• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

People with experience with Cults please read

Stirner

Banned
S
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
22
Hi all, I know (or used to know) two people quite well who joined cults some years ago. They are different cults and the two didn't know each other, but were quite similar in a lot of ways, and the cults they joined are similar in a lot of ways. They've both been in the cults for some years now and it doesn't look like they will ever leave, although judging from their blogs it's quite obvious the cults are only hindering their lives iin almost every way imaginable. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone reading these forums has ever been in a cult or has had a close acquaintence, family member or spouse who has joined a cult. I would love to ask some questions to anyone who has been in a cult, mostly pertaining to what made you quit and how you got out. And again, if anyone has second-hand information of that type about someone they know, I would really appreciate hearing it. I'm curious as to how many people who join cults end up quitting and how many stick with it for the rest of their lives. I know that it might be embarassing if you have been in a cult and have not brought it up in these forums before, so by all means create another forum ID to speak on this topic more anonymously (I hope the moderators would be ok with this, I should think so). Or if you would rather just send me a Private Message, if you can share any information at all, that'd be great! Thanks.
 
Hm, if you give us the names of the two cults, we might be able to find some specific information for you.

http://xenu.net/ <- lot of testemonials from former scientologists on that site and in the forum.
 
Actually I am requesting to hear people's experiences with any cults. Thanks for the site with testimonials from former scientologists. I have read a lot of those already, I think I've even been to that site. I was hoping to speak with someone with cult experience directly, and not so much scientology, more along the lines of jesus with a mystical bent. I'm sorry I'm not really at liberty to divulge the names of the cults that the people who I know and am concerned about are in, but they are both mystical christian types of cults. Both cult members I know were into astrology and tarot and crystals prior to joining the cults, and the cults are concerned with 'western mysteries', which generally means esoteric christian texts and alchemical stuff. One of the cults is more into 'channelling' and 'hypnosis' and is a bit more hokey and trying to market trinkets like hypnosis tapes while the other is trying to be more academic and 'secret' (even though they solicit most members from their web page), and claims to have important cult 'lineage' back to Rosecrucians. One of the cults seems like a more naive and less informed version of the other. Both cult members I knew are female. The one in the less-developed, more 'hokey' cult seems to be into it to make things happen for her in practical ways, such as financial windfall and being generally superhuman (they like 'reality creation' from that Seth character). The other cult member from the more 'sophisticated' cult is involved in something they call 'the great work' in which they think that doing their rituals will bring about world peace (which makes me wonder how they're feeling these days, they've been at it for years and every day it seems like the world is getting less peaceful).
 
Last edited:
What is the specific behavior you are worried about?

Knowing how to get someone out could also be used to keep someone in.
 
Stirner said:
I was hoping to speak with someone with cult experience directly, and not so much scientology, more along the lines of jesus with a mystical bent.
Click to expand...

Oh so you mean like regular church members?

Actually my only experience with a cult (outside of regular church) is meeting the surviving members of the Branch Davidians. They were nice people but a little weird. They refused to consider the possibility that they might be wrong about their beliefs. Sound familiar?

LLH
 
If you google Rosecrucians and "the great work" you mostly come up with some wierd satanist compound in Cali called OTO93.

Stirner, if your friends are mixed up in a Satanic cult, you can tell us. People here have diverse religious backgrounds and may be able to give you the information you seek, if you let it be known exactly what you want. I'm sure I remember a person or two dabbling in that area...

If I'm on the wrong track, it might be helpful to let us know that, as well. Either way more info would be a good thing.
 
I was briefly involved in a Christian cult, attracted to a female who was involved and she tried to drag me into it. However I have always made my own way and did not want or need someone telling me what to do and found out she wasn't interested in me from a romantic perspective so I left. I was not there long enough to see how many stayed and how many left. I think there may have been one other person come and go during my association with this group (6 months).
 
That's not a cult, it's a way of life which just happens to be very cultish!
 
I used to listen to Roy Masters on the radio for about ten years. And, although he tended to push people away from him and, even called those who became too enamored with him "Roybots," he was still very much an extremist, and a paranoid, and encouraged folks to follow his "shining" example. In fact many folks moved up to the Southern Oregon area as a result, when he relocated his foundation's headquarters up there.
 
I've had friends get caught by cults, and spent some time with culties.

I have never successfully seperated someone from a cult though.

Steve Hassan's book "Combatting Cult Mind Control" is an excellent resource on the topic. Basically, getting someone out of a cult is a very hard problem.

Ideally you get them to drop out of the cult and spend at least a month completely cut off from cult influence, surrounded by family and/or friends. That works some of the time. It's not easy to arrange unless they already want to get out though.
 
Something about this thread worries me.
 
There are cults and then there are cult like behaviors:

I was raised in the Christ Science tradition, I took to it as well, but when I turned sixteen I became interested in sex which changed my mind. I am now a wiccan which can be a cult.

I have seen friends become born again, which can be very painful and cultlike.

Oh, on the satanic OTO thing, that is funny, they are not satanic, a friend of mine was involved in the Chicago temple, which was published in a book on satanism, very funny.

But having a friend in a cult is a lot like having a friend who abuses substances, what are the behaviors you feel harm your friend and what are your behaviors?
 
I've never been in a cult (well, except for the cult of Christianity), but you should go out right now and try to find a copy of the DVD of Ticket to Heaven. It's a brilliant film.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom