The Gospel According to Acharya S
What is a Cult?
The Definition
What is a cult? A cult, as defined by Webster's, is:
"1. formal religious veneration; 2. a religious system; also its adherents; 3. faddish devotion; also a group of persons
showing such devotion."
Others define it thus:
"Cult (totalist type): a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or
thing, and employing unethical, manipulative or coercive techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., isolation from former friends and
family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management,
promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, suspension of individuality and critical judgment, etc.), designed to
advance the goals of the group's leaders, to the possible or actual detriment of members, their families, or the community." (DJ West,
1989)
"I classify cults into nine different types:
-
"-- those based on neo-Christianity ideas;
-
-- those based on Hindu and Eastern concepts;
-
-- those based on the occult involving witchcraft and Satanism;
-
-- those based on spiritualism;
-
-- those based on Zen and other sino-Japanese practices;
-
-- those based on race;
-
-- those involving flying saucer and other outer space phenomena;
-
-- those involving psychology; and
-
-- political cults.
[Gee, there's no cult-ural bias here!]
"When do cults arise? Throughout history, whenever there has been a breakdown in the structure of the society, an uprise
in cults has occurred. For example, after the French Revolution, there was a tremendous upsurge of cults in France and in Europe; when the
Industrial Revolution came to England, many cults arose. In the United States the westward frontier expansion and the growth of cults
occurred together.
"What is a cult? It is a group led by a living, self-proclaimed leader who claims that he or she has been told by a higher
power to lead such a group. Secondly, cults have a double set of ethics, that is, one set of rules for use in the cult, and another for use
with non-members. Thirdly, cults raise funds for their own use and not for altruistic purposes." (NAPP Journal, vol. 9/no. 4, "Socio and
Religious Cults: Religion or Brainwashing?")
Let us now use the various criteria presented above to evaluate some groups not usually thought of as "cults" by all
people.
|
Catholic Church |
IRS |
CIA |
| Formal religious veneration |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| A religious system |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Faddish devotion |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| A group of persons showing such devotion |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or
thing |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Employing unethical, manipulative or coercive techniques of persuasion and control |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Isolation from former friends and family |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Debilitation |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Powerful group pressures |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Information management |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Suspension of individuality and critical judgment |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders, to the possible or actual detriment of
members, their families, or the community |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Governmental Bodies Guilty of "Religious Veneration?"
But some will cry, "How can you say the IRS and CIA are formal religious veneration?" Webster's defines "religious" as
"relating or devoted to the divine or that which is held to be of ultimate importance." Keep in mind that many people find money to be of
ultimate importance and the acquisition of it to be a divine pursuit. All secular and "sacred" organizations are extremely obsessed with raising
loads of capital--no matter what it takes. They are all members of the money cult.
"To venerate" is defined as "to regard with reverential respect." Certainly by any standards or applications there are many
within these systems who are zealots for the party line. So it has always been throughout history. These organizations are cliques, sects and,
yes, cults. In order for these groups to function, there must a binding factor and a perceived enemy. We know how the CIA works. It is a
sophisticated brainwashing computer that blithely contributes to civil unrest and degradation globally. The IRS religiously persecutes all in its
path, strong and weak alike, and reduces us to robotoid status under its everwatching and ready-to-strike eyes. Each group has its particular
mass psyche, its shared goals and beliefs. Each holds said vision as ultimate importance and regards the mission and members with reverential
respect.
The Catholic Church is More of a Cult than the Moonies
That the Catholic Church is a formal religious veneration goes without saying. It is about as formal as can be. It is
certainly a faddish devotion when one considers that it has only occupied a fraction of human history and is based on one of thousands of
godmen/hero myths found globally. Without a doubt the Church is guilty of excessive devotion to a person, idea or thing. It is guilty of all
three of these "cult" criteria. The minds of Catholics are constantly obsessed with the "Lord and Savior" and "God the Father," among other
noxious "religious" ideas and things. To a Catholic, all revolves around the "Lord's plan," or some such. Everything is perceived from this
dei-centric platform. In fact, throughout Catholicism's sordid and shameful past, those who did not share this perception have been hideously
scourged, tortured, burned at the stake, massacred, robbed and made victims of other unlovely deeds perpetrated against them by the "good
Christians." The obsession with the "Kingdom of Heaven" and the "Kingdom of the Lord" led to the death of hundreds of thousands, if not millions,
during the zealot crusades.
Mainstream Groups Use Cultlike Brainwashing Techniques
The IRS and CIA are also single-focused in their pursuits, so much so that they break laws continuously, both nationally and
internationally. This lawbreaking has led to the harassment and death of thousands as well. The IRS has been known to use mind control techniques
to produce illness in people it perceives owe it money. Its agents are relentless and uncaring, as if of some other species. They care not a fig
about hardship, but go after the "little people" who are barely scraping it together. They have no laws but are above the law. The CIA's
escapades internationally are infamous. Their espionage and mental harassment techniques are state of the art, and they too capitulate to almost
nothing. Their "missions" are of the highest importance, and they are excessively devoted to them.
