Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum
the higher power...or the making of a cult.
GregFL:
The premise of all 12 step programs is to admit you are powerless and surrender to god. This is arguably relatively harmless in a VOLUNTARY setting. However, the AA dogma has been used to set up personality cult after cult since the 30s. Why is this such an easy path to cultism? What tools of AA taken out of a voluntary setting lead to coersive mind control?
This is my take...
1) admit you are powerless. This is the first step to surrendering your will, And you are powerless because they have reduced you to being so...so all you need do is state the obvious.
2) surrender to god. This is where it gets real tricky and dangerous when you mix this cultic dogma with coersion and imprisonment. We are told to choose our god, but we all know it was the group/and or Art Barker. Real religion was scoffed at and laughed at in the seed.
Then Convince the inductees they are worthless, unlikable, and make them an object of ridicule in their current mental mind set. Set up an idol and make hero worship mandatory on the path to salvation. Invent some language or change the meaning of existing language to have special meaning within the group. Give instant conditional love and community for compliance. Restrict freedom, reading and contact with the outside world and create and us and them mentality. Prevent the inductees from speaking with each other. Reduce your most personal private moments such as urinating and defecating to a priviledge and keep a written record to remind the inductee you control everything. Introduce language and sayings that have supposed special power and healing qualities. Set up a two tier system where compliant ones get special treatment and then Offer the inductee a way to acheive this level by surrendering his personality, individuality and free will to the group.. thereby regaining humanity and affection and basic human needs such as privacy and respect.
Mix with some sleep deprivation, fear,public confessionals, humiliation, food deprivation, rules against thinking and talking, keep the fear of public confrontation at any moment in the inductees thoughts and throw in coersion by your family and "peers".
Here you have the magic formula of the seed and other cults.
in a nutshell....
[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-09-14 10:44 ]
cleveland:
Greg,
My memory on this is vague but I recall doing some reading on the origins of AA and the steps a couple of years back. Apparently, the Oxford Group was an early source - they were a Bible study group based in England, I believe just after World War I. Some of them went on to embrace Nazism I believe, and others went on to influence early AA, which started as an Oxford Group offshoot, right here in Akron, Ohio at the Seiberling (Goodyear Tire) Estate (the heir to which died an alcoholic anyway). That's what I remember. So yeah, I agree that mixing 'surrender' with an unquestioning loyalty to 'the leader' or 'the group' (which is what we were encouraged to consider our 'higher power' at the Seed) is a recipe for mental slavery.
Of course, I know people in AA who swear by it. I think the difference might be that in AA 'you take what you want and leave the rest.' That would have been heresy at the Seed.
Other interesting things that we were encouraged to do were to:
Make eye contact at all times with people speaking in the group, trying no to blink if possible, to demonstrate unwavering attention;
Staying 'out of your head' which meant suspending critical thought or judgement;
No conversations with anyone outside of the Seed - except to tell them, 'you're a fucked up druggie, come to the Seed and get straight, and I love you;'
Saying 'I love you' to everyone, which reinforces vulnerability and interdependance;
No reading of books or novels or anything of the imagination, at least not until you were an Oldcomer and even then, this was looked on as leading to 'being into your head;'
Calling Art Barker or the Seed itself your 'higher power;'
Being encouraged to push yourself physically and mentally to the breaking point, by sitting in raps for 8-10 hours a day. When we stopped having Sunday raps, about 1980(?), we started playing baseball for about 8 hours followed by about 4 hours of football. Oh, and throw in a mid-day rap too.
Typical Seed day started at 5:00 or 6:00 am and didn't end until midnight or later. Add the mental stress of being 'out of your head' at all times afraid that someone would catch you being inattentive and 'unseedlike' and it was a ton of pressure. I was diagnosed with hypertension at age 20, which I am sure was due to the mental, emotional and physical stress of being a 'Seedling.'
Filobeddoe:
GregFL,
I share your appreciation of & admiration of AA. It has been around for generations & will continue to help thousands (millions?) for many more generations in my opinion. It is a fantastic program designed for the right reasons by people who sincerely wanted to help others and Lord knows there were many who could benefit from it.
