My personal journey into cult related activism and advocacy involving the MISA sect
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My first ever blog post here will be an attempt to share and explain my personal journey into the field of cultic studies and cult related activism/work that I have recently become more publicly involved with, especially in regards to my direct involvement with assisting with uncovering the underlying intentions of the highly controversial European organization known as MISA and the Atman Yoga Federation.
I have been passionately involved with spirituality for well over a decade now. I’ve spent a lot of time engaging within while also psychoanalyzing and studying the power and group dynamics amongst many various spirituality related communities and groups. This includes groups/communities that I would now upon further experience and education on the topics, consider to be a cult. Some of them being rather benign, while others with the possibility of producing a lot of harm.
It’s rather wise and important within this modern age to have very clear and precise definitions when it comes to skillfully wielding a word such as ‘cult’. It’s especially recommended to avoid loosely throwing the term around at simply any seemingly odd group that we don’t personally agree with.
Here’s a few basic descriptions of what defines a destructive cult provided to us by a couple of the leading experts within the field of cultic studies, sourced from psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton and cult expert Rick Alan Ross.
Defining characteristics of a destructive cult
- A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power
- A process known as coercive persuasion or thought reform (also known as mind control)
- Financial, sexual, labor, and other forms of exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling members
For more resources on this topic check out the video below provided by The Cult Education Institute.
One of the largest catalysts that lead to me beginning to get educated and actively involved within the fields of narcissism and cultic studies/activism was my direct personal experience within what is commonly referred to within the field of cultic studies as a ‘One on One Cult’. This is much more commonly referred to as an ‘abusive controlling relationship’.
A ‘One on one cult’ involves a person dominating another person, often times using various forms of coercive persuasion, information control, isolation, physical, psychological, and/or emotional abuse to dominate and exploit the other individual.
My personal experience within a One on One cultic relationship was deceptively wrapped within an extremely ’spiritual’ seeming facade, resulting in varying degrees of psychological, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In ways similar to some of the trauma being inflicted by the MISA sect upon its followers, just on a much smaller personal scale. As difficult, painful, confusing, and draining as this coercively controlling relationship was on my physical and mental health, I am incredibly grateful for the things that I have learned throughout and after the experience and I am especially thankful for the opportunity to emphasize what I have learned expressed through my cult related activism endeavors.
Personality traits aligning with the psychopathology of Narcissism has been shown to be directly linked and observably seen within the patterns and behaviors displayed by abusive cult leaders, whether that be a cult of 1,000 individuals or a cult of only 2 individuals.
For more resources on the topics of One on One cults and the connections between cults and narcissism check out the videos below provided by Rick Alan Ross and The Cult Education Institute.
Content retrieved from: https://medium.com/@lovelocks515/my-personal-journey-into-the-field-of-cultic-studies-and-cult-related-activism-af334e94787a.
