I recently came across an excerpt written by Janja Lalich and Michael D. Langone. It was from their book Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Bay Tree Publishing, 2006).
It is very helpful in listing characteristics associated with cults. What great research. A lot of people who are in cults, don’t even realize it, so it is difficult for them to get themselves free. Even if they do identify with some of the traits on the list, what do they do with that information? The mechanisms of a cult are so entrenched and know how to bypass all the cues of normal responses.
People are very susceptible to a subtle cult mentality right now. They are outgrowing their old belief system and are desperate to find something to believe in. Unfortunately, the muscle memory of the human race is so entrenched in giving up their power to an outside source, that they can’t recognize this behavior in themselves. It is going to take some extra nurturing and understanding to help individuals stop looking for an outer crutch and start finally believing in themselves. It is no different than Jesus stated long ago. Most of what he said may have been twisted and used to manipulate. But the one mandate he suggested still stands. To find God, go within.
In this part one post on dismantling all cults, I have taken the long list of characteristics referenced in the Janja Lalich and Michael D. Langone book and I have created a series of SFT tap to bypass the programming and to disconnect the cult behavior or belief. It is a form of un-knitting a very tight fabric of deceit that has been pulled over the devotee’s eyes. It may take a long time to break down the programming and conditioner of a cult survivor.
Readers might like to experience the SFT taps for themselves …
Say each statement three times while tapping on the top of your head, a fourth time while tapping on your chest, and a fifth time while tapping on your abdomen.
We do these taps as a surrogate for all survivors or current members of all cults; in all moments
The ability to discern truth is reinstated; in all moments
The mind is recalibrated to operate within a functioning independent range; in all moments
All austere practices are tempered; in all moments
All dictation of thoughts, feelings and actions is thwarted; in all moments
All elitist mentality is released; in all moments
All exalted opinions of the self, the group or the leader are released; in all moments
All elitism is released; in all moments
All claims of exalted status are released; in all moments
All magnification of an individual or group purpose is released; in all moments
All belief that humanity’s survival is contingent on the group is released; in all moments
All leverage over individual members of the group is released; in all moments
We release viewing others outside of the group as the enemy or antagonists; in all moments
We release the “them-vs-us” mentality; in all moments
We release the rigid adherence to a mentality that opposes that of the general populace; in all moments
We release all polarization; in all moments
We release allowing the leader of the group to bypass all accountability; in all moments
We release the fear of questioning the group or the leader; in all moments.
We release all psychic energy or programming that supports the “end justifying the means”; in all moments
We reinstate the internal dialogue of our personal gut feeling or moral sense of right and wrong; in all moments
We recalibrate our moral consciousness to a personal integrity regulated by our own higher self; in all moments
We release suspending our innate awareness for outer mandates or regulations; in all moments
We release the subtle promptings that rape us of our free will to instate a manipulative agenda at the helm; in all moments
We release adopting the norm of behaving in practices that we would once deem unethical; in all moments
We free ourselves of all psychic forms of peer pressure and manipulation; in all moments
We release all feelings of guilt or shame in regards to disappointing the group; in all moments
We release being coerced by peer pressure, shaming or ego stroking; in all moments
We remove all programming and conditioning from ourselves and all that we have perpetuated in others; in all moments
We release needing to perform to prove our worth; in all moments
We release being quantified by performance or exterior traits; in all moments
We allow the sunshine of a variety of view points to wash through our essence; in all moments
We release abdicating an expansive and free vantage point in order to be considered a true believer; in all moments
We release being drawn into a narrow set of conditions through fear or reprisal; in all moments
We allow the option of leaving the group to always be at play in our fluid state of existence; in all moments
We thwart all forms of punishment for doubt and dissent; in all moments
We dismantle the altered view of the self and the group that was enacted through ego stroking; in all moments
The altered ego of elitism is deflated and returned to its natural station; in all moments
All mandates of an inflated ego are stripped of their illusion; in all moments
All beliefs of having an edge over non-members of the group is released; in all moments
All beliefs as having a higher importance or and edge over others in the collective is released; in all moments
All give and take within communications and practices are reinstated; in all moments
All flaws are exposed; in all moments
The belief in perfection on earth is released; in all moments
We release all shaming due to lack of perfection; in all moments
Fixation on a narrow point of view and agenda is released; in all moments
All rigid practices, beliefs, mentality and communal structure is released; in all moments
All punishing of an inquisitive nature is thwarted; in all moments
My whole essence is aligned with, and centered in worthiness, trust, wisdom self-love and empowerment; in all moments
