Believing what we do.
Believing what we will.
We, humans, have beliefs. About all sorts of things.
One thing that is a topic for discussion for many is our beliefs about our spiritual selves. Whether we think there is a god or not, most of us agree that we have an internal “side” of us. Some call it our souls, others refer to it as our spiritual nature, and others attribute it as our psyche, essence, our being. No matter what it is called, we all know it is there, and connecting to this part of ourselves is highly important to many people.
And sometimes, we search for “absolute” answers about our place here on Earth, or in life.
What could it all mean?
Most of us have a somewhat grounded path in this. Or should I say, “Accepted?” People join religions all around the world. From Protestants to Catholics to Buddhists to Jews. And well byond.
But every so often, people involve themselves in cults.
The New York Times recently reported that an estimated 300,000 to three million people are currently members of cults. Today. Right now. In our country.
The reasons for joining these groups will vary.
For one thing, cults promote an illusion of comfort. They also seem to satisfy the human desire for absolute answers.
Often, those with low self-esteem are more likely to be persuaded by a cult environment. And women are more likely than men to join a cult.
Many cult members have rejected mainstream religion and are looking for a different path and answers in their lives. So, these cults make these big promises and shower the people with the things they long to hear. It becomes an us vs. them mentality. And in addition to this, cult leaders are masters at mind control. Not only that, many times, the people in those cults don’t even realize it is a cult.
Okay. So there is all of that.
I recently read an article that talked about some of the most bizarre beliefs in cults today.
Like this. There is a New Age religion called the Aetherius. It was founded by a British yoga master. A guy named Dr. George King. The whole big idea about the religion is built around the belief that a series of “Cosmic Masters” mostly from Venus and Saturn, control the fate of humanity.
Now to many of us, this sounds absurd.
But many of us also believe there is a man with a long white beard sitting on a golden throne somewhere above the clouds who rules everything. Things like if you will win the lottery on Saturday or if your Aunt Marge is going to be healed from cancer.
One of the most famous cults, Scientology, was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. Most of us know that Hubbard was a science fiction writer. But one day, he made a bet with fellow writer Robert A. Heinlein to see which one of them could start a religion. Hubbard won.
Founded in 1954 by Korean national Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church (whose followers are known as Moonies) follows many of the basic tenets of Christianity but with a few little twists. Like, perhaps, the Blessing ceremony. It is the most famous ritual of the Unification Church. It is a large-scale wedding ceremony that frees couples in attendance and any children born afterward from the consequences of original sin. The original sin stems from the fall of man, when Adam ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge.
Yeah. A naked guy in a garden somewhere, with a talking snake, eating an apple, and damning all the rest of us, for millions of generations to come, from living in utopia. Because he ate an apple.
They say that cults can be dangerous. And this has been proven to be true. Like the followers of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. The cult ended in a mass murder / suicide, which took the lives of over 900 people. Of those, 300 were under the age of 17.
So yes, cults can be dangerous.
But I’d also like to point out that approximately 1.7 million people died as a result of the Crusades, which took place in nine separate campaigns from 1095-1291. For those who don’t know, the Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims that started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups.
In fact, the number of people killed in the name of religion continues to grow each day. And many more people are discriminated against, often violently, in the name of religion.
I’m not saying that organized religions are cults.
But I am suggesting that both may infuse dangerous behavior at times.
When I think of the human spirit, I think of kindness, compassion, gratitude, and generosity, to others and to ourselves.
I have to wonder about beliefs that cast harm on others or that restrict their freedoms.
Finally, I’m just a simple person with a simple mind who spends her life trying to figure things out.
Conclusively and consistently, I realize that I am not sure of anything.
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I know only one thing: that I know nothing.
— Socrates
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That’s what I’m interested in: the space in between, the moment of imagining what is possible and yet not knowing what that is.
— Julie Mehretu
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God has entrusted me with myself.
— Epictetus
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Those beliefs that cause the harm
