your group is not special
So many groups—meditation communities, churches, activist orgs, really intense book groups—don’t look back much. Or look only to failures in their own cultural reference points.
Current justice movements look to past civil rights and revolutionary struggles.
Churches look to past Christian denominations, and to early Jesus followers.
Bay Area Meditation groups look back at past 60s spiritual communities.
And self help groups...rarely look back at all.
I keep reading or listening to “here’s how to avoid starting a cult in my particular subculture” takes. But one of the best ways to avoid forming a cult is to let go of the idea that your group is special. It helps to get more curious about all kinds of groups! Groups formed by people totally different from you! Look at the most common failure modes and you will notice startling similarities across otherwise very different domains. Noticing these supra-contextual patterns make it much easier to spot problems beginning to develop in a group to which you already have emotional and social attachments.
The Classics
As with any subject, it’s helpful to have read the classics, or at minimum know their main theses. For cultic studies, this means familiarity with:
Robert Lifton’s 8 Criteria for Thought Reform
Janja Lalich’s Bounded Choice Model
As well as Social-Psychological Influence
And it never hurts to take a stroll through the wikipedia entry on groupthink
As a default, assume that all of the following statements are false:
Your group is engaged is the most important work in the world right now.
The current moment is the most consequential time for humanity.
The ends justify the means.
Valid concerns raised in other groups don’t apply to yours, because your leadership or intent or analysis is actually pure.
You could never be in a cult.
Start, continue and never stop:
paying attention to how you actually spend your money and time with this group, and how your group allocates these key resources.
reflecting on how power is held and shared, how group norms are established, and how the group handles challenges to power and norms.
noticing how conflict and dissent are handled.
asking yourself: if ends and means are the same, are these good ends? Is the fruit of my specific labor good fruit? Are there any benefits for people not directly involved, other having more “awake” or “loving” people out in the world?
considering if a stranger could walk into a group gathering, feel welcome, and get a basic understanding of what you are up to without much backstory or without knowing the lingo.
evaluating if you are proud of how the group operates.
evaluating if you are enjoying your participation!
