Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum

Cult and cult-like experiences

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Antigen:
How about the most common type of cult, an abusive, one sided romantic relationship? That's something everybody's seen. Some understand it, others don't but we all either have been there or know someone who has.

If you really want to get this deep into the topic, we probably should nail down some definitions. Merriam Webster has 5 definitions, starting w/ all religions and ending w/ fan clubs.

So are we talking about all group identification and devotion? Or only the high demand, spurious and destructive type? And where do we draw the line? No, where should we draw the line?

I've always shied away from any kind of group membership. I sort of envy those who can be full fledged, dedicated members of ... whatever; teams, PTA groups, fire houses, churches or other groups w/o either reservation or letting the group take up an unwholesome control of their lives.

But I can't do it, no sir! As honesty really has always been important to me, if you ask me "Will you devote yourself entirely to ______?", the only true and correct answer is "Nope, for I belong to somebody."

I can't even bring myself to become a formal member of the Libertarian Party because I can't honestly say that I agree w/ the leadership or all of their proposed solutions to all of our problems.

But I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, ya' know? The one group I do belong to, I belong to entirely w/o reservation; Clan Warbis. While I appreciate the rest more and more as I grow older, I don't mind being a neutral observer.


Scoundrels are predictable, but you're a man of honor and that frightens me.
Robert Heinlein, Glory Road.
--- End quote ---

marshall:
Within a couple of years of graduating the seed I encountered a situation that challenged some of my worldviews. It involved two co-workers. One was an older guy...my former boss. We used to hang out and get high together before I went to the seed. By the time I graduated and moved back to Ga. he had found jesus and gotten born again....was completely straight, no drugs or alcohol. The other was a new co-worker that was a heavy pot smoker. This guy played in a band, had long stringey hair and fit my image of a typical druggie. The problem was he didn't act that way at all. In fact, he was one of the nicest guys I've ever known. I don't just mean 'acting like a nice guy'. He was always helpful and thoughful of others. Over time, try as I might to fit him into my seed worldview, I could not. This man was supposed to be a selfish jerk. Oh sure, maybe he has a veneer of mr niceguy...but his real druggie self should eventually shine through. It never did. How could a druggie be a really good guy? They're all selfish assholes, right? On top of it all, he was a brilliant electrical engineer.

Then there was my boss. Now that we were both straight, I figured we'd be even closer friends. He didn't conform to my preconceptions either. The guy had turned into an absolute jerk. No-one seemed to like him. Overbearing, arrogant, intolerant of others. I found I could no longer stand to be around the guy. None of this made sense to me. Druggies bad, straight people good. In my thinking at the time, even if someone wasn't 'seed-straight' they should still be miles ahead of some druggie asshole. I realized that the world isn't as simple as I had been taught. People aren't usually all good or all bad. The truth isn't always black and white. Being highly intolerant of other's shortcomings can easily be more of a fault than the very faults we may be intolerant of. Comparing ourselves to others and finding ourselves superior can lead to self-righteousness on a grand scale.

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