How to spot a cult [Something Interesting #83] (Basic Knowledge Stuff #23)
- A.B.
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
This post is about cults. Proceed accordingly and carefully.
Recently at Capital Pride, my partner and I ran into several groups hosting booths that were focused on spirituality and religion. We're both atheists, so the religious ones were less appealing, but I've always gravitated towards Eastern philosophy and found myself chatting with a representative of a local Buddhist group. Signed up for emails, said goodbye, nothing too complicated. Later on, we came across an ayahuasca retreat booth, and my partner spoke with a man running the station while the lead person was getting food. They had a good conversation, and we kept going.
While walking away, though, this woman came running after us to continue the conversation they were having. It was then that I was getting hungry and overheated, annoyed we were being stopped by this person out of the blue for what should've been a done discussion. It was there that I noticed something was off about her demeanor and that this retreat may have been a possible cult (the constant touching, the repetitive affirmations, the hostile look I got when I chimed in saying the wrong country where the retreat was). I mentioned this to my spouse, and they got annoyed at my possible hypocrisy, saying, "And those Buddhists aren't in a cult?!"
Well, funny thing... Looking into the group I was talking to, it turned out they were a controversial branch of Japanese Buddhism that may be considered a cult themselves. So I may have almost fallen for the trap myself! Thinking about that, I went around and looked for resources about how to tell if something might be a cult and how cults function. Reminder that even intelligent and sensible people sometimes fall for cults, so this definitely could be considered Basic Knowledge Stuff.
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