"Cult behavior is human behavior..."

8/20/2018
9:30 AM

Reading on Amazon.
The viewable sections in the Introduction to Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over by Janja Lalich & Karla McLaren.

I read a review of the book earlier today. Then went to Amazon to "look inside."

The little I read stirred feelings of value for my life, feelings of substance for what I've lived. Through my experiences I have gained knowledge and that yucky word "wisdom." What other word can I use besides "wisdom?" Hmmm ..."know-how?"... I like that better.

My Way years are becoming more chronologically distant, so I think about them less. But that does not mean those 28+ years are irrelevant. Those years are very relevant...even if I'd never joined The Way.

But I did.

The Way and its doctrine were a part of my very core through those decades. With every decision Way doctrine and its accompanying judgment were in my mind. The doctrine took precedence. It was the roadmap displaying the right route, even if the route felt not-right.

To me, that is the most distinguishing factor of a "cult" - doctrine over person.

If a person's experiences/observations/perceptions/intuitions/ideas don't line up with the doctrine, either the person is inherently wrong or has received wrong information. Correct information lines up with the doctrine. All information and experience must somehow fit within and/or be explained by the doctrine. The person cannot trust their own experiences/observations/perceptions/intuitions/ideas if they are contrary to the doctrine. Any questioning or thought or exploration is carried out within the confines - the borders and undergirdings - of the doctrine.

This line from the Introduction is maybe the best way I've heard the word "cult" put into perspective:

Cult behavior is human behavior...

The context of that line is:

In fact, the behaviors, social pressures, and controlling structures that create cults exist (to some degree) in every human group. Cult behavior is human behavior--and by studying cults, we can learn remarkably useful things about the social world and our place in it.

So, does that mean, because of my experiences with cults of different flavors and especially my decades in The Way, that I know "remarkably useful things about the social world and [my] place in it"? Maybe I do. That's a thought.


~*~

Reading further through the Introduction, I came upon a definition of "cult" which, to me, is similar to my "most distinguishing factor." The attributes described in the definition below are derived from (or rationalized by) the doctrine.

Definition of cult, quoted from Lalich and McLaren:

A cult is a group or relationship that stifles individuality and critical thinking, requires intense commitment and obedience to a person and/or ideology, and restricts or eliminates personal autonomy in favor of the cult's worldview and the leader's wants and needs.

One of the books I found most helpful after leaving The Way was Dr. Lalich's book, Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults. It helped me understand more clearly the mechanisms, and thus behavior, undergirding true believerism. This new book, Escaping Utopia, sounds similar but broader and, I'd think, deeper in scope.

Bounded Choice was published in 2004. Escaping Utopia in 2018.