Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum
Fresh blood
wtaylorg:
Hey Cleveland:
I left in May '85, a few months before you. I told Bob W. I wanted to go to school esp. Art School and he said, "let me check with Lybbi, tom". I remember thinking "They won't let me", then I thought "I'm not asking".
But, I waited and the next morning I met with Lybbi, one of the handful of times I ever talked to her. She said "where do you want to go to school?" I said up north!
Well, I called my Mom and borrowed $500.00. I had no money. I hadn't been allowed to work in mos. Good for your self esteem, huh!
Man, even though I was apprehensive, I knew my life had to get better than this.
Former gate watcher; 3-6 am shift, spend the nighter.
marshall:
Do you mean this literally? No-one graduated the program anymore? It sounds like the line between oldcomer and oldtimer became blurred to the point of nonexistence. This was very different from the way things worked when I was there.
Sounds like the amish or some fundamentalist group. Another attempt to turn the cultural clock back. Very sexist. I wonder what the reasons were behind these changes? Did staff find that too many graduates were straying from the seedling path & decide to exert greater control?
While I was there, it was considered normal & healthy to graduate and go on with your life...choosing where you will live, where to work and who you would socialize with. It sounds like a parent that became so neurotic that they discouraged their children from ever leaving the nest. The words 'cult' and 'brainwash' are extreme and black & white. Maybe increasing cultishness would be a better fit.
Wtaylorg :
That's sick and scary. If I'd gone back and encountered that, I think I would have wondered how far away the black tennis shoes and kool-aid were. I can better understand the wide divergence of opinion about the seed now. There really was not a single 'seed' that we can speak of. ...rather a series of seeds that changed over the years.
Lots of people have gotten off drugs via scientology. (They're very anti-drug) I'm sure those people that were helped by scientology or similar religious and quasi-religious groups are grateful and credit them with saving their lives too and would readily defend the organization. This does not negate the other, more problematic aspects that may be present though.
The seed I attended taught a lot of good things. Who can argue that honesty is bad? Or empathy and sensitivity? It seems many of us were able to sift the useful stuff from the crud and use some of those teachings in a positive manner. I'm sure the same could be said of many such groups.
One could be kidnapped by terrorists and forced to study the quran at gunpoint. This doesn't mean there are not some good teachings in the quran. But this in no way justifies the act of kidnapping or means used to convey the teachings.
Cleveland and Wtaylorg, thanks for your info.
marshall:
This excerpt is from "Cults in our Midst" by Margaret Singer:
"We can see how transformations occur when the six principles are skillfully put into play by cult leaders and cultic groups. For example:
Consistency. If you have made a commitment to the group and then break it, you can be made to feel guilty.
Reciprocity. If you accept the group's food and attention, you feel you should repay them.
Social proof. If you look around in the group, you will see people behaving in particular ways. You imitate what you see and assume that such behavior is proper, good, and expected.
Authority. If you tend to respect authority, and your cult leader claims superior knowledge, power, and special missions in life, you accept him as an authority.
Liking. If you are the object of love bombing and other tactics that surround you, make you feel wanted and loved, and make you like the people in the group, you feel you ought to obey these people.
Scarcity. If you are told that without the group you will miss out on living a life without stress; miss out on attaining cosmic awareness and bliss; miss out on changing the world instantly or gaining the ability to travel back in time; or miss out on whatever the group offers that is tailored to seem essential to you, you will feel you must buy in now."
Sounds like a pretty good fit to me.
Anonymous:
when i hear cleveland and night-shifter talk about being "allowed" to do things, it surprises me 'cause i thought at seed you would "get ur life back" and then simply cud come and go as you please or lived their makin' decisions with the tools you had received. why were u askin' for permission to do everything? how about dating, or having fun (sex), could you be straight, or bi, or gay? could you invite people to your place that were not from there? could you fall in luv with a girl and get married? could you have your own religion and atten church each week? Could you watch whatever you wanted on T.V.? What about going out? Couldou just take off and drive on your own or go on vacation whenever you wanted? IF not, what did you do all that time for years and years and years?
By the way, night-shifter, what do u mean by night-shiftin?
Antigen:
--- Quote ---On 2005-01-25 10:17:00, Anonymous wrote:
I remember at school when I first went back-someone asked me for a smoke. I was scared shitless.
--- End quote ---
Scared of what?
I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment, to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure.
--Clarence Darrow, American lawyer
--- End quote ---
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