by George A. Boyd ©1988
First published in The Whole Life Times July 1988
Are you bored with the 9 to 5? Want to do something different? Would
you like to work for yourself and gain the approbation of other people?
Try starting a Cult.

How to Start Your Cult
It is first important to create a mystique about yourself. Hire a public
relations person (or a friend will do if you're low on cash) to portray
you as someone mysterious, exotic, possessed of supernal powers and charisma.
It is important to come from a mystic sounding country like India, Tibet,
Egypt, or "the Holy Land." In lieu of actually coming from there, you
can have studied there and thus gained the mystic powers of the Adepts
that live in the remote, forbidden recesses of Nature...atop craggy peaks,
in mold-encrusted caves, in ancient forests full of tigers, snakes and
horrible insects as large as your hand.
Next, have a group of friends circulate stories about you, that you have
been away on a long journey, and you have returned...different...and you
have become possessed of some mysterious power and presence. They may
then praise your abilities to transmit energy (call it Shakti!), to heal,
to put other people into profound states of meditation, to awaken faith
in God...
After this networking has aroused some interest and curiosity, hold your
first public meeting, preferably at a large hall. Poster the city and
hand out leaflets, and leave flyers at bookstores, health food stores,
and local markets.
Prior to your first meeting, you'll need to do some research. You'll
need to know how to do a guided meditation, and how to induce a light
hypnotic trance in a group. Practice in front of a mirror to obtain a
powerful gaze...and talk slowly, monotonously, in a deep, sonorous voice.
Leave lots of pregnant, lingering, seductive silences in between your
words. Change your tone mid-message from near whispering to shouting.
Watch how powerful speakers evoke tears, anger, cheers, shame, and exultationemulate
their style of stimulating powerful emotions.
Prepare a speech that promises that you and your new religion (or amazing
discovery, secret Yoga, true doctrine, esoteric technique) will satisfy
people's inner needs: to be loved, to be happy, to be popular, to be wealthy,
to be healthy, to be powerful and dynamic, to attain the heights of Spiritual
Realization, to be pleasing to God and/or members of the opposite sex.
Make claims of exclusivity and superiority, and actively ridicule other
groups or faiths, calling them evil, satanic, deluded, leading the ignorant
to destruction and woe...or hell...or the perils of transmigration...or
worse!
Intersperse your speech with adjectives praising your method or discovery,
but make no claims for yourself. Those that introduce you should give
a jaw-dropping, awe and respect-inspiring testimonial about you.
Enter to music that sets the mood you want to create: worship, serenity,
triumph, majesty. Have lighting that accents your entrance, soft background
lighting that will give the appearance of having a radiant aura around
you. Complete the atmosphere by having fresh flowers, incense, with wisps
of scented oils in the air. Place a large picture of yourself in a high
place behind the podium with the name of your group or churchhigh
enough so that people will have to raise their eyes every time they look
at it. Stand above them and talk with powerful, dramatic body language.
Simplify everything. Talk as if you were explaining to a 12 year old
child. Appear completely confident of your claims, and make eye contact
with your audience when you want to emphasize a point. Create a simple
doctrine, a simple cosmology with an All-Powerful, All-Protecting Being.
Drop hints and inferences (don't make direct assertions or claims) that
you are a special representative or Incarnation of this Being here on
Earth by way of metaphors and parables. Purposely leave everything vague
and never fully define your meanings, so that people leave stirred up
inside...asking themselves, "who is he/she?"...what did he/she mean by
that?"
After your speech, lead them in prayer or a guided meditation, easing
them into a light hypnotic trance state. While they are coming out of
trance, tell them where they can go to learn more, why it is crucial that
they come, why they desperately need what you have come to bring. Have
people hand out flyers to the audience as they leave to reinforce where
and when your ongoing meetings will be held. Have handsome well-dressed
men and attractive women act as door monitors and ushers, and have "counselors"
available to assure the troubled and confused members of the audience
that they ..."have come to the right place" and "the answer is here."
Meetings should further affirm your basic message. There should be more
testimonials, more praise of you and your Way, with simple participatory
rituals (a potluck dinner, holding hands in prayer, having each person
tell about themselves in a small group with the rest of the group applauding
after they speak) to create a sense of belonging.
The retreat or initiation comes next. After attending a required number
of introductory meetings, the seeker is "let into the inner circle" and
"permitted to partake of the Mysteries." This can be formalized by a simple
baptism or flower-offering ceremony, plus learning a special, secret prayer
or mantramic formula, or some other esoteric method. Coupling this method
with whispering, touching the forehead or anointing the head with chrism
oil, together with soft evocative background music and fragrant scents
will further imprint the experience into the subconscious mind.
Shaping of the new "initiate" is done by attacking and replacing belief
systems with cult doctrine, and by finding fault with his/her behavior.
Good, cult-approved behavior is praised; non-approved behavior is condemned.
Eventually, cult doctrine comes to replace much of the initiate's own
beliefs, thinking about cult philosophy and proscribed ethics comes to
occupy his/her thoughts, and being involved in cult commitments and events
occupies much of the spare time away from work and home.
Further commitment and responsibilities within the cult make leaving
and repudiating the doctrine even more difficult. Having offices or titles
locks the followers into roles, and turns them into permanent representatives
of the message you proclaim.
When the "movement" is established, you will only have to give talks
to them periodically to inspire their faith and commitment. Your trusted
lieutenants will take over much of the proselytization activity and fund-raising
efforts, so that with a little help from a lawyer and an accountant you
can guarantee yourself a well-to-do lifestyle with little effort...

