The Personal Side of Apocalyptic Cults: A sociological analysis of Branch Davidians and Heaven’s Gate.

54. Elena - April 17, 2010 [Edit]
The following paper is good and can be found at:

http://research.allacademic.com/one/www/research/

The Personal Side of Apocalyptic Cults: A sociological analysis of
Branch Davidians and Heaven’s Gate.

It is good and yet it is simply telling us the facts. That is already great but not enough. Many questions are left unresolved such as:

Why are cult members so prone to give their self up to the guru. How strong was the image of Teacher-disciple present in our generation that we bought into it so easily? Would the next generation in which even the parents are no longer trustworthy authorities have as strong a tendency to join cults as us?
Why do the human beings of today have so little self trust that millions of people are throwing their lives at the hands of the guru and the den of the cult?

Every element reviewed in this paper is present in the Fellowship of Friends cult and obviously many others. Why is the same phenomenon repeating itself in so many people, in so many parts of the world? Why are WE falling in this trap of our own making?

We already have all the ingredients in society and people take the cult road as the ultimate solution but reproduce the same structures that they were immersed in before joining because they simply don’t know how to do anything else just like children when they grow up end up behaving like their parents towards their own children unable to change their conditioning.

It is as if people were trapped in levels, circles that keep repeating themselves and something extra-ordinary has to happen for the “play” to change. A third element in couples, such as a person or a child that leads to an affair and separation.
An invasion from the outside world in cults that prompts the destructive explosion…..

At what point in cults does the process turn from being “lifted” by outside forces to “leaving” through the member’s suicide?
At least we are much clearer with this studies that the problems are in US:

“In essence, apocalyptic groups area socially constructed phenomenon rather than the product of one man’s deviant creation.”

In the Fellowship cult although all the ingredients presented here are very strong, there is something different which is that the members are simply not going to be “saved” in this lifetime, they have to work nine lifetimes before they reach the goal and the best of them are in their seventh and eighth lifetime. This doesn’t push them for a “solution” in this one, the guru doesn’t have to prove his self in this one with the outside world attacking him and wishing to destroy him or does it? It would be very interesting to know what is actually happening inside with the presence of the blogs. Have they reacted with absolute indifference trying not to talk about it so that no importance is given to the subject and they maintain themselves in the untouchable bubble? Have they become more afraid of the “six billion sleeping people” outside of the cult? Have they become more human with each other? Has Robert been fed less young men with so much compliance and support for his addiction? What has Robert, Girard and the rest of the inner circle members actually said about the situation? The “lesser” members who do the work without getting involved in the politics, have they dared speak more or are they even more submissive? Has the inner circle managed as they had learnt to do before, to simply maintain the lack of information so strong that the members continue ignorant about the problems? This last assumption is probably the case. And if they were successful with that, they have little to worry about.
What we see in this paper is another very important ingredient which is that when people stop joining, members start to leave, much discouraged by the lack of “life” coming into the cult. THIS IS A HUGE UNDERSTANDING. What keeps the cult and the cult’s life going are the new members because they are the ones around which the whole establishment revolves and justifies itself. One new member needs to be converted and that gives meaning to each and every member already converted. Their ability to convince others legitimizes their own convictions. Their lives become meaningful.

Wonderful! Today’s work proved worth the effort. What we can again see here is the importance of LIFE GIVING LIFE, the importance of PEOPLE. It is not the dogma, or the alchemy, or the guru or even the members what keeps the cult going, it is the new members that give it LIFE and perpetuate the cycle. That is why a new member must be embraced and made to feel good and important in the new environment so that he is “gripped” into the institution.

It’s my impression that in the corporate cult this is not as necessary, people are not treated with excessive kindness at the beginning, they are supposed to be professionals who can take care of their own well being and are simply induced into the corporate rhythms but what keeps the corporation alive is not the new employee, it’s the connectedness with the world itself, the market.

These are the things that we are still far from understanding deeply and must keep researching.