By George A. Boyd © 1988
It has been popular of late in journalism to uncover
the hidden sins of spiritual leaders, both Christian and non-Christian.
We have witnessed the public humiliation of Jim and Tammy Baker, closely
followed by the fall of Jimmy Swaggart. In New Age circles, we have seen
the exposure of the seamier aspects of the private lives of Dr. Frederick
Lenz A.K.A. Rama and John-Rodger by the media. This article examines the
coping strategies of a typical group based upon charismatic leadership
as it attracts new followers, and sketches the changes that occur when
fear instead of love becomes the dominant guiding principle of a group.
Believers involved with charismatic leaders such as
these typically express surprise and incredulity at these revelations
of impropriety. Their continual denial of ever-increasing signs of compromise
of values and waiving of standards paradoxically has made their devotion
and loyalty all the more fervent. When a crisis occurs like the public
embarrassment of their leader, the members evidence massive denial of
reality and increased rationalization. New group rules and policies quickly
sprout up to protect the leader's credibility and members internalize
new attitudes to cope with the external world's attack upon their faith.
How a group changes into a cult
When a new group starts out, the rules support spiritual
practice and prayer, worship of the Divine, self-discipline and following
ethical guidelines.
If the group is successful in attracting new followers
into the fold, new rules arise to keep the crowds under control and ensure
the safety of the spiritual teacher. The teacher, once a highly accessible
person, becomes impersonal and aloof. The teacher begins to appear somehow
larger than life, distorted by developing group legend into a superhuman,
possessed of godlike ability and qualities.
When a group grows very large, it must make organizational
changes. Typically, it will rearrange itself as a non-profit corporation
with different departments, each managed by a hand picked individual chosen
by the leader. At this point the group undergoes an internal division,
and there arises a core group of special followers or advanced initiates
who are allowed access to the teacher, while the rest of the group is
maintained at an impersonal distance. This core group is privy to the
secrets, the internal policies and decisions of the group leader. Members
of this core group come to take on an aura of importance, and may be given
certain distinct honors or privileges denied to the group at large.
As a consequence of expansion, a group can also undergo
an division into two different groups. When doctrinal conflicts and struggles
for political power within the organization reach a crescendo, one of
the core group members may create a schism, by starting a new group, and
assembling some of group members around him or her self.
When schism occurs, members of the newly formed group
may be barred from attending meetings, or may be publicly chastised for
being deluded, disloyal, or traitorous. Such disloyal behavior may be
held up as being an example of a grievous downfall, and group members
increasingly are called into account for their errors in conduct, sometimes
by public confessions before the whole group.
Closely following schism in a group, rules and expectations
for followers aim to create exclusive devotion to the leader, and to avoid
polluting "pure doctrine" by exposure to the "heresies" of the newly formed
group. This protection of devotion and doctrine may further be extended
to bring the teacher's ire and group ostracism against any investigation
of alternate beliefs or practice in any other groups. During this phase
other teachings or teachers may be ridiculed and criticized, and members
warned that terrible consequences may occur to them if they leave the
fold.
In turn, this new xenophobic attitude may be supported
by doctrinal shifts that establish the exclusivity, uniqueness, or "only
way" status of the group and its leader to salvation or spiritual realization.
This marks a crucial turning point in the history of a group.
As the group closes the doors of love and acceptance
by claims to exclusivity, it begins to shut itself off from any new input
of information from the outside, and the leader becomes the primary interpreter
of meaning for the members of the group. Since the group eschews dialogue
or communication with other groups that would tend to promote reflection
upon new ideas, there is no moderating influence to avoid distortion or
overvaluing of the opinions of the leader. To close off external information
and feedback through these means is a rapid conduit to cultism and fanaticism.
In the pressure cooker of closed minds, ideas are
quickly distorted, and emotions heated to the explosion point. During
this highly volatile phase in the group's history, attempts to proselytize
new members may take on a desperate, impassioned quality. Potential converts
may be subjected to prolonged indoctrination sessions where their beliefs
are attacked, their self-esteem splintered, and heavy pressure is placed
upon them to undergo initiation rites and adopt the new beliefs and practices.
There is a kind of messianic fervor that appears during this phase, and
very unrealistic expectations arise about the future begin to arise.
Several things can occur at this stage in the history
of the group that can shift this idealistic fervor into a full-blown paranoia:
- the leader can become increasingly irrational or
psychotic
- disgruntled or disappointed members in key positions
can leave, while the group is led to believe they have been deceived
by supernatural evil
- deprogrammers can seize members and force them
to recant their beliefs
- irregularities in the group's beliefs and practices
can bring negative media coverage and widespread external criticism.
The appearance of one or more of these factors may fully precipitate
a group apperception that they are being persecuted or are under attack
by hostile forces, both supernatural and societal.
Close on the heels of paranoia runs desperate men
and desperate measures. The group may begin to arm its members, and measures
may be taken to protect secrets from the police, FBI or CIA. The group
may begin to check its phones for wiretap. The leader may install elaborate
surveillance devices to monitor the members of the group. Members' personal
mail may be opened and read. The group may change the names of its organizations
or change the names of its offices to cloak from the public that it is
the same group. The group senses betrayal, and no one is above suspicion.
If the group survives this very dangerous period,
it may protect itself by "retreating to the wilderness". The group may
begin to move its centers away from the cities in order to escape the
storms of criticism from without and the turmoil within. Moving out of
the limelight of the media allows the group to find a safe den and to
heal its wounds.
After this period of dormancy and disappearance from
public view, we may see the group resurface, having undergone a metamorphosis.
