Man—of all ages and cultures—is confronted with the solution of one and the same question: the question of how to overcome separateness, how to achieve union, how to transcend one's own individual life and find atonement. The question is the same for primitive man living in caves, for nomadic man taking care of his flocks, for the peasant in Egypt, the Phoenician trader, the Roman soldier, the medieval monk, the Japanese samurai, the modern clerk and fac- tory hand. The question is the same, for it springs from the same ground: the human situation, the conditions of human existence. The answer varies. The question can be answered by animal worship, by human sacrifice or military conquest, by indulgence in luxury, by ascetic renunciation, by obsessional work, by artistic creation, by the love of God, and by the love of Man. While there are many answers —the record of which is human history—they are neverthe- less not innumerable. On the contrary, as soon as one ignores smaller differences which belong more to the periphery than to the center, one discovers that there is only a limited number of answers which have been given, and only could have been given by man in the various cultures in which he has lived. The history of religion and philosophy is the history of these answers, of their diversity, as well as of their limitation in number.
Sayfa 9
Defining Cults - Who Joins Cults? - Yes, You
Many adults today are overwhelmed by the confusion and apparent coldness of our society: the senseless violence, the rampant homelessnes, the lack of meaning, the widespread loss of respect for authority figures, the vast numbers of unemployed and marginalized, the insecurity and instability of the job market, the loss of family communication, the lessening role of the established religions, the failing sense of community or even neighborhood. No less bewildered than the adolescents, many mature adults are finding less and less to hold onto in today's technoculture. What does this create but ripe recruits for the multitude of manipulators and swindlers?
Nevertheless, the fact remains that even apart from unsettling socioeconomic conditions and certain relevant family factors, any person who is in a vulnerable state, seeking companionship and a sense of meaning or in a period of transition or time of loss, is a good prospect for cult recruitment.
Sayfa 19
Introduction
Cults come in all sizes, form around any theme, and recruit persons of all ages and backgrounds. Not all cults are religious, as some people think. Their reasons for existing may concern religion, life-style, politics, or assorted philosophies. Not everyone who is approached by a cult recruiter joins, and of those who join, not all stay forever. Cults vary in how much financial and political power they wield. Some are local phenomena with only a dozen members. Others have thousands of members, operate multinational businesses, and control complex multimillion -if not multibillion- dollar organizations.
Cults are not always easy to recognize at first glance. Most people have a general grasp of what a cult is and are aware of the rise of cultic groups in the past decades. However, what people are not generally aware of is how cults achieve the control of people's lives that they appear to have.
In my study of cults, I find that the personality, preferences and desires of the leader are central in the evolution of any of these groups. Cults are truly 'personality cults'. Because cult structure is basically authoritarian, the personality of the leader is all important. Cults come to reflect the ideas, and whims of the leader and become extensions of the leader.
Legend has it that all cult leaders are charismatic. In reality, charisma is less important than skills of persuasion and the ability to manipulate others. In order to start a group, a leader has to have ways of convincing others to follow him or her, and such leaders tend not to relinquish their control. Cult leadership can be a heady role when the leader comes to see the amount of control he or she holds and how easily he or she can influence followers.
Drink it! It may be less soothing than a sinless conscience. That I cannot give thee. But it will calm the swell and heaving of thy passion, like oil thrown on the waves of a tempestuous sea.
You are constantly bombarded with messages to give a fuck about everything, all the time. (...) Why? My guess: because giving a fuck about more studd is good for business. And while there's nothing wrong with good business, the problem is that giving too many fucks is bad for your mental health. It causes you to become overly attached to the superficial and fake, to dedicate your life to chasing a mirage of happiness and satisfaction. The key to a good life is not giving a fuck about more; it's giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important.
Sayfa 8Kitabı okudu
"The opportunity of earning more was less attractive than that of working less. He did not ask how much can I earn ina day if I do as much work as possible? but how much must I work in order to earn the wage, 2½ marks, which I earned before and which takes care of my traditional needs?"
Sayfa 24Kitabı okudu
Jess asks her if she’s up for a hike.
“Yes,” she says, without hesitating.
“Anyone else look like you do right now, and I’d tell them they were lying,” Jess says. “But I believe you. You know why?”
“Why?” she asks.
“Because you made it here on a lot less,” he says and he has no idea how on the mark he is. The compliment brings a little bit of color back to Sloane’s face. An actual blush.
Referring to our previous discussion of the mother-centered personality, the following example for this type of neurotic love relation to be found frequently today deals with men who in their emotional development have remained stuck in an infantile attachment to mother. These are men who have never been weaned as it were from mother. These men
