--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > "> Another form of addiciton that lends itself to > > this interpretation is the anti-cult cult. In my > > experience, *most* of the leaders of this anti- > > movement movement, when they tell their personal > > stories, come to a pivotal moment for them that > > goes something like this: "In meditation I got > > to a point where I lost all sense of who I was. > > This scared me so much that I never wanted that > > to happen again, so I quit meditating, and now > > I work to warn others that they might get to > > a similar place." What if the "work" they do as > > an "anti-cult counselor" is their way of not > > only avoiding full transcendence/loss of self, > > but a way to prevent others from going further > > than they dared to go?" > > I never met anyone who did exit counseling who fits this pattern.
I understand, and I applaud your good luck. :-) > I don't know of any cult counselors who live in conditions that > could be manipulated by cult techniques. For the most part they > live in hotels on location trying to help families without a lot > of emotional support from peers. It is a pretty tough job. And in the past, a very lucrative one. I am *not* disputing your experience, or the counselors who do what they do in good faith. However, that is *not* how it's always been. During my time with the Rama trip, because Fred himself was so flamboyant, his students' parents became targets for the *for-profit* "exit counselors." I personally know three people who were literally kidnapped during that period, kept tied up in dingy motel rooms, threatened with beatings and/or rape, and generally subjected to coercion that was *far* worse than that which they were supposedly being "saved" from. All for $25,000 a pop, paid by the parents to the deprogrammers. Since the demise of CAN and since a few of these slimes got convicted, this practice has probably been curtailed or ended. But it really *was* how things were done in the "exit counselling" biz for a while. Those of us who have friends who are *still*, decades later, trying to get over the post-traumatic stress of being kidnapped by people paid by their own parents have to balance our feelings about that period of "exit counselling" with more benign stories such as the ones you mention. > As far as them being afraid of their experiences goes, I > can only talk about the people who came out of TM and do > this work. None of them expressed this feeling. Again, our experiences were different. I found such stories on several anti-cult websites, related by the "counsellors" themselves, pretty much as I related them here. I think a lot of the difference might also be that you knew people whose previous experience had been TM and not some heavier technique which can produce *very* strong experiences, strong enough that practitioners might have been scared by them. If you're not prepared for it, the period of time spent after a strong experience of total transcendence can be a little unsettled. You keep looking for something to "hang on to" as your self, and you can't find anything. For some people, that can be equivalent to dying. > The guys I knew had the normal experiences in TM but came > to view the meaning of those experiences differently. The > people I met who do this work have high levels of compassion > and self awareness. They believe they are restoring choice > to people who have lost the ability to view their > participation in a group and it's effects on their lives > clearly. It has a lot in common with a spiritual breakthrough > when it is successful in my opinion, very liberating. You were fortunate. The two guys I testified against (because I witnessed the kidnapping) were ex-cons who had gotten into the "business" because at the time there was little likelihood of serving time for doing this kind of stuff, and it paid $25K a pop. > I see that most people involved in spirituality on this group > have the same aversion to cult tactics as cult counselors. In > this case knowledge is power. Being against cult manipulation > is not an indictment of spirituality, but the abuse of people > in the name of spirituality. Many cult counselors still value > spirituality in their own lives. Pleased to hear it. I'm only filling you in on a period of time in which the "anti-cult" movement wasn't quite the way you portray it now. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
