Chapter 1. First chapter of my own first work of fiction. (and some non-fiction to start with)
Before you start to read.
There will be many chapters and they might take a while, or come straight up. If you want to read something specific of any of your favorite cults, let me know! Also, the chapters might be short. It's not that I don't want to write longer chapters, but it's my inability to do so. My mind goes blank after a few pages and I get anxiety because they're never good enough. Silly to say before I publish but hell, it's just a blog-book, so I do whatever I want to. <3
Preface
Hey Ma! I've joined a cult!
Often when we hear about cults and their crazy ways of living, we think about the idiots who are in there, and how they don't just up and leave. Often when we think of cults, we think of people who are a bit slow-minded or highly gullible, who goes in to a place and then doesn't come out. We think that becoming a cult-member is something you just do. A decision you make and then follow through with.
This is as far from the truth as you can get.
To join a cult is a slow process, and it can happen to me, or you, or anyone who is even a slightly bit human.
There are plenty ways of being in a cult. You can be born in to one. That is to say, your parents have made the choice for you. You can also have parents that join up while you're young enough to have to come along on their choices. You can be a grown up and meet a gorgeous person, whom you fall in love with, and who will introduce you to her/his cult. You can meet a person on the street, who tells you that you can save the world, the planet and all people on it. (and just to be clear: who wouldn't want to save the world?) You can read about a way of helping, by perhaps donating, or coming to a lecture about an organization that has already done a whole lot of good in the world.
You can start an education in a school which promises you a different sort of curriculum, one where you get to experience life at first hand and the people of the third world and not only that, but also you can get to help out, for real.
You can go along to a dinner with an old friend, someone you always liked, and at the dinner, be love-bombed (a very common way of making a person feel welcome in to a cult) by amazing individuals, who will show you the love and interest that no one has for a very long time, if ever. Love-bombing is a very efficient way of making you feel part of something greater than yourself. You'll experience it in a few meetings, and eventually it will stop completely, and by then, you'll be part of the group. By this time you feel close to each one of those individuals even if they suddenly appear different from how they did in the beginning. It is very hard to leave at this point.
Or you can walk past a shop-window, and on it is a note about how you can come in and get a personality test. (and don't we love those, all of us that do them over and over again on the internet, about the silliest things like "who is your best friend" or "which dog is your breed".) You walk into the shop and in there you meet real friendly, kind people, who give you, for a very low price, an extensive personality test. The tests are done so that the person testing you, will see directly what they can home in on, and they will let you know, that they can help you. No matter the issue, they can help you. You are then asked to sign up on another course, and then another, and eventually they will cost a bit more, naturally, as they are more advanced. Often you will feel better by doing the courses, you will get help with things you find difficult in life, if it is relationships, work-related or anything in your life that is hard. Suddenly you've paid so much money that the only way forward is to keep taking the courses and keep paying for them. You're fooling yourself that you're not being fooled.
One thing that is certain is that all cults, that's ALL cults, make it very hard for you to leave the group once you're inside it. It can be done in various ways, but here are a few examples:
You no longer have friends or family outside of the cult. If you leave, you'll be shunned, disfellowshipped, disconnected, or whatever word the cult is using.
By leaving, you're doomed forever and you will not get to paradise with your friends and family, but instead go straight to hell.
If you try to tell the others that you're leaving, you will be put in a situation where you'll be told that you're selfish, disgusting, a disgrace, a devil or whatever things that are opposite of the cults belief system. More than often, this will happen openly in a group session/meeting.
You've been told, for a long time, that outside of the cult is pure misery with drugs, homelessness, shootings, brutality and other horrifying things.
You have no money or resources to leave the actually physical place that the cult has placed you. You probably don't even have the cash for a bus-ticket to the nearest town.
You're in a compound with strict guards that will physically and mentally stop you from leaving.
Someone, a friend or a spouse, will figure out that you're going to leave, and they will stop you by talking to your leaders about it, which will make you a special target for the watch-dogs.
You're afraid. Simply.
