Do you know someone in a cult?

[happyhoix]

I’ve always had a morbid fascination with cults - I think it started with Waco and Heaven’s Gate. 

I’m fascinated with how regular every day people get sucked into situations that the rest of us are appalled by. 

A big one, for me, is Scientology, because it has so successfully avoided any negative ramifications for what they’ve done. They continue to operate even after the death of their founder, L Ron Hubbard (which is very unusual, for cults). 

Currently, the courts are trying to locate the head of the group, David Miscavige, to serve papers on him, but he’s disappeared and everyone in his cult claims they don’t know where he is. (The papers have to do with the church taking children from church members to raise in group homes and then assigned to work on Scientology ships as unpaid slave labor (they sign lifetime contracts to work for free)).

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scientology-leader-david-miscavige-nowhere-to-be-found-as-prosecutors-try-to-serve-federal-trafficking-suit/ar-AA15Oine?li=BBnb2gh

I should also point out that Miscavige’s wife (last I heard) disappeared years ago and hasn’t been seen in public since. Speculation is that she’s being held against her will - or maybe she’s dead. 

Anyone ever have a relative in a full blown cult? 

[haapai]

I'm pretty sure that I have relatives that have been in half-baked cults that imploded pretty quickly.  That's probably the more common experience.  I'm probably lucky that none of my relatives, to my knowledge, have opted for the more durable full-blown variety. 

[dondub]

Had a HS and short term college friend that joined the Sikhs in LA. He was an alcoholic at a very young age. He went ‘in’ late ‘76. He was hardly seen or heard from for 35 years, but reappeared after the death of the guru. He had quit drinking which saved his life. I always considered them a cult and there is plenty of negative press about the Yogi Tea company they started.

Unfortunately he died from COVID after 9 weeks in the hospital. The original version took him out.

[happyhoix]

Dec 31, 2022 13:34:35 GMT -5 dondub said:

Had a HS and short term college friend that joined the Sikhs in LA. He was an alcoholic at a very young age. He went ‘in’ late ‘76. He was hardly seen or heard from for 35 years, but reappeared after the death of the guru. He had quit drinking which saved his life. I always considered them a cult and there is plenty of negative press about the Yogi Tea company they started.

Unfortunately he died from COVID after 9 weeks in the hospital. The original version took him out.

What did he do when he came back out of the cult? Was he able to get a normal job and live a ‘regular’ life? 

Very sorry he passed from Covid. 

[dondub]

Dec 31, 2022 19:47:24 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Dec 31, 2022 13:34:35 GMT -5 dondub said:

Had a HS and short term college friend that joined the Sikhs in LA. He was an alcoholic at a very young age. He went ‘in’ late ‘76. He was hardly seen or heard from for 35 years, but reappeared after the death of the guru. He had quit drinking which saved his life. I always considered them a cult and there is plenty of negative press about the Yogi Tea company they started.

Unfortunately he died from COVID after 9 weeks in the hospital. The original version took him out.

What did he do when he came back out of the cult? Was he able to get a normal job and live a ‘regular’ life? 

Very sorry he passed from Covid. 

He never came out of the cult. But after the guru died he had more freedom. Even moved back to Seattle and opened a Kundalini Yoga studio. I was surprised when I ran into him at The Rolling Stones concert. Last time I saw him.

[tallguy]

Do you know someone in a cult?

I know a couple of people who say they support Trump.  Are we counting that?

[I Am Caine]

I've been thinking about starting my own cult. You make a lot of money, and the sex can't be beat.

[djAdvocate]

about 75 million.  not personally.  but well enough.