Well,
If you insist on RUSH, and you use a quote from Tom Sawyer....I can't help myself. :grin:
No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful, yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent-
But change is
Ahhhhh..... That felt great!
My position is as follows. Yes, I beleive that Drew, Jackie and everyone else there were victims of Newton's coercive and destructive mind control tactics. Yes, on staff I do not doubt one bit that they all were sucked into believing the nonsense and were used as pawns in a game of chess. HOWEVER:
After staff for many, many years and doing many irrational, destructive and hurtful things, some became Clinicals. At that point, they have chosen to follow Newton beyond the program and rehab & sobriety and into a position of power over the people who had power over the people. A very dangerous place to be. Absolute power and authority can be as intoxicating and addicting as drugs, if not more.
No, I do NOT think Drew, Jackie or any of the rest of them to be "bad people" or "evil to the core." Somehow, somewhere down deep I truly believe that every one of them is redeemable and they all will someday suffer the regrets, dissappointments, anger, rage & hate that we all have faced. It is just taking them longer.
While they are actively supporting the doctrine of KIDS, 8 Steps (not 12), restraining fellow graduates on the floor (YES, THIS STILL HAPPENS NOW!), sleeping with the bed in front of the door and allowing Newton to authorize all of the graduates to hit & swat their kids, they appear to be living in a simulated state of unauthentic existence (see RUSH for the past 25+ years). In this state, they do act irrationally when they feel that there is a clear & present threat to their beleif system.
Naturally so. They have spent 18+ years subscribing to and defending this "program or belief system" and when someone challenges it, they must defend it at all costs. Why?
If they don't and there really is something wrong with how they have been living, then they will have no choice but to see clearly the lie that they have been living. For many that is too painful a task. If your belief system crumbles before you, then what are you left with?
If I can stay sober in AA or live a very healthy life, consistently make a strong six figure income and not ever have to worry about being out of control with or picking up drugs & alcohol, then what does that say about their system of beliefs? Well, they have no choice but to hide in a dillusion that everyone who has left has bad or no sobriety and we are not straight and are a direct threat to their program.
Even though that is far from true, they HAVE to believe it to function in their world. Until they leave that state of dillusion and venture out into reality I do not and will not feel sorry for them. Nobody ever felt sorry for me. Feeling sorry for them might just kill them.
As said before and it is always said in RUSH's lyrics, the truth will set you free. It breaks the chains that bind one's mind to its internal, self-created prison.
"The Enemy Within" is about the real jailer who prevents us all from accomplishing our dreams and experiencing to extremes. It is us and our own self created fear. Not our fear of what we will encounter or struggle against. Rather, the fear of failure. More on that to come...