I posted maybe 6 weeks ago of this very close friend of mine who is a spiritual eclectic. he and I met because I was a missionary in his ward that he joined at age 19 because he saw the temple from the interstate and went in and asked to join.

My hope at the time of posting was that he would be relieved of his curiosities in Scientology like he was with Mo'ism. The concern was that he was using Scientology's drug detox program and I was worried that while coming off of heavy pot use, his mind would be especially vulnerable to cult manipulation.

Well it got a little hairy there. A couple conversations made me very sad and was like talking to a Mormon. I was honest in my appraisal of his new ideas, which had a ring of traditionality to them. He seemed like a different person and I thought I'd lost him.

But after having spoken to him recently he is back to normal. His experience helped us identify a distinct cult tactic that Scientology employs. It talks about the "reactive mind," which is the part of you that reacts and interprets and judges and it seriously lessens your well-being because of all that the reactive mind is limiting you from, or so goes the philosophy.

They have sessions where you talk to one other person and it comes across as meandering nonsense with no point to it. After many of the sessions you apparently realize that it was to teach you that it was only your "reactive mind" that was considering the sessions pointless, and you come across victorious when you consider it two people simply making eye contact, exchanging time together, and that none of it was pointless after all since you learned to not be so judgmental about the process. It's sort of an enlightening irony.

Anyway my friend witnessed someone being verbally abusive and reported it. He met with church leaders about it and they focused on MY FRIEND, what in his past could he identify that would make his reactive mind color the incident as "abusive."

It's much sneakier than Mormonism, but it's a classic blame-the-victim cult tactic. By recognizing that your "reactive mind" is judging and keeping you from your potential all the time, you've also given license to the cult leaders to act any way and if it seems wrong or off, you have your "reactive mind" right there to explain why it might have been evil or peculiar.

It's so similar to the double-bind tactics in Mormonism it's almost funny.

So anyway cults suck, thanks for reading. My friend and I talk the way we used to, he's even forsaken his "pure" ways, not to any harmful extent though.

Thanks for the new board software, this is fun!

After getting out of Momrmonism I feel like I was in the Church of Satan, he flattered me and told me lies and promised if I served him he could save me. It was all a lie.