“Hi ….....,
Thanks
for your post mate, you have a good point. I will try to answer you
as best I can.
There
is a saying "The Truth will set you free". I certainly
think this applies to cult involvement. The Truth is the one
thing the Cult does not want to face. For example, in the Vision/Joys
cult, the fact that the founder of the Cult movement in AA in this
country, David B, didn’t have a sponsor, and repeatedly lied about
this in his sharing right until his death. "I’m sober 22 years
because I always do everything my sponsor says" he would to say
to the newcomer. Well, yes, when you sponsor yourself I guess you do
everything your sponsor says! lol. He used this confidence trick to
lure and manipulate others into doing everything HE said. Thus the
whole cult practice of sponsor-control is based upon a lie. Once you
know this one fact alone, the entire Cult experience changes. At
least it did for me. Self-evidently, a program founded upon a lie
cannot be “spiritual”. What I encountered at Vision/Joys was
psychological manipulation and bullying, not spirituality. That is a
tough truth to face up to, partly because it affects my pride. "How
can I have been so dumb as to fall for it" and “what a waste
of my time, energy and good will”, were the questions that often
went on in my mind at that time. However I learned through the study
of Cults and their characteristics, and through the stories of others
who had been involved in cults, that I was not alone.
Rather
like alcohol or drug use, cult involvement satisfied a “need” or
“emptiness” within me. It gave me a sense of euphoria (that is,
“feeling good” via group approval, provided of course I followed
the highly demanding cult script) and security (being part of a
seemingly protective gang).
Human
beings need to feel secure and feel good, especially if we are
vulnerable, depressive, addicted, or have had poor or insecure
upbringings. This is why a lot of disaffected young people join
gangs, and is also, by the way, why a lot of younger people tend to
be attracted to the cults/gangs within AA (you must have wondered why
cult meetings tend to be dominated by young people and young men in
particular?). However when these natural needs for
security/belonging/self-worth etc become focused upon people, places
and material things, then they are founded upon straw. The program of
AA is a spiritual program, not a cult program. It suggests to us,
simply, that what we should try to do is place an unreserved faith
and trust in a Higher Power of our own understanding, not a
human power, or thing. This is why reliance on groups and
personalities is not spiritual at all, but psychological dependence,
sometimes called co-dependency.
How
can I really and inwardly be “happy joyous and free” –
if my life is dependent upon the approval of a group, or a sponsor,
or some other human agency? The kind of “happiness/freedom” -
that a group gives me - is a fragile illusion, and is entirely fear
driven. How can I be truly free if my every action has to be
“permitted” by a sponsor, rather than my own conscience and faith
in a Higher Power?
No,
the only approval I need is from honestly consulting my own
conscience. It also helps to have and develop a faith and trust in a
loving Higher Power of my understanding, and a willingness to
practice spiritual principles (honesty, truth, humility, patience,
tolerance, love etc) in my life. These themes are repeated again and
again in the Big Book and the other AA literature dealing with the
steps and program of AA. AA gives me the true freedom of being able
to choose my own Path in this regard. AA is not about co-dependency
on a sponsor/personality/group/whatever, but reliance on a Higher
Power which is, as the Big Book puts it, goodness and love. Don’t
just take my word for it. Read the Book, it’s all there!
One
of the sad things about cult involvement, in my experience, is that
is obstructs my developing a real relationship with my own Higher
Power. In cults, the Higher Power is always trumped by “sponsor”
approval. Therefore, during my cult involvement, I became a slave of
a man (sponsor), rather than a free child of the God my own
understanding.
“The
Truth will set you free…..” This is why I am currently going
through David C Icons website, exposing it piece by piece, because it
is full of distortions and deviations from the AA program. Although
David C Icons talks glibly about “trusting a sponsor before his
Higher Power”, his pride just can’t come to terms with the fact
that his guru - the sponsorless David B – was an arrogant liar who
was NOT to be trusted. So the advice given in the website is
hypocrisy. All the other distortions and twists follow on from that.
Thanks
for your stimulating post …...”.
(extract
from aacultwatch forum - with permission)
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
