Cults – the aftermath

[.Spectator]

I found this a great read for cult survivors.

http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/recovery/emotdiff.htm

I found that I identify with it all. These symptoms are common iif you have been in any sort of abusive situation. It is a good read for cult survivors. The road to recovery is long and hard.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

One of the vids in Sunday School Coffee Break is a discussion about cults.

[StregaModerator]

@bellerose as I recall you had a dabble in Mormonism once, although briefly. Would you classify that as a cult?

[.Spectator]

Strega wrote:

@bellerose as I recall you had a dabble in Mormonism once, although briefly. Would you classify that as a cult?

Without question!!!!!

Would you?

[.Spectator]

@regthefronkeyfarmer – how serendipitous….that’s never happened before 😉

[StregaModerator]

About Mormonism? I honestly have no idea. When I was a child, my younger sister had a mega crush on Donny Osmond, and the only thing we ‘knew’ about Mormons was that they could have more than one wife, so her chances of hooking up with Donny wouldn’t be dashed if he got married

Since I’ve been in the States, I read up a lot more about it. To be truthful, I don’t understand how they can actively believe in Joseph Smith, since the story of how their bible got created is more than bizarre, and Smiths reputation as a con man appears to have been widespread.

To my mind, the attraction of that sort of community is in feeling special and a part of a close knit fellowship. The rest is just tinsel and ribbon.

So I don’t actually know if it’s a cult. I haven’t got close enough to analyze their interactions. It’s why I asked 🙂

[UnseenParticipant]

Strega wrote:

To my mind, the attraction of that sort of community is in feeling special and a part of a close knit fellowship. The rest is just tinsel and ribbon.

A lot of the attraction of at least SOME cults is the feeling that you’re in on some special/elite/inner sanctum knowledge that the sheeple are unaware of. This is why people join cults they know will make them seem “different” from the average person, though to them different=special=smarter.

This explains why people join cults like Mormonism, The Seventh Day Adventists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Scientology. Other people are not into it by choice. Rather, they are born into the cult, and leaving a cult is generally difficult, because it usually means shunning to one degree or another, losing contact with friends, family, and other loved ones.

It’s also a way to make oneself a center of attention. A friend of mine said of punkers and goths, “If you know you’re not that attractive, well, at least you can be interesting.”

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by  Unseen.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by  Unseen.

[.Spectator]

@strega – well here’s a clue for you of what the Mormons are all about for example. When one of my best childhood friends got married in the Mormon church (about 15 years ago now), I was not “allowed” to attend the ceremony, and the family was not allowed to discuss what happens in the ceremony. I was ONLY allowed to attend the reception afterwards. So I was definitely treated as an outsider simply because I wasn’t “one of them.”

You remember the person who initially turned me on to Think Atheist? Yep. That was his sister…and that was when I started to learn about what they believed. I even went as far as talking to missionaries to see about joining, but…I just could not stoop to that level of ignorance no matter how hard I tried. It would have been nice because in many ways it’s very easy to become part of a community when you’re in the Mormon church. But I’ll trade a sense of strong community for having my faculties in tact any day.

[StregaModerator]

@bellerose I find it absolutely fascinating. I find it a little creepy too. I think it’s partly because of the magic underwear. You couldn’t make that up.

We don’t have Amish communities in the UK, and I find them fascinating too. I really like the idea of operating without technology. It inspires the inventor in you to find efficiency with limited materials.

However, I’m pretty aware that gender plays a vital part in those cults/close communities. I can’t see myself baking and breeding, somehow.

I can’t think of any cult, incidentally, where women aren’t subjugated to men. Not one! Oh I so hope someone will prove that assumption wrong!

[.Spectator]

@strega, my mother is from a town full of Amish people. As a matter of fact, she is getting ready to travel there later this month for her 50th high school reunion (you do the math)…it’s funny, a lot of the Amish do actually have cell phones now…not all of them, but still…

I went there as a child and I honestly would LOVE to live out in the country off the land like that. I think that’s how we evolved to live. I really could do without the religion though. I could easily become an organic farm hippie though, lol….

[.Spectator]

There’s quite a few very nice Amish sayings to be honest. I even bought a book of them at one point. Not too different from the “Dichos” of Latin America…little bits of wisdom that do apply, even if you are an Atheist.

[StregaModerator]

So what’s the position on women in the Amish?

In Fiji at the tribal meetings only the men are permitted to speak. Their wives sit next to them and they tell their men what they want to be said. The men decide whether or not they will say it, depending on whether they agree.

Now that sounds oppressive, doesn’t it? However…

The tribe meetings have another rule. No man may speak if a women is singing. So if the man decides not to say what his woman wants, she starts to sing. All business stops. In support, other women join in the singing. You can see where this is going, can’t you?! So now who controls the meetings?

When I asked about the role of women in the Amish, I’d like to understand the true dynamics.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Belle Rose wrote:

@regthefronkeyfarmer – how serendipitous….that’s never happened before

Strange, I was only thinking about that word just before I read the comment !!

[StregaModerator]

@regthefronkeyfarmer that was so corny it made me cringe. My dad would have loved it.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Bad one liner puns about interesting words are one of my idiosyncrasies.

[Author]

Posts