I hate to rain on your parade, because I am generally a very positive and uplifting person, but today I need to tell you about the danger of being roped into a cult, as a spiritual seeker and of course, the lawyer in me immediately wants to give you tools to protect you from that. And this is what episode 2 of the True Spirituality Podcast is all about. Let’s do this.
There is an incredibly high risk, on your spiritual journey, that you will come across people who are dishonest and who will try to enrol you into cults. I watched a documentary released on Netflix in the UK in July called How to Become a Cult Leader and believe me, it’s blood-curdling. The documentary was very well made, but as is often the case, it did not give you the antidote. It just showed facts. I am all about antidotes so this episode is going to give you some serious tips on how to cult proof your spiritual journey.
In 2023 alone, the press reported ten cases of cult scandals, one of which, related to a coaching company called Inside Lighthouse in the UK, hit a particularly chord because self development is a noble activity. Who do you trust? There are so many genuine coaches, yoga teachers, meditation teachers and hypnotherapists out there who do good work but whose work has been tainted because of some unscrupulous individuals in their field.
I also want to add that I believe that religious dogma paves the way for cults in ways that need to be exposed. Most cults thrive on the ideas of there being evil in the world, that you are a sinner that somehow needs to be redeemed and purified, that the world will end soon and that they have superpowers (similar to those that Catholics attribute to Jesus). Dogma is not neutral. It is a form of manipulation. The oxford dictionary defines it as a belief that you are asked not to question. When you have been manipulated once, you are more inclined to be manipulated again because you have adopted a thought hole (a concept that we will explore in a further episode and that comes from the brilliant book Out of the Fog by Dana Morningstar). Basically a thought hole is a fault in thinking.
Before we go any further, I want to own that I have a vested interest in this episode. When I was a law student in the 80s, I did a gap year in England. I met a lovely American woman who became a very close friend. She was in all things spiritual and actually dragged me to see my first psychic medium whilst I visited her in New England. A few years later, she was roped into a cult. I stayed in touch and supported her when she left the cult, five kids later. It was bound to make a very strong impression on me and it created a passion for me to keep spiritual seekers safe.
We have argued over time, my friend and I, as I saw her situation as a domestic violence situation whereas she likes to label it as a cult experience. Over the years, I have come to realise that there was no need to argue as they are very similar experiences anyway. Cult leaders are narcissists.
There are five main types of cults: religious, self help, success, new age and personal. My friend’s cult pretended to want to create a better world. There are lots of cults who pose as environmental movements. Many cults have a front as meditation centres. This reminds me of Alexis in Schitt’s Creek when she joins that gym that sells health supplements. Yes, that’s real. In fact, a very prominent cult in the US supplies sushi to restaurants. Cults are businesses and are into big money.
In case you think you are above mind control and manipulation, I want to draw your attention to an experiment done in the 60s, the results of which have been duplicated in 2006, called the Milgram experiment. This is part of research into the theory of conformism, which at the start, wanted to understand if what happened in Nazi Germany had a risk of happening in America. The answer is: yes. Non of us are immune to manipulation and mind control, no matter our level of education. The results of that study blindsided the scientific community.
Now, for the good part, how do you cult proof your spiritual journey?
Tip #1: Cultivate discernment
Tip #2: Learn about narcissism
Tip #3: Learn to identify dogma
Tip #4: Beware of the part of you that wants to believe in miracles or short cuts
Tip #5: Recognise red flags
Tip #6: Learn about mental manipulation and mind games
Tip #7: Understand your weaknesses
I go into more details of each of those tips in the actual episode. To listen to it in your favourite podcast app, click here.