graduate status

[Anonymous]

no, i did not go to seed school. i'm having difficulty understanding because i was in another cult (but religious). it is hard for me to understand since seed school was not religious, how tight of control they had over the participants?

Questions for those involved for many years?

Did you need permission (even after graduate status)from the staff at seed school to:

1) go out on a date?
2) have sex?
3) meet new friends?
4) choose a career?
5) change jobs?
6) go on vacation?
7) travel to another country?

also, were group gatherings of any kind, be it weddings, sports activities, outings, considered mandatory attendance or if you wish could you just stay at home by yourself?


If you went against what others expected of you would they continue to love you unconditionally?  


Were certain members made to feel inferior to others?

Your honest answers are appreciated becuase I would like to compare it to my cult experience?


I'm more intereted in graduate status after you were supposed to be independent.

[Anonymous]

If you weren't in the seed, how did you find this forum?


Just curious

[Anonymous]

through other web Wes Orange something as Ilooked up cults . od u know answers to above post?

[Anonymous]

On 2004-10-26 11:18:00, Anonymous wrote:

"no, i did not go to seed school. i'm having difficulty understanding because i was in another cult (but religious). it is hard for me to understand since seed school was not religious, how tight of control they had over the participants?



Questions for those involved for many years?



Did you need permission (even after graduate status)from the staff at seed school to:



1) go out on a date?

2) have sex?

3) meet new friends?

4) choose a career?

5) change jobs?

6) go on vacation?

7) travel to another country?



also, were group gatherings of any kind, be it weddings, sports activities, outings, considered mandatory attendance or if you wish could you just stay at home by yourself?





If you went against what others expected of you would they continue to love you unconditionally?  





Were certain members made to feel inferior to others?



Your honest answers are appreciated becuase I would like to compare it to my cult experience?





I'm more intereted in graduate status after you were supposed to be independent.  

  "

Everyone seems to be avoiding these questions as if there was some mystery at seed school? did some of u live in the compuns and others at host homes. please explain, thanks?  If you were a graduate for a long time what in your mind convinced u that this was normal to be asking strangers who were not even your family to give u permission?

[Anonymous]

once again, people are afraid of answering the above questions. must have been a weird mystery.

[cleveland]

You had to ask permission to do all of those things. You lived with other guys if you were a guy and girls if you were a girl and you went to Seed activities, socialized with Seed people and usually worked with Seed people too. Everyone else was thought to be a part of the 'druggie culture' and even a straight A kid would be suspect although I remember there were a few 'honorary seedlings.' And all this was true no matter how long you'd been around.

From what I've learned about other cults, or even very restrictive families, it's all the same; everyone outside the group is suspect; all non-group sanctioned behavior is dangerous; we're special and so why would we want to hang out with anyone else anyway? Don't even think about it!

[Anonymous]

thanks. . .u seem to know a lot were you there a long time (cleveland) . . .oh, what if you were invited to a seed school activity, and said, thanks, but im tired and would like to just be by myself . .tha was ok right. .?

[Anonymous]

To answer your question technically once you were a graduate you were allowed to come and go as you pleased however, out of consideration for others if you wanted to go on vacation or needed to take a trip you should have informed staff so they would know what was going on. The Seed was considered one big family or I guess kind the mindset similar of that of a small town.

 The Seed was always careful of how people were doing not only newcomers but also that of the old timers for several reasons. Mainly to do that first: the group was the key instrument in helping people get straight so everyone had to be very aware of their behavior and actions. The second reason was that everyone at the Seed had a past and it was important to make sure no one would fall thru the cracks. (Some Posts suggest that some people did indeed fall thru the cracks), by this I mean that even long timers could be susceptible to depression, envy, jealousy and any other number of human faults you could think of. What emphasizes this was a rule (If you see or hear of anyone with a problem report it to staff immediately and don't assume its been taking care of). This rule can be interpreted in many different ways but that was the reason and origin for this rule.

 As per functions related to the Seed nothing was written in stone that you had to go but since it was such a tightly knit group people went and were happy to go. Keep in mind I'm talking about the early 80's thru the 90's when there was not thousands of teenage kids at the Seed all the people made the choice to be there.. Most people left the Seed once they graduated

The Seed was a secular program due to the fact that no one wanted to have a religious affiliation toward any particular religion. the people at the Seed were from various different religions and it was considered counter productive to exclude someone just because of their particular religion.

I heard Art say on many occasions that the most important thing was to develop your spirituality and then you could decide what religion you would choose to follow, (If any at all). As you will see many will disagree with my assessment of this point and they will state their reasons.

