I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that this policy simply changed over time. Lots of things did this. I was on the program from april 76 to april 77. I heard the same thing about payment that robin described. However, when I called a few years later, this policy had apparently changed. There was no misunderstanding. Libby was very clear on the point.
Lots of groups start out with good intentions and high ideals only to lose their way at some point. I recall looking at newspaper clippings on the wall in staff's office when I spent the night 'guarding the seed' on 84. There were pictures and articles about the seed from the early days. In one picture, there were lots of guys with long hair and not just on the front row. The dress code also looked pretty liberal. I was especially surprised by one article that stated that most seed kids were of the opinion that pot should be legalized!
This point of view was anathema by the time I was in. Art repeatedly made this plain and sharply criticized Jimmy Carter (who was running for president) for being for decriminalizing marijuana. To read that seed kids would tell a newspaper reporter that they supported legalizing pot was amazing. If we'd said something like that it would have been grounds for a big 'telling you where you're at' stand up or maybe even a reason to start your program over.
The same with guys with long hair or dressing in such a way that was not acceptable to staff. This all changed over the years. I was able to profit from the 'deconditioning' part of the seed. My issue was and is with the 'reconditioning' part. We dropped druggie images and adopted specific seed images. We didn't care what our druggie friends thought of us...but cared enormously what art, staff and fellow seedlings thought. It was still acceptance.
Being straight came to be identical with acting in certain prescribed ways. Having certain hair cuts, clothes. We were to avoid using specific druggie code words but were encouraged to use approved seed lingo. We were told to be ourselves, but their reprogramming resulted in cookie cutter people lacking in individuality to a great degree. There was a certain degree of awareness that resulted from all of this. But even this was a warped sort of awareness. I was always very mindful of any actions or thoughts that might be at odds with the 'party line' of the seed. Living in a totalitarian state, one is also very 'aware' of not saying or doing anything that would put you in the gulag or cause you to be an outcaste. Unfortunately, questioning the seed ideology was strongly discouraged and this itself tended to limit real growth. Luckily, I was eventually able to see and make use of the good while discarding the bad or useless. If the seed had stayed closer to it's AA roots without all the cultic trappings, I would likely consider it a positive experience to this day. From my pov now, the negatives outweighed the positives.