Also, it is obvious that The Seed took many of the good ideas of AA and incorporated them into the program.
I never felt like I was "addicted" to any drugs, like alcoholics really are addicted to alcohol. But I certainly was powerless to overcome my dependence on doing drugs to fit in with my peers. I didn't have what it took to say "No" when it came to being self-destructive.
My experiences had alot in common with alcoholics. Also, like in AA it is widely accepted that you must "hit bottom" or "find yourself in the gutter" before you are ready to accept that you are "powerless" & need help.
Art Barker was naturally charismatic & the founder of this AA-like program, but never, never did I feel like he expected to be worshiped! I did not worship him or the group & never met anyone who felt that way.
I was taught to seek a higher power & told that it was necessary to get well, but it was NOT the group or Art Barker. It was "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference". The Serenity Prayer helped me during the program & to this day is very important to me. Also, the name of the Seed (as you know) came from a biblical verse that says something like "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ... nothing shall be impossible to you".
Religion wasn't ridiculed or scoffed at while I was there. We didn't have bible study & while the Seed is probably more secular than most AA groups, most of the seedlings were Christians & looked to God for help.
In my humble opinion, you are confusing Art who has a large ego & likes to be stroked with someone who expected/demanded worship (ala Jim Jones or David Koresh). I think that is a stretch.....
Anonymous:
--- Quote ---On 2004-09-13 19:01:00, Filobeddoe wrote:
"GregFL,
I share your appreciation of & admiration of AA.
--- End quote ---
You misrepresent my opinion here, hopefully not intentionally.
I have zero appreciation or admiration for AA. It has spawned countless cults and has a relapse rate, according to internal AA documents, of 95%, incidentialy the same rate the non AA devotees relapse. However, if people want to voluntarily join AA, I have no problem with that choice.
GregFL:
--- Quote ---On 2004-09-13 19:01:00, Filobeddoe wrote:
"GregFL,
Art Barker was naturally charismatic & the founder of this AA-like program, but never, never did I feel like he expected to be worshiped! I did not worship him or the group & never met anyone who felt that way.
I was taught to seek a higher power & told that it was necessary to get well, but it was NOT the group or Art Barker. It was "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference". The Serenity Prayer helped me during the program & to this day is very important to me. Also, the name of the Seed (as you know) came from a biblical verse that says something like "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed ... nothing shall be impossible to you".
Religion wasn't ridiculed or scoffed at while I was there. We didn't have bible study & while the Seed is probably more secular than most AA groups, most of the seedlings were Christians & looked to God for help.
In my humble opinion, you are confusing Art who has a large ego & likes to be stroked with someone who expected/demanded worship (ala Jim Jones or David Koresh). I think that is a stretch.....
"
--- End quote ---
You are confusing the steps with the serenity prayer. In addition, it was encouraged to say, "the group is my god" or "art is my god" during rap. ALmost anyone here will confirm that. In addition, You had to get permission to go to church. I am not religious now but only point to this as evidence that the religious nature of the AA dogma was Art and the group, not a tangible god.
And Art never demanded worship?
How about this song?
Art Barker and Shelly
Shall we tell you how we feel
you have given us your riches
We love you so
we love you so
Sung over and over, row row your boat style, for up to 1/2 hour at a time until your eyes glazed over?
Staff openly spoke of him as the Savior of americas youth. Art Spoke of The Seed army, he adopted at least one staff member, made most of them cut ties with their families, had them all inter-marry....
Open your eyes and see the elephant in the room my friend....
Some quotes for ya....
"he even knows what I am thinking right now"
Current Mayor of Dania Beach and longtime Seedling Robert Chunn, speaking of Art Barker earlier last year to a reporter while traveling in a car.
"If the Seed doesn't become a model program in this country in five years, you can forget about the nation. The Youth will crawl off and die, and it'll be a whimpering kind of death."
Art Barker
"jesus said a long time ago, you can't be a prophet in your own town"
Art Barker, speaking to the St Pete times.
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