Ever feel like joining a cult or a small religious sect?

I sure havent
I have actually contemplating joining scientology to play with them.
I went to a seminar of theirs..and they used hypnosis and had you think wonderful thoughts while looking at a figurine of L Ron Hubbard..then they said hypnosis was bad and that they'd never ever use it
They couldnt brainwash me

...

No, but I've been reading stuff about Scientology and Mind Control techniques - Charles Manson basically used these and Acid to accomplish the Tate murders. Jim Jones, and all of those "messiahs" are fascinating stuff to read about. From a healthy distance of course.

Ironically, ... most messiahs have had markedly unstable lives. Their backgrounds and life histories are rife with traumatic experiences. It is commonplace among them that their calling is precipitated by crisis, nervous breakdown, and physical collapse. Most messiahs are people who have been unable to successfully integrate themselves into ordinary society. They are marginal individuals -- members of groups denied access to power, or individuals who for a variety of reasons have failed to achieve it. As a group, messiahs also display other characteristics. They are ambitious, intelligent, and rigid; thus, despite their inability to follow the usual routes to success, they manage to create their own.
-- Willa Appel, Cults in America

No but I've thought about creating one. =]

No, just no.

I really don't like the idea of giving up my free will to some alleged prophet or whatever Also, short of being brainwashed, I'd find it hard to swallow whatever weirdness the cult is pushing as its dogma.

psych + forum, and ended up finding this website tonight.

I just want to toss my "life" away and go join a Buddhist colony or a cult.

But the funny thing about me seeing your question tonight is, I used to be a Jehovah's Witness. You have an extreme misconception about what the religion is about! It is no utopia, it is suspect to the same human foibles that plague any other human organization: abuse of power, sexism, idiocy, sexual abuse, so on & so forth. Certainly there are no arranged marriages. Plenty of people engage in petty, back-stabbing behavior. Only a small few are 100% brainwashed. Everyone else just lives "normally" only giving lip-service to the rules & regulations. And one of the rules IS going door to door to proselytize, that is the way you gain approval and move up in the organization. There is actually a quota system and recommended # of contacts you're supposed to meet in a week or a month. It's completely organized. And if you're a shy or anti-social person, too bad. If you don't go out, you are definitely "counseled" about it and looked down upon.

Back to the subject of this post, I would love to join a cult because I am a lazy, weak person who is tired of dealing with the problems in life, and I want my brain to be empty and only follow the teachings of another person, do what they tell me, and live in peace. I'm too chicken to kill myself. As long as it's a peaceful, non-perverted community, I'm in.

flexxy wrote:You have an extreme misconception about what the religion is about! It is no utopia, it is suspect to the same human foibles that plague any other human organization: abuse of power, sexism, idiocy, sexual abuse, so on & so forth. Certainly there are no arranged marriages. Plenty of people engage in petty, back-stabbing behavior.

Damn, I was just about to quote this as a reason for why I would never join a cult (just for the record, I have had very few experiences with organized religion). It's exactly this sort of backstabbing, two-facedness, high degree of social control and coercion and general hypocrisy that I really loathe.

It seems to occur (or at least have a high risk of occuring) whenever groups of people are formed that are somewhat isolated from others, exactly such as cults or even small villages. I suppose it may be a tribal thing. And I suppose I really dislike it because I tend to come out as the omega male in situations like this.

I guess I don't really have a high opinion of humanity in general.

Scientology after watching that south park episode... Not for the religion/belief itself, but because that was very very very funny!

how came someone belive that thing, it's a not that good Sci Fi plot, i think matrix is far more beliavable. although i'm a big sci fi fan.


but for real i don't talk about religion, i have mine, so i live this way... its kinda of waste of time discussing it.