From One Cult To Another...

[Jesus H Christ]

As I have said before, I don't like to be judgmental but I am happy to hear about Paul's discovery on the road to Damascus.   I hope the same for Vanda.

  There but for the grace of God go I.  I once almost got on a Moonie bus in Palo Alto. I had one foot in and my girlfriend grabbed  me and pulled me back.  Thanks Marie, where ever you are now.

[Ursus]

I have been spending some time working my way through some of the LARSE videos...  No small task this, some of these are incredibly long.  I take them in in bits and pieces.  The more I see, the more I revisit my contention that Hyde School is a cult.  No two ways about it.  And the effects it has on people are long term and insidious and, ultimately, destructive, in all too many cases... even for some people who were deemed a "success" while at Hyde...

I am glad Paul is out.  I wish him well, though I suspect this is just the beginning in getting his self back.  I personally think a lot of it was already stripped by his experience at Hyde, though I kinda doubt he would agree with me.

In some respects, I'm not too surprised that Vanda is still entrenched in the RSE fold.  She's bet too much of her ego on that gravy train and done so most publicly.  It'll take some time before those commitments will have faded sufficiently into the past for her to rethink directions.

Let me say it again:  there was something at Hyde that caused these two to be all that more vulnerable to a New Age huckster like JZ.  It was drilled into our minds to follow the leader; critical thinking was discouraged when not downright punished; our inner voices were portrayed as rebellious selfishness and malcontent.

[Jesus H Christ]

my contention that Hyde School is a cult.

"Cult inexactly refers to a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream"

"A little-known example is the Alexander and Rollins, 1984, scientific study concluding that the socially well-received group Alcoholics Anonymous is a cult,[2] yet Vaillant, 2005, further concluded that AA is beneficial. [3]"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult


"A cult of personality is the same as from general hero worship in that it is specifically built around political leaders. However, the term cult of personality is often applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders; an argument could easily be made, however, that the only notable differences to be found between the terms "hero worship," "cult of personality," or even, more simply, excessive admiration are largely in the context of the person making the accusation."

One of the examples in a guy named Joe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality

there was something at Hyde that caused these two .....

  I don't think there is a cause and effect relationship.  Success at Hyde predisposes one to enter into a similar relationship with an authority figure where that figure brings you into a set of beliefs that are in opposition to those generally held by the rest of the culture, if the individual found pleasure in that relationship  What are the effective differences between Hyde's '70's "National Commitment"  and the RSE "Great Work"?   If you liked NC whats not to like about the "Great Work"?   That is why Hollywood makes sequels   Jesus and the apostles may have been the prototype.  The original is always the best in my book, with the possible exception of Derek and the Dominoes cover of  Little Wing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wing
 Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

[Ursus]

I don't think there is a cause and effect relationship.  Success at Hyde predisposes one to enter into a similar relationship with an authority figure where that figure brings you into a set of beliefs that are in opposition to those generally held by the rest of the culture, if the individual found pleasure in that relationship

I agree that it is not as simple as "a cause and effect relationship."  But I also think that there is a certain time in the course of a human being's development when nurturing and bolstering the capacity for critical thinking is supposed to happen, and that is adolescence.  And that growth stage is absolutely squashed at Hyde, almost by definition, really, of the institution's modus operandi, and sometimes with lifelong consequences.

Interesting that you paint a picture not unlike that of an addict switching poisons as a means to a "cure," and the role pleasure principles play in this.  For myself, the Hyde experience proved to be so toxic that, once I finally got myself back on my feet, I've been so leery of anything that even remotely smacks of "group" that my life has definitely become the poorer for it.  Crippled, really, but maybe that is just my perspective.  Well... at least I am still alive.

Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

Ha ha!  I can't remember anything like that (not that that means anything), but he certainly would have been a good choice for the part!  I can absolutely picture him, clear as a bell (maybe that's my memory?).

[Anonymous]

Vanda is reliving her childhood.  The Rabbit hole tour is America's Spirit Redux, or Rabbit Redux,  thanks John Updike.

[Ursus]

Vanda is reliving her childhood.  The Rabbit hole tour is America's Spirit Redux, or Rabbit Redux,  thanks John Updike.

 :rofl:
Bunnies generally tell short (lived?) tales, or maybe it is that they have short tails... can't remember...

[Anonymous]

Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

Yes!  America's Spirit does Jesus Christ Superstar!  It was awesome!  Vanda was Mary Mag.!!  Hmm.

[Ursus]

Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

Yes!  America's Spirit does Jesus Christ Superstar!  It was awesome!  Vanda was Mary Mag.!!  Hmm.

:rofl:  :rofl:
Oh, for crying out loud!  And then these two end up doing the Rumpa-pah-pah!  Just what exactly does that tell you, folks!?

[Anonymous]

Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

Yes!  America's Spirit does Jesus Christ Superstar!  It was awesome!  Vanda was Mary Mag.!!  Hmm.

  She was a sweet Mary M.

"I don't know how to love him"

None of us believed that for a minute.

[Ursus]

Didn't Paul play Jesus in some production?

Yes!  America's Spirit does Jesus Christ Superstar!  It was awesome!  Vanda was Mary Mag.!!  Hmm.

  She was a sweet Mary M.

"I don't know how to love him"

None of us believed that for a minute.

Okay, this I seem to remember.  Perhaps it was the crispness of that dichotomy.

[Jesus H Christ]

"and I have had so many men before, in very many ways"

Maybe Sumner should have sung that.

[Ursus]

I'm guessing this is Vanda these days, middle photo, far left, all dressed in white...

[Jesus H Christ]

back row left to right:

Vanda , Don't Know, don't know, Kelley Winn, Peter Love, Larry D,
Tommy Baez, Jackie Blevins, Laura Denton, Don't Know

Front

Don't know ,The Famous Mr Black

[Anonymous]

That should be Beth Denton not Laura

[Anonymous]

That should be Beth Denton not Laura

Nice catch.  I agree.  Well, it's definitely not Laura.