The techniques of coercion used by any of these groups are also well-known. While the IRS and CIA are slightly more
surreptitious than the Catholics, the Church flagrantly has used physical and psychological torture to persuade "heathens" and other "sinners" to
repent or convert. In fact, priests have been known to quip "Give me a child before the age of seven and he's mine for life." All so-called
religions have "brainwashing" techniques as part of the curriculum. The very doctrines of Catholicism are coercive: Obey, and you will be
rewarded; disobey, and you will be punished. You are offered greed for heaven or fear of hell.
Likewise, the IRS uses high-stress techniques by way of threats to one's livelihood and sometimes one's life. The stress
associated with finance and the pressures put on by IRS hassles are very great indeed. There is virtually no one over the age of 22 who is free
from these pressures, not even the rich. These are some of the highest stresses in the world, and there have been cases reported of people who
have been harassed by the IRS going insane, committing suicide or being killed in combats with IRS. This has included rumors of the use of mind
control weapons such as those reportedly used by the CIA.
The CIA uses its coercive techniques in a more subtle and hidden manner, although its various operations also reveal the
propensity for physical and psychological torture as well. It has been known to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to sinister operations in countries
in which it has worked, and it has been linked many times over the last 40 years to illicit drug and weapons deals. The CIA has been rumored to
have used such things as electromagnetic waves and drugs to alter or "brain-dirty" subjects.
Isolate and Conquer
How the Catholic Church isolates people from their families is obvious when one looks at their principal places of religious
training--the monasteries and nunneries. These institutions require a general or more strict renunciation of all that is outside the walls of the
compound and a surrender to constant contemplation on the nebulous father-figure in the sky and his son. Depending on
the location, the isolation may be total and for many years. The difference between this and other "cults" is that when the disgruntled or
demented members of the other cults escape and reveal the inner workings, we are shocked, but the mentally ill who have not benefited but may
have actually become depraved from the so-called religious sanctuary of the monastery are seldom allowed to reach the media. The Church has been
immensely capable of downplaying or denying the many charges of child molestation and rape by multitudes of our "good fathers." If the
"population, family and friends" that a person is separated from are not of the same cult as Catholicism, the isolation may be for a very long
time. This happens in every family where an offspring may decide to change his or her religion from what is perceived by the family as "the real
one," which means their own. Christianity also has as one of its tenets laid down by its supposed founder that you must "hate your mother and
father" to follow its leader. Indeed," Jesus" calls for renunciation of the family.
In preaching the party line, the IRS and CIA all require their members to appear for many hours a day away from their
families, at the office, out on assignment. IRS agents must be one of the most isolated groups around. How many friends could they possibly have?
And what kind of stress are they under, to constantly be compelled to believe that most of the world are deadbeats who need correction by their
organization? This last criterion is one shared by all the cults we are dealing with herein.
The debilitation of all of these groups happens not only to their members but also to the "outside" people the group affects.
The debilitation of Church members lies in the "born-in-sin" ideology of the Church and the separation of the divine from the human
consciousness. In believing that they are lesser beings, Catholics are set up as victims of existence, which is dictated by the caprice of their
often wrathful god.
"Cult" is Often Simply Name-Calling
The "nine different types" of cults as proposed by the writer of the NAPP Journal article are obviously culturally biased
criteria. The author is, no doubt, a member of a widely accepted cult such as Christianity or Judaism. The fact that the "nine types" have been
on this planet in one form or another for as long or much longer than the relatively recently created Christianity is lost on the bigoted followers of said "religions." Said author seems totally unaware that his
or her own cult itself was created during a "break down in the structure of society." By that author's definition of a cult as a "group led by a
living self-proclaimed leader who claims that he or she has been told by a higher power to lead such a group," early Christians must definitely
be considered a cult. Therefore, by this definition, a cult becomes a religion after its founder is dead. Hence, all religions with founders
begin as cults.
Rome Fiddles While the World Burns
The second and third definitions presented by this same author, to wit, "Secondly, cults have a double set of ethics, that is,
one set of rules for use in the cult, and another for use with non-members. Thirdly, cults raise funds for their own use and not for altruistic
purposes," could easily be applied to any Christian or Jewish organization, especially to the Catholic Church,
which exploited, raped, enslaved and impoverished half the world and then handed out token "charity." How much pilfered wealth does the Vatican
contain, while people around the globe starve?
Cult is also defined as, "A religious sect generally construed to be extremist or bogus." In the case of the three cults
studied above, this is certainly the case. For centuries there have been very vocal detractors of the Catholic Church, including those who have
regularly claimed the pope to be the Antichrist.
Using the criteria presented in this treatise, we can categorize any group of individuals with shared ideology as a cult, and
that includes all religions and organizations known to mankind. Let's keep that in mind next time someone starts shouting, "Cult! Cult!" He or
she is probably a cult unto him or herself.
The Gospel According to Acharya S
Previous: Is Cannibalism a Religious Experience?
Next: Egotists on Earth
| 