The group will have changed its presentation and packaging and the leader
will be carefully groomed to de-emphasize the blunders and embarrassment
of the past.
Like a hungry beast emerging from hibernation, the
group has a hunger to expand itself, gathering new members and new wealth
into the organization by active proselytization. What is commonly seen
at this stage is a callous disregard for truthfulness: there is a marked
difference between what is presented to the public and what actually takes
place in the group.
This dual representation of reality evidences a growing
felt sense by members of the group that they are misunderstood. They feel
outsiders cannot appreciate their reality or experience.
Finding new members that have not been swayed by negative
media becomes urgent. The members of the group believe that they must break
down the defenses of the potential convert. They believe they must coerce
him, convert him by whatever means, convince him to undergo initiation.
Only then can he be led to understand the mysteries of the faith, and
thereby see the error of his ways and the truth of the group's point of
view.
What differentiates this stage of proselytization
from its earlier forms is its blatant attempts to deceive. This period
is marked by a toleration of a growing hypocrisy and compromised moral
standards, and former restrictions upon behavior may be lifted. It is
as if members feel that anything goes if only those "outside" can be led
to see the light, and the aims of the group can be advanced.
What we clearly see at this stage is that this group
that started so innocently with altruistic ideals has become diseased.
And it spreads its illness by contagion, destroying people's lives, their
families, and all of their former hopes and dreams, catching them up in
a nightmare that will not go away.
Why does this happen?
Have you ever noticed that when a spiritual group
begins to struggle to survive, its initial values, its idealism, enthusiasm,
and goodwill begin to evaporate? Why does this change occur? And how is
it that we see this same scenario again and again, of groups dividing,
becoming full of fear and hatred, and then transmogrifying into venomous
little cults—losing the ideals, the values, the love that were their
true strength? We can in part explain it by the changes that occur in
the individual members themselves.
When individuals come to rely on the strength, inspiration
and vision of a single charismatic leader for life direction and guidance,
they become subject to the control of the leader. Although truly altruistic
leaders do not misuse the privileges of the power they have been granted,
some preceptors do succumb to the many temptations of their position of
authority. They may lead their devoted and willing flock astray into the
never-never land of their delusional thinking, or use them to live out
their fantasies of wealth, power and passion. Because the leader's ideas
and suggestions are seen by members as supernaturally inspired or even
as Divine commandments, members become cemented to the leader by the bonds
of fear, guilt, awe, and a growing dependency. And as members become increasingly
dependent on the leader to provide direction, their own ability to make
independent decisions, to discriminate reality for themselves, and to
test the truth of the leader's ideas and values withers. Also, by too
readily providing answers and direction for people's lives, together with
providing new identity and felt sense of belonging, these groups extend
the parent-child relationship far into adulthood, and may impede the maturation
of its members.
When external sources of information and feedback
are shut down, coupled with a growing dependency on a charismatic leader,
and you have conditions suitable for the formation of a cult. When
people give away their power, and cease to inquire and investigate truth
for themselves, they become ensnared by their own fear, guilt, and dependency,
and are ripe for victimization by a cult. Without perspective, these
groups become obsessive, monoideatic, fixed on a group of basic assumptions
about the universe and man through which all experience is filtered. Further,
members of these groups feel it is their duty or mission to impose these
beliefs and practices on others, as these doctrines and rituals have come
to represent to them, the only and final truth.
As it occurs in these groups that beliefs replace
observation, doctrine replaces sober reflection, obedience replaces self-direction,
fear, guilt and self-loathing replace natural bonds of connectedness and
healthy self-love, it is not unusual for cognitive and emotional distortions
to be created in the members of these groups... When such distortion exists
in leader and group member alike, it should not be surprising that we
see personality changes in individual members of these groups that are
not for the best. These personality changes may cause long-lasting problems
in adjustment that persist long after group membership is ended.
When membership in these groups is used to fulfill
individual needs for love and belongingness, and to provide security against
the uncertainties of Fate, the terror of leaving the group far outweighs
the discomfort and sacrifices required remaining as a member of it. It
is a trap formed of the member's own fear. They fear of losing friends
and loved ones, of losing the respect and affirmation of those one has
come to trust, fear of having to rely on one's own limited and often untested
resources to stand alone and make the choices from which authentic living
springs.
The uncertainties arising in the transition between
adulthood and adolescence, the quest for identity and higher values, the
burden of a life troubled by unresolved emotional issues each are avenues
through which people are led to join these groups. It may be also that
certain types of personalities who have been unable to meet their needs
through more conventional channels are drawn to lead these groups, and
live out their megalomanic fantasies of omnipotence. It is when these
two kinds of individuals meet, teacher and disciple, leader and follower,
guru and chela, that a relationship of trust and faith is established
that becomes prioritized above every other relationship. When this faith
and trust is manipulated and abused, playing on the gullibility and naivete
of its victims, we have dynamics that produce the cult personality.
When we look at the betrayal of their trust and faith
these members have undergone, it is not difficult to understand the rage
these people have upon emerging from these groups. We can empathize with
the difficulty they experience trying to put their shattered lives back
together, or the confusion they feel about what to believe and what is
the best way to live.
One of the challenges for ex-members who have been
involved in these groups is to discover their own authentic values and
identity. They need to
- re-discover their individuality
- uncover their congruent and authentic emotionality
- embrace a set of standards and principles on which
to base their lives
- chart a course for their life by establishing
meaningful goals for the future.
They need to begin the process of approaching life
anewnot through the filters of cult doctrinebut to observe
it, feel it, experience their life as it is. This takes courage and honesty,
a willingness to let emotional healing take place, and the choice to reopen
the doors of love.
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