A lot of these groups are what is called "missionary", as they want more members to join and actively searches for new ones, however, this is not true for all cults. Some cults remain small and secretive. Note, that not all cults are destructive.
What makes a cult? There is a lot of research done in to this. A few of the definitions are the same in most research in the area, and some are not.
One thing that we hear about, is what is named brainwashing. It comes from the Chinese term xǐ năo, which means, quite literally "wash brain". But what is it that makes a person brainwashed in the first place?
Well, there are some criteria to how and what. These, that I am using, are put together by Robert Lifton, the world's number one expert on mind control. Not all of these criteria must be part of each cult, but in all honesty, most of them are.
Milieu Control. The control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.
Mystical Manipulation. There is a manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture and experiences as he or she wishes.
Demand for Purity. The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here.
Confession. Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor, or publicity to the group. There is no confidentiality; members' "sins", "attitudes" and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders.
Sacred Science. The group´s doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism.
Loading the Language. The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists of thought-terminating cliches which serve to alter members´thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking.
Doctrine over person. Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
Dispensing of existence. The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also. (Lifton 1989)
There are quite a few pointers on which cult is which. Here is a list of a few.
Doomsday cult
Political cult
Destructive cult
Terrorist cult
Racist cult
Polygamist cult
Many of these cults have several of the traits baked in to one. Like, a Destructive cult and a Political cult can easily be the same.
One front runner of cults though, is a real issue – cash. Money is one of the things that a lot of cults have in common. It wants yours. It wants it all. And if you don't have the money, they want your parents, your grandparents, your banks, your college fond, your life savings, your siblings savings. They want all your credits. You name it, they want it. And once they have it – you have nothing to return to. Also, you often will feel so stupid of having given it all away, that the fear of losing face is greater than the fear of being in the cult forever. Forever. A lot of cults also have what can be named, common economy. This means that you do not get paid while you're in the cult. You work for an allowance, as a child or a young adult. You'll get as little as possible, meaning that you, basically, work for free, for the cult. This is specially used in cults where you haven't got a life outside the cult, but instead you live within it, and work within it. For the cults where you only work for it in your free time after you get home from your own job outside of the cult, you get nothing in return. (apart from perhaps a place in heaven!)
Belonging to a cult can give you a sense of purpose. It can give you the friends you might have wished you had all your life. It can free you from choosing a life path for yourself. It might very possibly be the smartest thing you've ever done. Before going on with writing stories about people who are still in, or have been, or is thinking about joining, a cult. I want to clarify the roles of a cult. Here we go.
1. The leaders.
The know-it-all. The one who gets the money and the power. This person or persons are often the starters of the cult, (Charles Manson for example) but not always. They can have been appointed leader, or they can have taken the position him/herself. (like David Miscavige in Scientology). They can be the ones who first come up with the way of releasing the world from pain (Going Clear in Scientology) (or protesting the right of abortion in the fundamental Christian movements) or do something really good in the world. More often than not, a cult leader doesn't decide one day that he will make a cult for himself (or herself) but they do want to create a group around them and their ideas. The cult leaders are often very charismatic, well spoken, good looking individuals. (Amdi Petersen in Tvind/Humana/Planet Aid etc) In Scientology the first and foremost leader is L.Ron Hubbard. He was a well known author of science fiction. In his books of fiction, you can find some of the details of which he built the "religious and most secretively" part of Scientology.
2. The hard-core followers.
These are people who truly believe the message of the organisation. They will devote their lives to the cult. I am not talking about giving money, or going to church each Sunday. No, these people are the clergy of the place. They will eat, sleep, work, love and fear, all within the premises of the organisation.
They will not be able to do anything without permission from the leaders, or the leaders most trusted persons. To say that these people are prisoners of their own doing, is actually quite right. In Scientology the belief is that they're going to help the world, by the technology that the leaders have created. Everybody will be "clear" of their human selves, or at least the part of humans who reacts and acts in a bad way. Free from bad feelings, bad ideas, sickness, psychological illnesses, drugs and alcohol. It's really a nice notion, isn't it? In other organisations, such as doomsday-cults, you know that only the few selected (us versus them again) will go to heaven, or something equal to that.
