Best Of

@person said:
I think I've come to this position due to past experiences where I wasn't so skeptical and followed them more freely into weird and false beliefs including a psychotic break.

That explains much, I’ve always had a very stable mind, and for me the problem is more finding out what I feel, because my inner emotional voice is so quiet. The predominant emotions I do feel are irritation and more rarely anger. More subtle emotions I have difficulty picking up when they manifest, usually I’m just cheerful all the time.

So I’m trying to find techniques to make it more visible.

@Jeroen said:

@person said:
I think people here are wise and experienced enough to avoid the cults. But I'll say for any lurkers or potential Googlers, that in addition to good teachers there are a lot of toxic, harmful teachers and groups one can uncritically give their love and trust to that will lead to misery.

In my early spiritual years I knew someone who claimed a guru she followed harmed her psychically and she was now in a physically drained and disabled state. Sogyal Rinpoche, Sasaki Roshi, Asaram Bapu, Jim Jones, etc, etc.

It’s very arguable whether the Osho movement is a cult. It is said that the characteristics of a cult include that they make it difficult to leave and with Osho that’s totally not true, people are free to come and go as they please.

Something for your reflection. I said you were lucky to have been raised in Osho's commune rather than David Koresh's and none of the abusive guru's I listed were Osho. So any imputation of that sentiment in my words solely comes from your own psyche. I imagine the cult label has been thrown at you at times through your life. I'm just saying its probably a place in need of healing and growth.

@person said:
Something for your reflection. I said you were lucky to have been raised in Osho's commune rather than David Koresh's and none of the abusive guru's I listed were Osho. So any imputation of that sentiment in my words solely comes from your own psyche. I imagine the cult label has been thrown at you at times through your life. I'm just saying it’s probably a place in need of healing and growth.

Absolutely true. A site I hang out on has quite a few ex-sannyasins, and one of the first things they advised me to do was read The Guru Papers, a well-known book that is all about cults. Cult awareness has been growing a lot in American circles recently especially.

But I refuse to let my memories of events past be coloured by a modern way of looking at things which tries to make things fit neatly into a certain box. Osho’s following could certainly be called a worldwide movement, but it lacks a number of key characteristics typical of cults.