Monday, April 6, 2009
Cartwheels in a Sari
Listening to the author of "Cartwheels in a Sari", Jayanti Tamm on NPR this morning. I'm gonna grab a copy for myself, and if you were raised in 3HO or any other high demand religious group, where your spiritual teacher claimed to have a direct connection with God, maybe it's worth a read. The parallels are astouding!
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I heard this on NPR too! I was tempted to call in, but the woman who wrote the book was eloquent enough to explain what I would have wanted to say.
ReplyDeleteI plan to read this book and may post a comment on the NPR site if I can verbalize well enough what makes a cult- a cult.
It was disconcerting for me when the host hinted that the word cult makes people uncomfortable, or angry (I'm paraphrasing) - even after J.Tamm had brought up all the things she experienced growing up in that group. To me, it was obvious - but still, there are many many folks, even those who would never agree with these cult-like practices, who want to give the Guru some sort of "benefit of the doubt". That brings to mind that many still think that people in cults are weak for being manipulated so easily (or brainwashed) so those poeple get looked down upon by an uncaring society.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that the host actually questioned this woman's use of words! I mean, this was someone born-and-raised in the group, watched her friends get excommunicated, got excommunicated herself and then was so depressed she wanted to kill her self. Let the woman talk, for crying out loud.
Also, wow! so many callers in similar situations!