The emotion you have to create for the individuals is a sense of inclusiveness, and also equally important, of exclusion of the ones who are not already in.
It's a us versus them theme that make the people stick to the doctrine, even when they're sometimes skeptical of the idea, leadership, work-hours etc. A brilliant way of making people stick to the cause is by not letting people get too close to each other. So the constant moving round of parents/child, or partners, or friends, so that you'll never be really certain that there is someone there for you. Make sure that the ones who should be close to you, who you should be able to trust are either far away from you, or made to snitch on you, if you should utter a word of criticism or lack of interest/energy of doing what you've been told to do. In Scientology you sign a billion year contract so that you'll stay for every one of your life-times. In other cults you just have to be there, 24 hours per day, year in and year out.
This is the group that every cult need, or it will not work. They do everything, from the menial tasks to working with the leaders on projects et al. The cults will always make sure that you don't sleep too much, you don't eat a nutritional healthy food and that you never have access to critics which includes the media, Internet etc, This is how you control minds. Hallelujah!
3. Parishioners
These are the people who will attend the things they find interesting, normally you could equal them with the church-goers at any religious institution. Sunday service, or the book-club on Tuesdays, or the bake-sales for charity or for a new church organ. These are the people who pay for it all.
But - within a cult, these parishioners are like a normal persons on speed. They will be forced to constantly buy the new book, the new course, the tickets to the big functions created by the leaders, through the hard-core followers, and "enjoyed" by the largest group there is, the parishioners.
Within the church of Scientology, the parishioners will be forced to follow "course" - move up the bridge. Moving up the bridge is the very way Scientology works. There are thousands of steps in order to get to the highest part of the bridge, and it will cost everything you ever earn, it will be paid by loans and credits, and if you're into it, you'll be sure to bring in your mother, father, sister, friends. In other cults, a parishioner will be expected to save other people, like how Jehovas Witnesses go door to door, trying to do good for people. Prayer groups, rituals, public shaming, they're all part of the cults inner system. Once everyone you know is in the organsation, you'll have a real hard time leaving it, because if you do, you'll lose the ones who you're leaving behind. The chances are that you'll be "disconnected" by them, as the church is very clear on that the ones outside the church are enemies/works of the devil, idiots etc.
One of the things that is so fascinating with Scientology is that the religious part is hidden from most people until they've hit the highest part of the bridge. So they have to believe in other things than that inner sanctum, that we're used to see, in form of Jesus, God, Mohammed, Siddhartha. What brings the Scientologist together is only the idea of saving the planet, not to worship a higher being. But really, if you've reached the highest level of the bridge, you've spent all your time for twenty years, and all your money forever, you'll be in debt no doubt, and you'll be ruined if you don't stay in the church. And you've been given the biggest secrets of your religion. And no matter how weird and strange the secrets seem, you need to hold on to them and keep a front of importance, because if you don't, you'll be a laughingstock no doubt. So you go on.
You see, cults are as different as anything else. A lot of young people who join certain cults are already kids on a sliding slope to drug-use, crappy jobs and single parenthood. Nothing wrong with any of that, if it is by choice, but for many people, things just go ….wrong.
The cults are great at picking those people up and having them join forces. And it's not all bad. It depends what you think is bad, and what is expected of you, by the congregation and it's leaders.
A good way of knowing if it is a cult you're attempting to join is to question them. Read up everything about them online or in libraries before putting your name on the dotted line. Make sure that there is room both for growth and for variations in people. Ask the questions that contradicts their doctrine, and see if there is an open environment for this, or if that door is shut.
And yet, even if you do all of that, there are cults who already as you open the door to their churches or sacred places or missions, tell you not to believe anything you read or see, but instead experience it. That must be alright, right? Or is it just another trick of the advertising team?
Being in a cult – it's a bloody mystery.
This is my story, no persons or places are depicted from anything but my own mind. If you think you're one of these people in the book, well you're not. Stop being so self-centered and think what's good for us all. Be in my cult.