The Human Cost of Cultism
Now that we have journeyed together on this imaginary voyage of you starting
your own cult and ensuring your fame and fortune, let us pause for a moment
and consider the human cost of cultism, and why this apparently easy and
seductive path to power, fame and wealth is not so prudent a path, after
all.
A little spare-time observation of television evangelism, local churches
and places of worship, or charismatic cults will reveal many of these
methods in action, much to the detriment of those who are swept up in
its illusions and emotional maelstrom.
Physically, people neglect their diet and sleep, and exhaust themselves
in pursuit of cult-prescribed activities, inviting disease and ill health.
Too ardent pursuit of meditation can further lead to sensory hallucinations
and delusional perception.
Emotionally, people become obsessed with ideas implanted by cult doctrine.
Their self- esteem becomes distorted, tending either toward grandiosity
or self-depreciation. They become tortured by feelings of guilt, failure,
fear, rage, shame, and bitter regret. Their emotional serenity is shattered.
Mentally, people little by little lose the ability to think for themselves:
to critically evaluate, to make independent judgements, to make decisions,
to separate reality from fantasy. Their will becomes weakened, and they
no longer resist the seductive and hypnotic suggestions of cult doctrine...their
lives come under the control of others.
Personally, their beliefs and behaviors increasingly become dictated
from without. They cease to direct their own lives. Instead, group mandate
becomes personal mandate, group goals become personal goals. Attribution
to self and to one's own efforts are supplanted by attribution to metaphysical,
spiritual, or archetypal sources. Ultimately the leader or divinity comes
to occupy the central place in the person's life, and all the issues of
life are seen to come from the leader.
Spiritually, people in cults develop devotion or fanaticism, detachment
or feverish over-involvement, and taste the extremes of ecstasy and despair.
There is rarely sober reflection, inner silence, and the balance of intentionality
and wisdom that marks maturity. Indeed, cultic groups feed on extremism,
infantilizing their followers and training them in immaturity and dependence.
These effects combine to make involvement in cults at best a waste of
a person's precious time and at worst the waste of a person's life.
Do you still want to start a cult?
How to Steer Clear of Cults
OK, you really are not motivated by greed, lust for power, and an exaggerated
sense of personal worth and preoccupation with your...Mission from God.
You are genuinely altruistic, honest, seeking the truth, motivated by
a desire only to serve and to love. Where do you find a group to learn
with safely, or conversely, how do you safely start your own group without
causing damage to other people's lives?
There are several principles that you can look for. Though these are
not always indicative of good fruit within the container, they are leading
indicators of, at least, sincere intentions:
1) FREE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION. The information in the
group is presented without claims of its exclusivity or superiority. It
does not deter members from seeking other sources of information; indeed,
it often encourages its members to go to those more expert and qualified
to teach certain skills or methods. It encourages a broad understanding
of religion and philosophy, and does not stress emotionalized, narrow
interpretations.
2) RECOGNITION OF THE HUMANITY OF THE LEADERS. Although
respect for the lofty spiritual attainments of the genuine adepts and
preceptors of humanity is appropriate, to deify the leader of a group
and to deny his/her humanity is to make a crucial error. These individuals
do not cease to have a personality and have the potential to fall from
grace. They may have learned over many years of discipline how to control
their tendencies of mind, and how to readily transcend the personality,
but this does not mean that latent or unconscious tendencies have ceased
to operate. Given the right circumstances, they too can be seen to be
overcome by passions, to blunder and yes...to sin.
3) HUMILITY. Genuine humility is a recognition of how much
a person has yet to learn. It is a remembrance of and gratitude to those
who have given of their strength, wisdom and guidance. No man "knows it
all" and grandiose notions should quickly vanish upon the dawning of "the
Light of Infinitude," or the "Vision of the Beloved of Hearts."
4) TRUTHFULNESS. To the senses, truth is the verifiably
real. To the emotions, truth is confession of real feelings and motives.
To the mind truth is accuracy and consistency. To the personality, truth
is integrity: promises and actions coincide. To the spirit, Truth is the
Ineffable Source from which it comes.
Truth is an intuitive conviction, an inner knowing of the law of the
heart. It cannot be codified by philosophy, dictated by religion or authority,
or enforced upon the human spirit.
When truth is communicated, it speaks directly to the heart, and it is
filled with love. It does not impose its values, threaten or cajole, browbeat
or persuade—but the heart knows that it is true.
If truth is spoken in the group, by the leader or anyone else, the heart
will know it. If authority is acceded to Scripture, to the Master or Teacher,
to God or gods above the human heart: question, and question yet again.
5) RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL. If the group
prescribes one panacea for all human needs, it denies the malleability
of situation and the infinite variety of our human condition. The medicine
that works for one person does not work for another; the method that transports
one soul to ineffable realms of bliss has no effect for another. Either
the method produces the result, or it doesn'ttrying to obscure this
with rationalizations, procrastination and explanation is diversion. The
method must respect the nature of the person's needs and situation, and
most of all it must respect a person's free choice and independent judgement.
It must allow him/her the right to learn from the consequences if need
be, or not to learn...and to choose his/her own path.
6) GENUINE LOVE AND DEVOTION. Love and devotion
that is engineered through effusive testimonials and the creation of a
legend about the leader does not last. Where there is spontaneous love
and devotion springing from the heart, where people do not have to exhorted
to love or to worship, you may look for a genuine tradition. When the
Beloved is seen, the heart does not have to be told who or where the Beloved
is, it knows...and it loves.
7) PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL VALUES AND SERVICE TO HUMANITY.
It is one thing to have a noble philosophy, another to live it.
Look
for deviation between the teacher's prescription and what is his/her own
behavior. Deeper than beliefs and philosophy is character; how a person
actually lives, speaks more eloquently than volumes of discourse.
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