What Makes a Cult a Cult?
Unravel the enigmatic world of cults, their formation, and their influence. Delve into the psychological, sociological, and historical aspects that distinguish a cult from other social groups. A journey into understanding the allure and the potential dangers that these enigmatic entities pose awaits.
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Keith Raniere, the leader of the self-help cult NXIVM, told female disciples in his inner circle that they had been high-ranking Nazis in their former lives
- He told the women that the privileges of their gender had weakened them, turned them into prideful “princesses,” and that, in order to be freed from the prison of their mewling femininity, they needed to submit to a program of discipline and suffering
- This became the sales spiel for the DOS (Dominus Obsequious Sororium, dog Latin for “Master of the Obedient Sisterhood”) subgroup, a pyramid scheme of sexual slavery
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The problem with any psychiatric or sociological explanation of belief
It tends to have a slightly patronizing ring
- People understandably grow irritated when told that their most deeply held convictions are their “opium”
- Lauren Hough, in her collection of autobiographical essays, “Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing,” gives a persuasive account of the social and economic forces that may help to make cults alluring
- Idealists who join cults are not necessarily hapless creatures, buffeted into delusion by social currents they do not comprehend; they are often idealists seeking to create a better world
Akash Kapur’s “Better to Have Gone” (Scribner) is an account of Auroville, an “intentional community” founded in southern India in 1968
Blanche Alfassa, known as the Mother, is the inspiration for the community
- Her teachings inspired a cultlike zealotry in her followers
- When she failed to achieve the long-promised cellular transformation and died, at the age of ninety-five, the community went slightly berserk
- To preserve the Mother’s vision, a militant group called the Collective shut down schools, burned books in the town library, shaved their heads, and tried to drive off those members of the community whom they considered insufficiently devout
- Ultimately, the militant frenzy of the Collective subsided, and the community was placed under the administration of the Indian government
- Fifty years after its founding, auroville is still standing as a testament to the devotion of its pioneers