Modern Society and Cult Parallels

[O Donna]

Society and Cults
('cult' applied broadly here)

Watching shows about cults and their practices primarily for the psychological aspect. I read where many if not all cults have a fair number of commonalities. Again, for the first time, realizing the commonalities that often fits those of modern society as it is taught and run today. The parallels are uncanny.

https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20201007/18/naturalhappysuzie/86/0a/j/o0925074014831333252.jpg

One would like to believe they would not be conned in such a way but idea and practice entirely different then when what happens is life happens.

https://rpgknights.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/LifeHappens_HD.png

I do not recall reading anything that specifically connects modern society and cult behavior. I would like to find more material on the subject. It is interesting when interviewing people that have escaped the cult and their eyes are opened to the breadth and width of the long con.

It reminds me of the experience of enlightenment.
I like Led Zeppelins poetic expression of the experience of enlightenment:

https://www.nieves.ch/asset/1137/8994/kimzine3.jpg-preview3.jpg


Odd, isn’t it? Mirrors everywhere
https://media.makeameme.org/created/mirrors-mirrors-everywhere.jpg

One only needs look, really look.

https://img.freepik.com/premium-photo/futuristic-design-elevator-cabin-with-mirrors-with-neon-illumination-metal-panels-modern-elevator-design-reflection-infinity-3d-rendering_295714-3056.jpg

As above, so below

IDK, I see it time and time again. Like when people see 11:11 on a clock frequently (or some other number).
It really reinforces the mystical nature of experience
It is impossible to convey the experience; it has to be experienced directly.

And secondly, is there anywhere people are living completely free (a little can be a lot) from cult influence? Not in theory but in actuality. I wonder.

Love the deep dive.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0268/2827/5790/articles/Conscious_Relationship_3_1600x.png

(Visuals have always been useful hence the use of illustrations)

What do you think? Way off base or is this post worthy material?

[Mashika]

Life Happens

"Life is"

:ninja:

:heart2::heart2::heart2::flower::flower:

[O Donna]

Life Happens

"Life is"

:ninja:

:heart2::heart2::heart2::flower::flower:


https://c.tenor.com/CMI13YJj9X8AAAAC/aye-aye-aye-captain.gif

The whole of the OP could be condense to those two: "Life Is"

[O Donna]

Speaking of As above, so below...

Fun with mirrors

https://www.9quotes.com/images/en/r/ricky-gervais/619486/12.jpg


“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.” – Samuel Butler


“Look in a mirror and one thing’s sure; what we see is not who we are.” – Richard Bach

[Mashika]

Speaking of As above, so below...

Fun with mirrors

https://www.9quotes.com/images/en/r/ricky-gervais/619486/12.jpg


“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.” – Samuel Butler


“Look in a mirror and one thing’s sure; what we see is not who we are.” – Richard Bach

Mirrors are extremely interesting, have ever seen how cats and dogs look into mirrors? Sometimes when the adult cats or dogs look into them, they have this very odd thing happening, you can see it in their eyes, they are kind of 'contemplating' something in silence

And if you stand looking at the mirror to your own face for too long, funny things happen as well, like when you repeat a word too many times and it loses meaning lmao

ETA: maybe looking at your face in the mirror for too long is kind of similar or related to that sentence "if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" :sherlock:

[Ewan]

I never really thought of it quite that way Donna but I agree with you. The education system programs all the little cult members who have no idea they are in a cult. By the time they join the ranks of a fully fledged adult cult member they are almost incapable to see beyond the boudaries set.

Thoroughly recommended reading. Dumbing us Down by John Taylor Gatto (https://www.pdfdrive.com/search?q=john+taylor+gatto&pagecount=&pubyear=&searchin=&em=)

[shaberon]

The education system programs all the little cult members who have no idea they are in a cult. By the time they join the ranks of a fully fledged adult cult member they are almost incapable to see beyond the boudaries set.