 Keep in mind these were the technical aspects or outside aspects of how things were viewed. There was, as in any human institution underlying currents of ambition, status, rankings in other words, were did you exactly fit in this puzzle and what kind of pull did you have.

 Always remember that this is a forum and people with opposing points of view are not only encouraged but also welcomed

[Anonymous]

sounds good, were u a professional that worked at seed school? also were certain people friends with (or as ive heard part of inner circles) based on the money that they had. . .in other words, was there a secial interest on the past of the key players at seed school toward people with more money?

[Somejoker]

Hey anon, sound like you are "justifying".


 :grin:


Serious, you are citing the justifications for emotional and physical control over people an exclusive group maintains ignoring the obvious real reasons cults maintain tight control..



That control over adults IS NOT NATURAL AND IS HARMFULL TO YOUR INDIVIDUALITY.


[ This Message was edited by: Somejoker on 2004-10-26 14:04 ]

[Somejoker]

And anon # 2, there was no "SEED SCHOOL". Please stop using that term.

The Seed was a personality cult disquised as a drug rehabilitation program. NOT A SCHOOL.

Thank you

[Anonymous]

On 2004-10-26 13:51:00, Anonymous wrote:

" To answer your question technically once you were a graduate you were allowed to come and go as you pleased however, out of consideration for others if you wanted to go on vacation or needed to take a trip you should have informed staff so they would know what was going on. The Seed was considered one big family or I guess kind the mindset similar of that of a small town.



 The Seed was always careful of how people were doing not only newcomers but also that of the old timers for several reasons. Mainly to do that first: the group was the key instrument in helping people get straight so everyone had to be very aware of their behavior and actions. The second reason was that everyone at the Seed had a past and it was important to make sure no one would fall thru the cracks. (Some Posts suggest that some people did indeed fall thru the cracks), by this I mean that even long timers could be susceptible to depression, envy, jealousy and any other number of human faults you could think of. What emphasizes this was a rule (If you see or hear of anyone with a problem report it to staff immediately and don't assume its been taking care of). This rule can be interpreted in many different ways but that was the reason and origin for this rule.



 As per functions related to the Seed nothing was written in stone that you had to go but since it was such a tightly knit group people went and were happy to go. Keep in mind I'm talking about the early 80's thru the 90's when there was not thousands of teenage kids at the Seed all the people made the choice to be there.. Most people left the Seed once they graduated



The Seed was a secular program due to the fact that no one wanted to have a religious affiliation toward any particular religion. the people at the Seed were from various different religions and it was considered counter productive to exclude someone just because of their particular religion.



I heard Art say on many occasions that the most important thing was to develop your spirituality and then you could decide what religion you would choose to follow, (If any at all). As you will see many will disagree with my assessment of this point and they will state their reasons.



 Keep in mind these were the technical aspects or outside aspects of how things were viewed. There was, as in any human institution underlying currents of ambition, status, rankings in other words, were did you exactly fit in this puzzle and what kind of pull did you have.



 Always remember that this is a forum and people with opposing points of view are not only encouraged but also welcomed  

"

WOW!!! this shit sounds like BIG BROTHER at his finest, especially the part about "The Seed was always careful of how people were doing" not even the religious cult i was involved in was this scary.    eeeechhh!!

[Anonymous]

To answer your question, No ,the Seed had no professionals working for the program. All staff members came up the ranks from within the program. Status (for lack of a better word) was mostly measured by the time one had been part of the Seed.  I just took what I was taught at the Seed to heart and to this day live by that.
 I will say this after leaving the Seed I did sort through my mind and filtered out what I felt needed to be discarded and kept what I needed. Something I?m still in the process of. And probably will do for the rest of my life.

To be fair to the Seed it was common to be friends with people from both sides of the socio economic coin. Problems were usually a result of personality conflicts (few and far between).

[Anonymous]

On 2004-10-26 14:34:00, Anonymous wrote:

  I just took what I was taught at the Seed to heart and to this day live by that.

 I will say this after leaving the Seed I did sort through my mind and filtered out what I felt needed to be discarded and kept what I needed. Something I?m still in the process of. And probably will do for the rest of my life.

Sounds interesting. Can u give some specific examples of things u kept and discarded?

[Somejoker]

On 2004-10-26 14:34:00, Anonymous wrote:


To be fair to the Seed it was common to be friends with people from both sides of the socio economic coin. Problems were usually a result of personality conflicts (few and far between).



"

Sure, as long as they were seedlings...

Outsiders were feared and scorned as "not aware" and dangerous.









[ This Message was edited by: Somejoker on 2004-10-26 14:42 ]