they dont behave as Premanand did. And real gurus dont lie. According to the website, Premanand claims to be in the lineage of M
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

This school may be OK, but its always good to research any group, especially if its residential. Go to Google. Then click 'groups' and do an advanced groups search. That will enable you to search the many Google listserves for information others may have posted about Heartland. If you find anything that resembles what you are looking for, you can register to join the listserves. I
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

First, if this is a non profit group, they are supposed to file for nonprofit status with the Attorney General--and such information should be a matter of public record, available on the Attorney General's website. There is an author, William Patrick Patterson, who is a reputable Gurdjieff scholar. He wrote a book, Taking With the Left Hand, which describes some trends that Patterson cons
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This URL will take you to an online book Call No Man Master: In Praise of Teachers but Wary of Gurus by Joyce Collin-Smith Mrs. Collins-Smith worked with a variety of groups and teachers for 50 years, a good number of whom studied/channelled psychic powers. Her experiences are fascinating--and full of cautionary lessons. 1) Some of her best loved teachers became overwhelmed by psychic e
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

hunches for you to mull over, concerning this group: You said that part of the doctrine seems to be that there are seven levels of human development. Here are remarks from a person who studied Gurdjieff/Fourth Way work in England. Her comments seem to jibe with what you have described: 'The Gurdjieff concept, which Ouspensky had accepted, was that several levels of 'man' alre
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This UK-based resource site has, in its articles, a useful list of tips: I've put double stars after some items that seem relevant to LGATS. And suggestions of my own in parentheses--corboy) Exploding The Myths People don't join cults. They are recruited. ** People are recruited by a method not a message.** People do not stay in cults because they have nothing better to
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

you mention that much of his group work is in West LA. Does he seem to be targeting the gay/lesbian community? Or does he go after anyone with money? If you can identify whether he targets a specific group of people that might help. If he's focusing on the gay community, you might consider alerting some of the gay papers--it might make a good feature story for a resourceful investigative
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

My hunch is that 'Michael' probably keeps promising recruits under survaillance, gleans information about them through his spies, then uses that to make it seem that he has psychically intuited what their deepest concerns are. Many bogus psychics use adroit questions (the technique is called 'cold questioning') or yes, they use spies to snoop on people. It sounds as though
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

this site doesnt push 'anything'> It offers research tools and information. Visitors can take what they like and leave the rest--or choose to disagree entirely. What the site provides is not a program but : 1) links to information that certain groups, teachers and training programs WITHOLD from potential recruits, information that a prospective recruit needs to know in order
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

it is a longshot. Certain 'New Age' places rent facilities to a wide, wide range of groups, some legit and some not. So the ranch may or may not be owned by the LGAT. And we dont know if the charismatic 'Michael' is sole owner or co-owner. Good luck in your search. Do the Google dance. You can do simple and advanced searches in the Google groups as well as Google itself
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Ran a quick Google search and came up with nothing. My suggestion is subscribe to some Google groups dealing with consciousness, psychology, mysticism and post a question about this set up. Google has a world wide reach and someone might find your post and respond. Good luck. All I can say is, anything where they have multi-day retreats in the desert, operate secretively under the aegis of a
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

--or 'Silva?' There's something called 'Silva Mind Control' (its original name) and now called 'Silva Method.' It has been used in various training packages for the work place and some legal issues have surfaced. Silva appears to use methods of self induced trance induction, visualization and self hypnosis. But back to my question--could that 'S
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

interested in it. But from what I have read and heard, it can be for real (as well as easily faked), and even when it is for real, it is a high risk venture. I'd rather stick with Buddhist practice any day. Channelling is just a distraction from the Big Picture. The only people who are competant to do it are all dedicated to a religious vocation in which their primary loyalty is either to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

'I won't be manipulated into agreeing with someone if they decide to use the friendship as ransom for it.' 'If they decide to use the friendship as ransom for it'. That hits the nail on the head. In true friendship, you are not treated as an object. Intimacy is not meant to be a game of chess. And friendship/love is not supposed to serve a hidden agenda. I may be m
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

and psychic talent doesnt guarantee infallibility. From what I have read, it is quite hazardous to develop psychic talents unless the person 1) has gone through normal milestones of psycho social development and has a good 'functioning ego' 2) has learned how to earn a living by honest means 3) can form and maintain friendships and intimate partnerships through normal adult communi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

advise him to make NO major decisions while he is exhausted. He needs to get sleep (in his own bed) and some food of his own choosing. And he shouldnt sign any papers either. Tell him this is what his future will contain: people monitoring his conversations. Shortage of sleep. Constant pressure to perform.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"