The Wizard of Cults.

Cult: Definition

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object.

a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society.

Cult: Reality

A way to divide and conquer, isolate or declassify, a dehumanization

The word is thrown around like something of charm, a mystery, a good story of intrigue that people might make money from while advertising Armani suits on the red carpet. In real time, there’s nothing intriguing about a cult. It’s really just that classic case of a very sick, sexually perverted and usually socially awkward dropout leading people on a trip to the wizard of Oz, whereby there’s nothing but thin air and sadness at his/her thrown. Adults who lead their children into such places, usually carry serious mental illness and lack the internal mechanism that most people carry which signals an alert and need to protect their young. It’s indeed very sad. Sometimes people decide to tell other people’s personal stories around a haze of fiction and reality without realizing that stories are not always meant to be for sale, without realising the deep wounds that can be caused in sensationlizing a story  that holds for real people very deep personal traumas.

It’s a sad situation when one can google The Family, once known as the Children of God and a Christmas message from their leaders is viewable to any person.

I can say for sure, sitting around a campfire and singing By the Rivers of Babylon is met by two children known as the chosen ones with;

“I don’t like it here. Help me”

“I’m gonna get you the heck oughta here one day.”

That this cult has a repulsive history of ritualistic abuse and child sex abuse often filmed,  which I’m also quite sure is linked to a wider pedophile ring, why is there no mechanism on Youtube to mute such content. I would go so far as to say it is a serious matter for the police. It’s a serious matter that the church still exists at all. I wish not to see content about this cult. I wish not to watch movies about it either. The answer is, get rid of it. It’s not to be given air time, oxygen or space unless former victims wish to speak out themselves.

In popular culture use of the word is less harmful but socially repressive at times. Teenagers, in particular, on the cusp of forming a solid identity can look to the cult following motif of popular bands, movie stars or in today’s world also, you-tubers or Instagram stars. Indeed the notion of cult followers has been blown right into a level of extravagance via view counts and followers that might either express or pretend to express a cult following notion. It’s become the way of our world. It’s tiring. It’s sometimes harmful. It’s one of the reasons suicide rates in teens have spiked and it’s the reason why lonely souls might feel more lonely. Following a band or celebrity can bring people together in a social sense and can be positive but I always would encourage children and adults to stay diverse, to keep a sense of oneself, to open up one’s options, to feel a sense of tribal grouping if need be but to also know that no state need be fixed, belonging should be open and fluid and ready to meet change.

 

To anyone who has experienced the terrifying impact of a religious cult, where human rights issues are rife, may there be healing every day. May you be the one to find peace through the telling of your own story, on paper, to a professional, to a friend, to someone who might actually care and advocate for the rights of humanity. May those who have lost their lives to a religious cult, rest not in power ( a stupid popular idea  invented more recently to talk of power in death) but may they rest in peace and peace is the word for those of us here and those gone. Peace is a place of harmony, a gentle river, a forest, a lake a true story

and belief in love for all our genetic differences, flaws and strengths and different ways of being human.