Here--at least when I was a scrub--they definitely gave you the Flag Cult. We used the Pledge of Allegiance which was designed in the 1930s by a guy who was a known Socialist. They edited the part where he said to use a palm-up version of the Nazi salute. After this I might say there are numerous cults and so it depends on what direction you want to go with the word. Scientology is not Disney. Led Zeppelin has a type of cult, apparently so does The Matrix, and so on.

If altered slightly to counter-culture, I would say something like that helped me shed whatever limitations may have come with the original, narrow view.

[Strat]

The education system programs all the little cult members who have no idea they are in a cult. By the time they join the ranks of a fully fledged adult cult member they are almost incapable to see beyond the boudaries set.



Here--at least when I was a scrub--they definitely gave you the Flag Cult. We used the Pledge of Allegiance which was designed in the 1930s by a guy who was a known Socialist. They edited the part where he said to use a palm-up version of the Nazi salute. After this I might say there are numerous cults and so it depends on what direction you want to go with the word. Scientology is not Disney. Led Zeppelin has a type of cult, apparently so does The Matrix, and so on.

If altered slightly to counter-culture, I would say something like that helped me shed whatever limitations may have come with the original, narrow view.

If there is a Led Zeppelin cult then sign me up.

[O Donna]

What is interesting is a line is often drawn and typically when it's drawn the one drawing it isn't in it. Particularly if its not politically or socially correct.

What is in, what is out.

Capitalism. Cult or no?

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

[Violet3]

What is interesting is a line is often drawn and typically when it's drawn the one drawing it isn't in it. Particularly if its not politically or socially correct.

What is in, what is out.

Capitalism. Cult or no?

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

Yes I think capitalism is a cult. Whether the system is socialist or purportedly democratic or some other thing, all serve Capital- or perhaps the old term (god) Mammon is apt.

[ExomatrixTV]

I said for decades that the biggest (brainwashing) cult on the planet is "society" itself ... then being a hypocrite pointing at other cults being "weird".

"Political correctness" was a long time more than often "unwritten behavior protocols", but lately they just RAM it in to all of us via mass censorship (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?111148-The-Great-Reset) punishment systems & "cancel culture" ... soon we are forced to be part of the new "social credit system" inspired by control-freaks at Communist China CCP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party).

cheers,
John Kuhles aka 'ExomatrixTV'
May 24th, 2022 🦜🦋🌳

[East Sun]

Capitalism was great until the ultra greedy politicians
were consumed by their greed and ruined it for the rest
of us.
ES

[O Donna]

I said for decades that the biggest (brainwashing) cult on the planet is "society" itself ... then being a hypocrite pointing at other cults being "weird".

"Political correctness" was a long time more than often "unwritten behavior protocols", but lately they just RAM it in to all of us via mass censorship (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?111148-The-Great-Reset) punishment systems & "cancel culture" ... soon we are forced to be part of the new "social credit system" inspired by control-freaks at Communist China CCP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party).

cheers,
John Kuhles aka 'ExomatrixTV'
May 24th, 2022 🦜🦋🌳

That is along the same (epiphany) vein that prompted the OP, John.

('curiouser and curiouser' - Alice In Wonderland)



At some point one stops or suspends the elephant in the room but that doesn't stop the elephant from always being there/ here.

I suppose idea is not addressed very often because the elephant in some shape or form is required for the show to go on. Just like actors need a form of a stage to even be an actor.

In a sense, David Foster Wallace addressed cult society, just did not use the vehicle 'cult' specifically when describing the phenomenon.

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A service rendered to each other on PA is to see our world/ reality in ways not normally provided on the Web/ Social or mainstream media.

How mundane and manipulative the world would be without seeing 'things' in new/ different ways?

whL4NsrOhPQ


See, the world looks very different from up here… Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way. Even if it may seem silly, or wrong, you must try.

https://i.etsystatic.com/6045189/r/il/3bf5f8/255898056/il_fullxfull.255898056.jpg

Carpe Diem.

