Cults
Each year, hundreds of North Americans join one of the
increasing, estimated 3000 unorthodox religions that exist
across North America. The increasing number of cults, to date
in North America, is due to the fact that cults are a social
movement that attempts to help people cope with their perceived
problems with social interaction. Cult recruiters target those
who perceive themselves as different from the rest of society,
and give these individuals the sense of belonging that they
crave. Cult literature lures potential cult members by
appealing to their desperate need to socially fit in. Cults
provide a controlled family environment that appeals to
potential cult members because it is a removal from the
exterior society. Cult recruiters prey on those who see
themselves as alienated from the rest of society, and give
these people the sense of conformity that they desire. A common
method of recruiters, to obtain new members, is through chat
lines on the internet. A recorded conversation between a member
of the Divine Light Mission, Fire-Shade, and an 18-year old boy, Jay
18, was obtained off of the site, IRC Teen Chat.
Jay18: I am a really great poet, but all of the kids in my
class are pretty warped about it. I basically hide it from them
because I don't need that hassle.
Fire-Shade: My family has a great respect for the artist inside
us all. I know you live in Michigan, and our family could
always use new operatives all over the world. You have to
understand what our family is about, it is about always fitting
in and never hiding the truth to be liked or cool. Are you
interested?
Jay18: Well maybe...
Fire-Shade: Give me your phone number we really shouldn't
talk about this here.
Jay18: I would rather not give my phone number out. You give
me yours, I won't be able to talk for long though.
Fire-Shade: Trust is very important in our group...do you trust
me? You can't call us, unfortunately because we are not in a
position to be accepting phone calls.
Jay18: Well then you can just e-mail me...OK.
Fire-Shade: [disconnects]1
The cult member makes the young boy feel as though he does care about
his problems, and wants to make this boy's life better. Fire-Shade
conveys his family as an entity not as many different individuals.
After feeling alone for many years the only persuasion some individuals
need is the assurance that they will be part of a society and accepted
unconditionally. Cult members know what type of individuals feel most
alienated and alone, says Dr.
Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult You’re in” and Benoit Denizet-Lewis writer of “ The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch”. They both talk about similar topics that go hand and hand with each other, they talk about the consumers “Dream”, how companies recruit the consumers, who cult members really are, how people are forced to wear something they don’t want, and about slackers.
William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying takes place in the fictional town of Yaknapatawpha, Mississippi in the 1920’s. It is set in the summertime in the ‘deep south’, which had continual dry and hot conditions. The novel tells of the quest of the Bundren family to bury Addie Bundren in Jefferson, where her family was buried. The Bundren family goes through many unexpected trials on this journey, but still manages to bury Addie where she requested. Among her children, were two of her four sons, Darl and Vardaman. They both had different perspectives and ways of understanding people and Addie’s death. Darl and Vardaman’s perspectives differed widely because of the age difference and maturity levels.
..., to note that there seems to be no adverse effects while a person is in a cult, as their levels of stress goes down and they seem happier. Overall, the cult mentality is one that continues to be an enigma to society today.
Mystery cults greatly influenced the development of Pythagoreanism as Pythagoreans adopted many of their traditions, behaviors and beliefs. Pythagoras, the founder of the Pythagoreans, established a school in which he developed and taught these adopted cultural behaviors and beliefs. "The nature of daily living in the school, both its moral and its intellectual disciplines, can perhaps best be understood as an intellectualized development from earlier mystery cults such as the Eleusinian" (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans and the mystery cults were not identical, but they shared many similar beliefs on subjects such as the soul, transmigration and reincarnation, and they practiced many of the traditions of initiation, ritual and secrecy. Pythagoreans combined the mystery cults' views on these subjects with philosophical thought as a foundation to develop their own unique beliefs.
The economic and social problems in France as well the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment were the main triggers to the French Revolution. The troubles the majority of the people, who were members of the third estate, suffered because of the economic collapse and social inequality brought about discontentment towards the monarchy, the church and the nobility. The spread of the Enlightenment ideals challenged the authority of the monarchy and changed the way the people viewed the government. These factors further fuelled the anger and frustration of the majority towards the state of affairs which lead to revolts and later on the revolution.
For many years, cult leaders always had a psychological hold on their followers' minds. Whether it was to kill other people or to kill themselves, they did it without question. Some cult leaders used fear, violence and guilt as a means of a weapon to control the minds of their followers. Other cult leaders used persuasive and spiritual speeches that made their followers believe they were doing good and fulfilling God's plan. Because cult leaders are powerful through psychological offenses, the people that belong to their cults are brainwashed into doing things they wouldn't normally do in their right state of mind.
