well, I missed the original posts about the rap from hell, but I do appreciate your general explanation, Greg, and it's enough for me.
It's odd to think the Seed was wracked by melodrama right up into its final days. In a way, I sorta imagined they all (that is, anyone who was still around by the year 2000 or so . . . jeez, imagine that!) might have mellowed out a little. Like there was that one poster here who'd been to The Seed in the nineties and who started a thread entitled something like "I don't get it" and she testified that The Seed had been caring and kind to her.
From what I've read here, it seems the Seed had a kind of U-shaped evolution, from sweet innocuous hippie cult, quickly devolving to cruel coercive thought reform program (perhaps peaking in St. Pete in that regard) and then slowly inching back to gentler ways. But the massive delusions of grandeur persisted all the way through, I suppose.
Goofy, yes, but gross and disgusting, because we had no choice in the matter. We were forced to act the adoring audience for the pontifications of Art and senior staff. The irony is that they needed to be adored and worshipped--and they insisted WE needed THEM.