[Brigantia]

And if you stand looking at the mirror to your own face for too long, funny things happen as well, like when you repeat a word too many times and it loses meaning lmao

ETA: maybe looking at your face in the mirror for too long is kind of similar or related to that sentence "if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" :sherlock:

Oh yes - a friend and I did a load of paranormal experiments; one was lighting a candle in front of a big mirror and gazing into it for about 15 minutes. We both said that we saw many different faces when we compared notes afterwards.


I said for decades that the biggest (brainwashing) cult on the planet is "society" itself ... then being a hypocrite pointing at other cults being "weird".

If only I had you guys around me when I was a kid/teenager... I was different in a way that always got me into trouble at school but I never understood why, just for seeing things differently... so I became 'normal' and suppressed myself, spending most of my 20s in mild depression as I led a 'normal' life. Then I discovered meditation and started the long journey to becoming myself again, and it's a journey that never ends.

[TomKat]

Political parties are becoming more cult-like, people not thinking about issues, just about taking sides

[Wind]

Capitalism. Cult or no?

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[Michi]

As far I understand, the cult thing is actually a problem of dogma.

I would like to cite a quote from Steve Jobs about this. (even though, his name may be an unpopular one, because he created the Apple cult)


Your time is limited, so don‘t waste it living someone else‘s life.
Don‘t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people‘s thinking.
Don‘t let the noise of others‘ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.

—Steve Jobs

[O Donna]

It all begins with a charismatic leader (whether dead or alive, real or imaginary). Insulated by an labyrinth of rhetoric.

There are cult of personalities created so long ago that the ancestors or our ancestors have been long gone but a form of the personality still stands.


The bigger the trick, the older the trick, the easier it is to pull.

You believe it can’t be that old, and it can’t be that big for so many people to have fallen for it.

- Revolver (2005)

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I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smiling face on your TV

A house of cards that, to the true (cult) believer, is anything but.

https://mumme.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/AdobeStock_269559236-800x533.jpeg

https://quotestats.com/topic/552839-house-of-cards-season-4-frank-underwood-quotes-811615.jpg



Capitalism. Cult or no?

oKSLnx1_Zzs

I can see venture capitalist watching that video, Wind, and publicly picking it a part while giving it a agreeing nod, privately.

Bill Hicks keeps whispering from the grave:

The venture capitalist saying


Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.

One example of commonality between cult and society:: insatiable consumption.

[O Donna]

"if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you" :sherlock:


Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche

A tool as old as time itself/

A tale as old as time itself

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3280949788_16.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Avatars_of_Vishnu.jpg/572px-Avatars_of_Vishnu.jpg

https://hindi.cdn.zeenews.com/hindi/sites/default/files/2022/02/10/1043652-kalki.jpg

[O Donna]

Modern society's social engine

When life/ identity is tied to social media (cult) one will do anything to be in the good graces of their master.

Meet the OnlyFans Creator Who Said She Slept With Instagram Employees to Get Her Account Back (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/onlyfans-instagram-ban-sex-kitty-lixo-1357836/)

What is one when master-of-the board (monopoly) is the goal or inspiration? What then?

https://www.cartalk.com/sites/default/files/blogimgs/Dogs%20chasing%20cars.jpg

https://c.tenor.com/sKiPz5PNm5gAAAAC/maya-chase-tail.gif

..................................

One of the more interesting things about taking on Goliath is the dichotomy involved.

https://i.swncdn.com/media/1200w/cms/BST/29987-david%20goliath.800w.tn.png

Only a tool
A fool
Would become involved

What can I say,
The role was available :blackwidow:

https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/JCole-Quote.png?width=348&name=JCole-Quote.png

[TomKat]

Humans are social animals who cannot, at the subconscious level, understand beyond tribe. If you are in the Democrat tribe, you get an MRNA vaccine because that's what the tribe expects. Increasingly our tribes are created by the "intelligence community."

