GROUPS and CULTS by Doc Matrix
If you sought some kind of spiritual or pastoral help perhaps that was through a well-known religion.
Or it could from what some people think of as a cult type of group.
People naturally have different needs and experiences - What suits one person may not suit another and may even be harmful.
ONLY YOU can decide what's best for you at a particular time
IF someone approaches you at a time when you are vulnerable
IF they are offering TOO MUCH friendship 'out of the Blue'
IF there is A RUSH about it
DOC says Just Be Careful
Take your Time
Don't Feel Pressurised
Step Back if You Need to!
Important Decisions can WAIT
Take your Time
Don't Feel Pressurised
Step Back if You Need to!
Important Decisions can WAIT
ONE Person can be almost like a Cult just by themselves!
A GROUP can quite easily set up a Scene for YOU to walk into
Things - and People, are not always what they seem:
There may be a hidden agenda, camouflage or trick to abuse your desire to help or to be accepted
There can be a double standards or double-binds
LOOK at what's really being asked or expected of you -SEE how your concerns are dealt with
BEAR IN MIND THAT -
YOU have a right to know where your Money goes
YOU are entitled to proper Rest, Food & Friends
YOU are entitled to CHANGE your Mind or LEAVE
It can take an Instant to get drawn in but YEARS to get away - CULTS KNOW THAT
Cults Indoctrinate People AND People CAN Protect themselves with some Knowledge
Get some help from Friends or Family
Dissing has become a part of life, whether that means discounting someone, disrespecting, discrediting, disregarding, dismissing; or being rude or unsupportive.
It is a way of Scapegoating. You know the saying 'You are either for us or against us'? Groups often exclude someone - anyone - to suit the majority, as if they feel better to leave someone in the cold. It happens in families too!
It helps to see the dynamic for what it is, see if there's a reason, and if you can do anything about it for the time being.
This is why it is good to have an ally, a 'friend in court' to see some of it from your point of view. You don't need a specialist, just someone to back you up and give emotional support.
Perhaps now you know why groups serve that purpose for the members.
And how cults play on people's need to belong, not feel excluded, and feel a sense of meaning and place. Those are natural needs and they can be exploited, for money - or just for kicks.
CULT INFORMATION
People working in this field may have different opinions and approaches, so take on board what is useful - and leave the rest:
Cult Dynamics article at http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/cultdyn.htm
'Cults & Families' by Doni Whitsett & Stephen A Kent. Download http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~skent/cults.html
Cults & Sects Bibliography booklist http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/bibcult.htm
http://www.freedomofmind.com Steven Hassan's website, author 'Combatting Cult Mind Control'; 'Releasing the Bonds'
http://www.rickross.com Signs that a group might be a 'cult' and how to get out of one. Book List on page http://www.rickross.com/reference/books/reading_list.html
International Cultic Studies Association - How cults operate and their effects: http://www.icsahome.com
FECRIS European site, worldwide links: http://www.fecris.org
Cults, Sects & Heresies free course http://eomtc.com/cults/
Social Identity Theory - Insights into groups & cult behaviours
BOOKS and ARTICLES
'Bully in Sight' by Tim Field (workplace bullying)
'Cults, Secret Sects & Radical Religions' by Robert Schroeder
'Gangland Today' by James Morton
'Gangs' by Tony Thompson
'Individuals, Groups & Organizations Beneath the Surface'
by Lionel F. Stapley
'Misunderstanding Cults' by Benjamin Zablocki & Thomas Robbins
'Organisations, Anxieties & Defences' ed. R.D. Hinshelwood
& Marco Cheisa
Out of Character Behaviour website http://toukanalia.blogspot.com
'Pointed Observations' by Kevin R D Shepherd
'Profiling the Criminal Mind' by Robert Girod Sr
(included as it discusses group pressures, cult crimes, etc.)
'Programmed to Kill' by David McGowan
'Recovery from Cults' by Michael D Longone
'Scapegoating, Abuse & One-upmanship' article HERE
'Secret Societies & Psychological Warfare' by Michael A Hoffman II
'Snapping' by Flo Conway & Jim Siegelman
'Sinister Forces Book Three: The Manson Secret' by Peter Levenda
Social Dynamics of Cult Ritual Abuse click HERE
'Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right' by Sara Diamond
'The Complex' by John Duignan
'The Cult Files' by Chris Mikul
'The Dark Gods' by Anthony Roberts & Geoff Gilbertson
'The Dilbert Principle' by Scott Adams
'The Mafia' by Claire Sterling
'The Neurotic Organization' by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries
& Danny Miller
'The Occult Tradition' by David S Katz
'The Secret World of Cults' by Jean Ritchie
'Today's Destructive Cults & Movements' by Rev. Lawrence J Gesy
'Understanding Organizations' by Charles Handy
'Working Across the Gap: The Practice of Social Science in Organisations' by Lisl Klein
People have a need to be A PART of what is going on
around them, other People and so on,
and to keep themselves APART too
And it can lead us into Trouble!
It's important to REALLY THINK for YOURSELF!
around them, other People and so on,
and to keep themselves APART too
And it can lead us into Trouble!
It's important to REALLY THINK for YOURSELF!
