Cults

[Chaostracize]

I'm curious to hear about people's experiences with cults, whether it be yourselves or friends and family members.

ED: Note from Chaos re: this thread "I don't want to the thread to degenerate into a religion thread (or is that even possible)? That is, yeah I think Mormonism and Scientology (Christianity?) is just as [censored] up as anyone else, but I'm talking about lesser known Cults (ie CUT and Landmark)."

I remember when I was younger my parents were involved in the CUT cult (Church Universal Triumphant). The leader of this cult was Elizabeth Clare Profit. Linky.

I don't remember much to be honest, my mom was never as into it as my dad was (they've since gotten divorced, and I was raised mostly by my mother), but even at the time, when I was around 8, I knew that the whole place was kind of [censored] up. I wish I had been more cognizant of what the deal was, but I always remembered heated debates about how over the next couple of years half of the country would be swept underwater (hence why my dad wanted to move from Connecticut to Montana).

Did anyone else have any specific experience with this cult? As far as they go this one wasn't too bad as far as I'm aware...there weren't any mass killings, but there was still a lot of money being taken from gullible people, and there were a lot of mantras, and colors, and chakras.

I would be really interesting to hear stories about how the cult affected your either directly or indirectly, as well.

There's a woman here in Ithaca who's also been trying to get me to go to something called the Landmark Forum, which is supposedly on a cult watchlist, and I was going through the site ( <a href="www.landmarkeducation.com" target="_blank">Linky</a&gt and it seemed weird, but not that bad. Cheesy, insubstantial, but I was kind of entertaining the idea of going to their 3 hour long weekly seminar, out of curiosity. Anyone heard of this or have any thoughts?

[centaurmyth]

I haven't done the Forum, but I have visited their weekday workshops. I have done other EST derivatives (also "listed" as cults). From what I know about the Landmark Forum and from those who have done it, "the Forum" is amongst the elite in reputation, scope, and capacity to broaden, enrich, and educate. There are countless members on 2p2 who have done it, I'm sure, and am curious as to their insight on it and other personal dynamic seminars like them.

As far as the term "cult" goes, I am always wary of this word. It is most often used by close friends and family members of people who have done life-changing work in these programs, and assignment of the term "cult-member" is rooted in fear and judgment of an individual who makes substantive and challenging changes to their persona through insights absent of that circle of influence. After all, who "knows you better" than your family and friends, shouldn't they have the right to tell you who you are/should be the most?

Less frequently, it is also used defensively by people who have betrayed hard-earned lessons they've (l)earned by working deep in their persona by giving up, reverting, and then casting off the lot of people who witnessed their former journey.

Either way, I find it to be a cop-out of the lowest order: "I can't make them do it anymore" or "they made me do it." The former "definition" gets more attention because often members of these organizations will seek to have their friends/family participate after "the initiate" neutralizes recognized power-struggles/dependencies they learned about in these programs. Not to say there aren't kool-aid drinking organizations deserving of the stigma that a word like "cult" attaches, but I'm firmly in the free-will camp down to the very last breath I will take.

That said, if you can tolerate looking beyond what you thought to be true to find something having deeper meaning without losing your own ability to stand up and make a choice amongst people who feel *very* strongly about something, then by all means, give it a go. If you can't, it's not a bad skill to learn.

[Alobar]

I just spent several days in Utah and interacted with a TON of Mormons, they were pretty nice for the most part. I wasn't blatantly recruited, but since I wasnt wearing the special underwear I was treated somewhat coldly

[El Diablo]

Chaos,

I lived w/ a girl for a couple of years (as roommate) who was very into Landmark, relatively advanced in the group. Also dated a Landmark chick for a bit. It is very much a cult imo. Shares a lot of traits w/ Scientology.

I'll post a more detailed account of my experiences w/ Landmark people soon when I have a little more time.

I've done a lot of research on a wide range of cults and find the subject incredibly fascinating.

[PokerAmateur4]

I did some kind of Landmark program for young adults as a young teen over a few days once or twice. My mom had wanted me to go and I must have been pretty young to actually go. I don't remember much about it except they were talking about "rackets" a lot, I think the spiel was that they are things you do to cause the negative actions of others. It was a lot about personal responsibility if I remember correctly. I also recall strongly thinking it was nonsense and in the class sessions we were challenging the lady instructor a great deal.

[OmahaDoc80]

Mormanism is the biggest cult in the world. They actually believe a man went into the woods and came out a prophet.

Am I alone or is this just mind boggling?

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]

Am I alone or is this just mind boggling?

[/ QUOTE ]

you arent alone

tho really if you break any religion down they are all pretty cultish, but yeah mormonism is really over the top IMO, its like right up there with scientology

[jackflashdrive]

A pretty well balanced review of Landmark can be found here

This review almost makes me want to try it, if only to observe my own reaction to it.

My knowledge of Landmark is limited, but my roommate back in Seattle was into it so I know a bit about it. From our discussions, I came away with the impression that the program had more positive aspects and less negative aspects than a cult like Scientology typically would. However, it did seem to be a lot of fluffy mumbo jumbo to me but then I guess there is a big market for simple heuristics repeated ad nauseum.

[jba]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Am I alone or is this just mind boggling?

[/ QUOTE ]

you arent alone

tho really if you break any religion down they are all pretty cultish, but yeah mormonism is really over the top IMO, its like right up there with scientology

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't consider it a cult in the way that our society views that word at all. fwiw I am a mormon (although inactive for years).

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Cults can be very profitable, both as a leader and as a follower. More so as a leader.

(I prob. butchered that).

anyways, yeah this is a cool subject. I think some MLM business are really cults. people get really sucked in, they live together, they become blind to the truth smacking them in the face, etc.