As I write this, I'm watching a documentary on Sundance Channel called "Join Us" about religious cults. I find it pretty despicable. And then it dawned on me that we should be treating this terrorist issue as if we are dealing with a religious cult that is armed and aggressively moving on outsiders. Whenever you are dabbling in a concept that is totalitarian, like a God Concept, you open yourself to abuse and the abuse can be total.
There is no doubt that cults prey on individuals with a weak mind and a weak sense of individuality. Cults are only religions on steroids and therefore, you have to accept that if you are in a religion, you have a weak sense of individuality. We feed religion by being a part of it. Gods need people to create them, or support them. Why else does any God want to be worshiped. Here's the hard part, to answer that question, one has to actually, THINK about it. But people will say that Faith dictates you not think about it. And therein lay the strength of cults (and organized religions as well).
One could argue that cults are a response to religion failing people. So they go more extreme in order to be "good", or better. This has a lot to do with "Memes" also, but that is another topic for another time; just understand for now that these are words or sets of words that act like a mental "virus" on a person's mind. Look it up.
A group that is all smiles, from what we have seen, if you look beneath the surface of some of them, have some very bad things are happening. As the narrator in the documentary said, now when he drives by an innocuous church along the road, where he used to see a happy congregation he now wonders, what are those people being told, is the power in the leader's hands being judiciously used, or abused? Is the leader mentally stable?
Because many times, you cannot tell unless you have contact with the outside to gauge your progress; and that is always the first things these leaders do, to begin to remove any possible questions to their authority. As one expert said, if you begin to realize you cannot make decisions for yourself any longer without your leaders direction, and you may not notice this due to the nature of this type of insidious brainwashing, then you are definitely in trouble.
Your "self" is beginning to dissolve. Religion should raise your "self" up, energize it, individualize it, make it productive and gregarious, not secretive, unable to function without the group. You shouldn't be wondering why you are feeling at odds, questioning things, etc., if "God" wants you, why would you feel that something is wrong. These leaders will say, it's the Devil or some other form of demon; they LOVE demons.
I'm starting to see that was only the kernel that allowed it to breed this other type of problem. The brainwashing, the cultist abuses of their own people for mislead religious reasons, using individuals as martyrs for their own purposes and outright maniacal purposes.
Consider those who blow themselves up in the name of God, of Allah. What would make someone do that. Up to this point I just thought it was their anger at our abuses over decades of their natural resources and our superiority at their condition and different beliefs.
If we look at these individuals as absorbed by a cult, we have to view their religion as some of them practice in their own country, as a cult positive organization. This may be the fastest way to make this problem go away. It would mean less people being killed in the battle against religious murder, to handle this issue in this way. It would mean a reorienting of religions the world over. But it would have to start with those attacking others, in those countries where it is allowed, supported and happening.
We need to view it as a microcosm within the macrocosm.
As we dealt with massive cults in our country, such as the Moonies, the Branch Dividians, the Jonestown church people, they have now broken into smaller units when they happen, like the Mountain Rock Church as shown in the documentary. We need to educate our police and courts on this. Since 1986, there has been only one place in the US to handle these people on a live in basis, to help them when they escape these types of churches and cults: Wellspring Retreat.
People think that cults are people who are cut of from society and live in a compound, like the Branch Dividians. But the modern cult is different. In one example, they actually built a housing development and moved among people. But they had to cut themselves off from friends and family, give their things to the Pastor until he had completely control over them and they had no sounding boards from the outside to country the Pastor. So whatever he said was God's word.
How is this different from those terrorists who have nothing and go for training, then are told to die for their God who is everything, and this is supported by any who they see on a daily basis, until they literally explode?
And other people around the world should sit back and accept this because it's a religious thing?
I don't think so. I think we need a reorientation on the concept of God world wide. I do believe that the best effort toward this coming to be are cults and especially, the religious terrorists. So, thanks guys.
The two most important things about the terrorists is that we need to find a way to protect these people from themselves and so they don't hurt others, and that we realize they need to be treated like they are abused by a mindwashing cult and deprogram them when necessary.
But for those of you who think that is too easy on them, we will still need to blow some of them away until we can get this under control. Not to worry.
What we need to do in the end, is stop the killing. We need new ways to think our way out of these things. That includes the greed we have put on third world countries, corporate greed and discare of humans, both their employees and those they take from in other countries.
There is a comment from the mother in the new film, "The Tree of Life" that goes, "There are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace," as the mother tells one of her sons, stating the film's theme early on. The trouble seems to be that in organized religions and worse in cults, what "grace" really is, becomes distorted, abused, and can ruin people's live. I find "grace" in life, far more accessible in a museum, or a field in the mountains, than I ever have an any church, or with any religious group.
If you will seek "God" or a large supernormal being or ideal outside of yourself as a way to give meaning to your life, let it enhance your life and those around you; and if you find that it isn't doing that, do something about it, protect yourself and those around you. Perhaps tell the authorities. Just know that if you do tell the authorities, there is a good chance, because of our culture and the place the religion holds with Human beings, they may not be able to help in any way, or even believe or understand you. And there in lay a large part of the problem.
Greed. It seems to be the basis of all of these Cult. Someone is getting something he or she wants. Money, Power, Sex, and sometimes all of the above. The thing that I find so difficult to understand is how can people fall pray to what is often a very sophomoric speech.
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