[Agape]

I think, if an individual respects society or collective society should respect individuality as well. It should work both ways.

Our ancestors even while they lived in tribes were still capable of bringing up many proud and sovereign individuals of good character who at times of necessity could look after themselves and others and take full responsibility for survival of the group.

In today’s common society individuality is mostly suppressed and neglected brining up whole generations of people who are not “out of love” but were brought up in this everlasting dichotomy and conflict between males and females, society vs family, school vs parents and so forth and feel dependant on someone’s else’s approval at most times.
Making adjustments for individual needs becomes impossible in business oriented society with people expected to perform in manner of good actors on their job, new drone factories have been created for the “masses”,
the baseline religion of modern secular society is “work and money”,

there is no one to teach them a thing about Life than Life itself,

like it taught lesson to our previous generations.


People create their own cults, for sure because there is a power in numbers.


Personally, I don’t like that jig about “social animals” , no matter who said that first as it lowers human collective down to insect level ( with that most bees and ants perform better than human collectives ) but it’s one way to see humans, for sure , from airplanes :)

Not many gurus understand that people come to group gatherings and teachings because they (once) hoped to evolve personally on their Life path,
every each of them , not because they wanted to attend group therapies and gathering about forever or be “part of it”.
Part of what ?? Their higher , complete Selves the responsible teacher should care about : so that they are also free to leave the group/collective/society as complete individual and in better shape than they came.

Some teachers do not care about the rest , other than “chosen few”,
others keep double manners and tabs without any sort of excuse ,
even note to themselves .

Many religious and other societies of today serve virtually as one or another type of “doomsday cult” while the burden of evolution is lifted from the members shoulders , they are told and taught to be happy with themselves and advised against learning or developing in some or another way.


So in the big population screen I think we can find about every possible evolution option because everyone is unique, so is their time when they came,
so is their passage.

Just recently, one old coughing guru tried to tell me something g about “emptiness” in Buddhist philosophy and how mind without sensual input is naturally empty.
Fair enough, not many people understand the point or experienced thoughtless state of samadhi. No argument about that.

I know my mind in manifolds and it’s limitless and complicated 🙏

But then I walked away for some medicines and thought to myself , wait, Beethoven was deaf. The music he composed is not anything he could ever hear from someone else.

So is most of our art, so is most of us.

Any future , advanced human society will support evolution of inner gifts, return to originality and creativity , support evolution of potential in children instead of suppressing it.
By suppressing it depression, anxiety, generally fear and other forms of mental illness manifest automatically because most people are never allowed to be who they are,
even how they are , not who they wanted to be but they are taught to act out the best instead.

From tribal body painting to today’s obsession with body culture , hair and face colors and plastic surgeries : it seems we have not gone very far from where our aboriginal ancestors started.
Their crocodile shoes and belts and other kinds of “magic” still decorate influential people’s cars and households and crystal pendulums are sent to space to bring the bearer better good luck tomorrow.


Human consciousness expanded and joined hands perhaps, with some of its past and future.

However ever. When both of your hands are being held,
metaphorically or practically ..

and your fate has been sealed,

in the name of Nin-Ten-Do company or else

can you be you.

🙏
😢

[O Donna]

I am all for belief tolerance. Grow via diversity.


The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.” – Vladimir Nabokov

Problem comes as a tsunami and even living inland is not safe. (Like when a baby is born into a cult)

Perhaps that is life, one tsunami after another.

Maybe the surf culture got it right, if you cannot beat it, ride it!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f6/e2/30/f6e2300f62026f267554e91a708e68ad.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0f/2f/e0/0f2fe0692cd968e444fac71964b7fbb1.jpg

https://lp-cms-production.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2020-12/shutterstockRF_1399057358.jpg

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Oh that?
That’s a suggestive cult sub-subreddit, a subreddit of the consumer cult which is further more a Reddit of modern society cult. Something like that....