Have you watched Wild Wild Country? It's a docu series about Osho's (an Indian Guru's) commune. The commune was located in Wasco County, Oregon, and well, the locals didn't take too kindly to these "Rajneeshans," as the people living in Rajneeshpuram, the commune, were called. The docu series tells a shocking story of a battle between the Rajneeshans and the people of Wasco County. Let's just say that the Rajneeshans did some pretty heinous things to preserve their right to live there.
Most people are of the mindset that the Rajneeshans were a cult. I was left with a different impression. The impression that I was left with was how the mainstream cultism is in fact SO pervasive, that people can't even see it right in front of their eyes because they're SO in it. People perceive the Wasco County residents to be "regular" or normal. But in this docu series we saw a new way come in. We saw a group of people who also had their own culture and way of living and were also willing to fight for it. To me, this is what the docu series so brilliantly illustrated: they made parallels between the two groups of people. I saw cult-ish behavior in both groups. In my eyes, the docu series only pointed out the power of the leaders of both and how both groups thought they were right, and how both groups took to violence and both groups thought they were defending themselves.
I've deliberately taken a different approach to life than the mainstream since I was a teenager. You could say I've lived by the rule, If the mainstream is doing it, do the opposite. And.... it's worked pretty well for me, really. While most people "grow out of" their "rebellious" stage in adulthood, I have gone beyond rebellion to literally find my own way. The older I get, the farther and farther away from the mainstream I get. And the healthier and healthier and clearer and happier and freer I get.
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The mainstream thought model is so pervasive that even those who consider themselves very on the edge have a very hard time getting their heads out of that box. It is so pervasive.
Things like fasting and urine therapy and drinking distilled water scare the crap out of people. The mainstream does not embrace or support those things. In fact, they're nowhere to be found in the mainstream, and therefore even society's most radical people won't have anything to do with them.
Is there a bigger or more pervasive cult? Anyone who sticks their head out is shunned. Get sick and don't go to a mainstream allopathic doctor and watch how the people around you react. Observe how scared you get of not doing something the mainstream has told you you must do or you will die.
Doctors are the experts. They're way above other humans. While other humans are fallible, doctors are not. Not in the mainstream cult. Why? Education, I guess. Although, no one in the cult has asked themselves this question. Why is what a doctor says more meaningful than anyone else in society? Why is their education more valuable than anyone else's real life education?
Money is another one. It is incredibly difficult for someone to learn to not value money. The reason for all of this is because of how much value we place on what other people think of us and how we fit in. Pretty cult-like, no? There's nothing wrong with wanting to belong. Of course not. It's a basic human need. But it's also one of the biggest characteristics of a cult. Perhaps this basic need of ours is being used against us. But that's not really important. What's important is that you stick your head out.
And how do you really get your head out? The answer may sound absurd and completely unrelated. But the answer is fasting. The answer is clearing the muck out of your body so you can be clear and connected with yourself and your own truth. This is what fasting directly does which nothing else can do.
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I've tried fasting and I can only confirm its benefits. For a period of a year I fasted one day a week when I would only drink about three liters of water and I really felt more clean inside and more in touch with everything spiritually. Regarding Osho and his self made cult I have mixed opinions and most of them are not of praise thus I will recommend you to watch also another documentary on youtube about the Rajneeshes:
In terms of spiritual wisdom and spiritual teachers I always recommend Nisargadatta Maharaj's books which for me are life changing. A true guru in my opinion.
Thanks for the doc on the Rajneeshes. I find the topic fascinating.
I highly recommend going for a 48 hour plus fast. That's when you start to get into the life changing stuff.
I really have to get into fasting now. So far I have already switched my diet away from meat. And I feel like you with turning more and more away from mainstream.
Yes. There is no food like NO FOOD! Fasting is food for the soul.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for fasting, I hope you are careful though. The amount of misinformation we are fed may be around 70-90% but it is not 100%. Perhaps one day we will no longer need food to survive, but I’m not going to assume I am there yet just because I know it could be true. I hope you take your time with this and experiment carefully.
I’m going to try a 36 hour fast sometime this week. If it feels good I might turn it into a weekly thing, so long as I don’t lose weight because I’m already too too skinny
:) I think that also - if everyone is doing it, I better do something different! Also interesting theory about cleansing through fasting. Many people would say mediation
Both! But primarily cleansing through fasting. We have much clearer, purer spiritual experiences when we are clean. Life becomes a spiritual experience and a meditation when we're clean.
The 'Mainstream Cult' you describe is the result of our society being brainwashed by the Propagandist, including the influences of the Propagandist's relatives the Advertiser, and Main Stream Media.
Our Grandparents, our parents and all of us have been under an intense program of propaganda since our births.
Essentially, we are Slaves -- harvested for our blood, our labor and our children -- for the gain of those that control the Propagandist.
There is a lot to reply to here! Some I will pm you about.
As for the documentary, I was only vaguely familiar with Osho before. The cult of personality is one of the things that caused so many problems. I blame that on his followers more than I blame it on him. But when one comes into so mich power, they need to realize how sheepish people can be when groupthink takes over. I know he tried to downplay himself but more could have been done.
The other thing is the inside outside mentality and the idea that you have the answers and others do not. For a group of people who seem so full of love, they certainly didn’t empathize with the locals very well, they just expected them to deal with this huge change in the neighborhood that they were imposing.
The commune does look pretty awesome, I’d love to spend a week somewhere like that, but only if I’m free to not participate in certain practices that don’t feel right to me without being kicked out.
I’m any case he sure gave a lot of people a lot of things to think about and so in that sense he was a great teacher. Perhaps all the bad stuff happened just so that this documentary could be made and reflect to us some of our own problems.
And yes, you are right, mainstream culture acts like a cult as much as the rabjanis did. Any time people feel they have all the answers or that someone they respect does, they will maintain this kind of cult mentality.