Of all the long term causes of the French Revolution, the Ancien Régime was perhaps the most deeply-rooted. The Ancien Régime was the old system of government, the old order of things, before the Revolution, and it divided French society up into three ``estates'': the nobles, the clergy, and the common people (ie. everyone else, which included both peasants and the middle classes). The first and second estates were privileged in that they paid no tax at all, and for this reason, the monarch did not have a problem with their support: they were, in effect, propping up the Ancien Régime. The first and second estates also owned the larger proportion of land: although there were only 300 000 of them out of a total population of 25 million, they owned three fifths of the land in France.
Cult activity has been on the rise over the past few decades. With it there has been an increase in the fear surrounding it. From this fear, society has learned much about cults, how they get members and what to look out for as far as cult recruiters go. Society as a whole has also learned what can be done to deal with cults.
A cult is a good place for social outcasts to express their ideas freely, to feel safe, and to be enlightened for the future. A cult is a good thing to be involved in especially if you are a delinquent or criminal. Most people that join cults have a desire to belong, a lack of self-confidence, a desire for spiritual meaning, or to quit their addictions. A cult is a religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme. The word cult, which formerly referred to an organized system of worship, is now a term that slanders any religion that you don’t know about and don’t like. “The term has come to do for religion what nigger has done for race relations” (Fellowship of Eternal Desire).
Within the past twenty years scientology has dominated celebrity culture. The religion has increased its celebrity following, and as a consequence has been put in the spotlight. Scientology is a fairly new religion that was founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard started his career as a science fiction writer, but one day when he was under anesthesia at the dentist he had an epiphany that inspired Scientology. He believed he knew all the answers to the universe, and he wrote Dianetics, which has become a guide book for the religion (Christian Century). Scientology focuses on the soul and clarity of the mind. In scientology the soul is called a thetan, and followers are required to “undertake the path of mental liberation with the help of another person, a spiritual counselor called an auditor” (Molloy). Auditing how scientologists free and overcome problems from past lives that their thetan inhabited. Molloy says, that scientology has roots in Buddhism and Hinduism because of the connection to past lives and liberation of the soul. L. Ron Hubbard set out to make a thriving religion that would grow and prosper.
Cults are organizations that generally portray their own types of religion and generate practices. Cults typically do not follow the common moral code of their surrounding societies. In other words, cults make their own society by drawing in members through close friends and family members. Organizations that have been targeted as cults include the Amway Motivational Organizations and Scientology. Not only are these organizations classified as a cult through their Pyramidal structure and regulation of member behaviors, but they are also classified as a cult through their psychological manipulation.
The essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution.
Although cults have become a very common practice in our society, not many people actually know what a cult is. A cult is a group that demonstrates an excessive dedication to an idea, person or thing. Cults will conduct manipulative and persuasive behavior to advance the goals of the leader (Langone). There are many different types of cults, but they usually fall into four categories: Religious, Commercial, Self Help and Counselling or Political. Many people mistake religions as cults, but that is not the case. Religious cults are cults that center around a belief system as many common religions do, but they are categorized as a cult because of their practices and mind control. Common religions do not practice these techniques. Commercial cults are those that are interested in gaining money. These cults use their scare tactics and mind control techniques to get members to give them money and even work for them. Self Help and Counselling cults are centered around a business that has programs designed to help people by counselling them. By taking their courses, members are told they will become better people. This of course is not the case and these cults are inte...
For hundreds of years, France had been running on a political system called the Old Regime. This system divided the population of France into three groups, also known as estates. Two of the three estates had rights and privileges such as being excused from paying taxes, and having the opportunity to run for a high office. The other estate was not treated with the same luxury. They had to pay insanely high taxes and many did not get the right to get an education. The first estate was made up of the Roman Catholic Church. They were at the top of the social class and owned ten percent of all of France’s land. The second group was made up of the French nobility. The rich nobles accounted for twenty percent of France’s land, but only made up roughly two percent of the population. The third group was for the commoners. It made up about ninety seven percent of the French population. The third estate was split into three subdivisions. The first of the three groups were the Bourgeocies. The Bourgeocies were mostly bankers, business owners, and artisans. They had the opportunity to get an education and make a decent amount of money. But, they had to pay extremely high taxes which caused them to not make much money. The next group was the low income French workers. They were frequently unemployed and did not have enough money for food. The last group was the peasants. Shockingly, the
The first and less important cause of the three was the enlightenment ideas of the time. Christianity was the dominant religion at the time and the clergy had a lot of power and were a heavy political influence as well as very wealthy. However, the church and most of the higher clergy were ignoring the problems of the poorer people of France, who they were supposed to be serving, and were criticized by Enlightenment writers like Voltaire. Enlightenment writers challenged the ways things had worked for years. The ancien regime was the political and social system of France before the French Revolution. Under the system, everyone was a subject to the king and people were sorted into three estates. Enlightenment writers and philosophers would question the old order and write about new political systems and a society where everyone would have equal amounts of power. Because of this, ...