|
this is Anth's
succinct and (of course) funny essay from Lifes
Great (sic.)
Getting caught in a cult.
Message:
Premies say, “You get knowledge of your own
free will.” But this is not really true.
There’s a large amount of persuasion and
conditioning that takes place before hand. By the
time you get to the knowledge session, you’re
already a believer.
The process is like one of those large, funnel
shaped nets, that’s dragged along by a
trawler. The further down the funnel you go, the
more intense it gets, and finally, at the end, is
the cult initiation ceremony, called a
‘knowledge session’, designed to flop you
out the other end, on a cold table, where the
master stands with his fish knife, ready to
liberate you.
The funnel is there to make sure that, when you
show up for the initiation ceremony, you are
already a believer. It filters people out until
only the faithful remain at the end. It works
something like this:
1. A cult member gets a friend, colleague, or
family member to come along to a special
‘introductory video’. Most people sniff
‘cult’ even at this early stage, and
decline the offer.
2. Those who go to the video, are attending an
event which is specifically designed to lure them
further into the tunnel. Usually cult members, who
are renowned for scaring new people away with their
guru worshipping diatribe, are kept away from these
events, unless they are bringing in fresh cannon
fodder.
3. The next stage down the funnel is to attend a
few more ‘introductory videos’, and get
softened up for stage 4, the
‘instructor’.
4. When you get the idea that
‘knowledge’ is ‘an inner
experience’, and Maharaji is the
‘giver’ or ‘teacher’,
you’re ready to meet an instructor. These
characters have been around since the cult came
West in the late 60s, and have been called by
different names- ‘mahatmas’,
‘initiators’, ‘instructors’,
and, in the new ‘EST’ style fad that the
cult seems to be entering, will probably be called
‘facilitators’, or ‘consciousness
managers’ or something. Anyway, a ‘cult
priest’ will interview you, and decide if
you’ve been softened up enough to invite you
along to a private session.
5. The private session takes place in a small,
comfortable environment. The cult priest grills
you, shows you a video, answers questions and
determines if you are ‘ready for
knowledge’, ie, ready to be initiated into the
cult. Basically this means accepting that the
meditation techniques you will be shown are an
experience of ‘inner truth’, ‘your
lifeforce’, or whatever way you feel most
comfortable describing what religious folk call the
‘spirit’, or ‘soul’. (There has
been a strong move away from ‘spiritual
terminology’ within the cult, for the past few
years.)
It also means accepting that Maharaji is the
only teacher who can show you this ‘inner
truth’, or ‘knowledge’.
When you’ve swallowed these two spoons of
medecine (‘knowledge’ is ‘inner
truth’, Maharaji is the one and only master of
it.), then you’re ready for the next stage in
the tunnel.
6. The ‘knowledge selection session’,
is the final process before initiation into the
cult. If you ‘pass’ the selection process
(because by now, you should be hungry for truth and
hungry to become a follower of Maharaji), you go
through to the ‘knowledge session’, where
you declare there is no other Master than Maharaji,
and you understand that what you are about to
experience is ‘precious inner peace, lifeforce
etc’. Another fat fish, ready for the
plate.
7. Finally of course, there is the
‘knowledge session’, where you are shown
the techniques and made a member of the cult. After
that, you can go to special meetings for cult
members only, practice the meditation every morning
and fill out a standing order. Welcome to
‘Guruworld’, where the only position in
the organisation is prostrate before the
master.
It’s not always as I’ve described.
Once the priests did the initiation, now they
select and Maharaji does, mass initiation sessions
himself. The packaging is always changing, and
premies will always tell you, ‘Yes, indeed, it
did used to be crazy. But it’s all changed
now. They’re called ‘facilitators’,
not ‘instructors’, he’s called a
‘teacher’ not a ‘guru’,
it’s not called ‘a knowledge
session’, it’s a ‘consciousness
seminar’, ‘…or whatever.
Basically, it’s designed to get you flat on
the slab, ready for gutting. Your freewill,
discrimination, morals, and of course your cash,
will all be removed, then it’s into the
freezer for a few years premie-ji, until an
Ex’ comes along and pulls the plug, so you can
thaw out. Or maybe the electricity fails, and you
melt naturally. Luckily, like in ancient Egypt,
your vital organs have been preserved in jars, and
function as good as new, when restored.
Did I get it right guys?
Anth the Fish Finger.
|