Allow me to briefly introduce myself. I am not a cult member, nor have I ever been, although I have had some brief exposure to cults. Let me explain:
In the city where I grew up, there was a long series of articles in one of the city's newspapers about the Moonies, and the efforts of one family to rescue one of their members from that particular cult. Around the same time, one of my college classmates, related how he and his girlfriend wound up in Booneville, and how they escaped. (Booneville is one of the Moonie camps). I'll call him John.
As John described it to me, he and his girlfriend (Jane) were visiting in the States, and were approached by someone on the street inviting them to a free dinner put on the "Creative Community Project". Neither John nor Jane really gave it a second thought, and as a result, they went to that dinner. What they found a little strange was that there was a person standing outside the premises, who warned them not to believe everything they heard inside.
After this dinner, they were invited for a camp for a weekend retreat, which they decided to attend. Mindful of what the person outside had said, they asked for directions, as they would be travelling in their own car. They were told that this wasn't necessary, that a bus would be provided to take everyone to the camp. When they insisted on taking their own car, the pressure to take the bus was ramped-up -- they were told it would be more fun travelling with the group, etc. The more pressure the organizers applied to get them to not take their own car, the more suspicious John and Jane became.
Nevertheless, they did eventually travel to Booneville for the weekend.
They described being love-bombed, sleep-deprived, meagre food, the usual tactics employed to break down resistance. They also tried to get John to surrender his car keys, which he absolutely refused to submit to. John and Jane were split-up, and John was told that Jane was staying. Jane was told that John was staying. Somehow they managed to get back together, hightailed it for their car, and got the hell out of there. As John explained it to me, "If we hadn't taken our own car, we would have been unable to leave, and we'd be Moonies today."
The closest thing I came to a cult experience was with my girlfriend, when we attended what we later learned was an EST seminar, which I was referred to by an acquaintance. I don't remember much of the details of the lecture, as I was made extremely suspicious by the fact that there was a person stationed by each of the exits, to make sure we couldn't leave.
We were told this was to make sure that we "weren't disturbed". Yeah, right. Needless to say, both of us hightailed it out of there as soon as we could, and never went back. Fortunately for me, I had access to a computer (this was the early '80s), and I did some research on EST, and was not impressed with what I read. Needless to say, we never went back.
Gaijin
In the city where I grew up, there was a long series of articles in one of the city's newspapers about the Moonies, and the efforts of one family to rescue one of their members from that particular cult. Around the same time, one of my college classmates, related how he and his girlfriend wound up in Booneville, and how they escaped. (Booneville is one of the Moonie camps). I'll call him John.
As John described it to me, he and his girlfriend (Jane) were visiting in the States, and were approached by someone on the street inviting them to a free dinner put on the "Creative Community Project". Neither John nor Jane really gave it a second thought, and as a result, they went to that dinner. What they found a little strange was that there was a person standing outside the premises, who warned them not to believe everything they heard inside.
After this dinner, they were invited for a camp for a weekend retreat, which they decided to attend. Mindful of what the person outside had said, they asked for directions, as they would be travelling in their own car. They were told that this wasn't necessary, that a bus would be provided to take everyone to the camp. When they insisted on taking their own car, the pressure to take the bus was ramped-up -- they were told it would be more fun travelling with the group, etc. The more pressure the organizers applied to get them to not take their own car, the more suspicious John and Jane became.
Nevertheless, they did eventually travel to Booneville for the weekend.
They described being love-bombed, sleep-deprived, meagre food, the usual tactics employed to break down resistance. They also tried to get John to surrender his car keys, which he absolutely refused to submit to. John and Jane were split-up, and John was told that Jane was staying. Jane was told that John was staying. Somehow they managed to get back together, hightailed it for their car, and got the hell out of there. As John explained it to me, "If we hadn't taken our own car, we would have been unable to leave, and we'd be Moonies today."
The closest thing I came to a cult experience was with my girlfriend, when we attended what we later learned was an EST seminar, which I was referred to by an acquaintance. I don't remember much of the details of the lecture, as I was made extremely suspicious by the fact that there was a person stationed by each of the exits, to make sure we couldn't leave.
We were told this was to make sure that we "weren't disturbed". Yeah, right. Needless to say, both of us hightailed it out of there as soon as we could, and never went back. Fortunately for me, I had access to a computer (this was the early '80s), and I did some research on EST, and was not impressed with what I read. Needless to say, we never went back.
Gaijin