Isolation, confusion, and uncertainty, a few words to describe how most have felt through the pandemic. This traumatic event seems to be in a loop and has become a fertile ground to grow communities both online and offline. Cultus is a Latin word that means to cultivate or care. The turbulent times that we are in and the fundamental desire by humans to belong in a group provide fertile conditions for the cultivation of a community.
The world has never been in shortage of charismatic leaders; individuals who string together words in an eloquent and convincing manner. When they tell us to jump off a cliff we can only ask when. It is not about the content of their speech but how they make us feel.
“Above all, Harold gave people hope. The way Black Chicagoans talked about him in those years was reminiscent of how a certain generation of white progressives talked about Bobby Kennedy—it wasn’t so much what he did as how he made you feel. Like the world was yours to remake.” Barack Obama wrote in his book, ‘A Promised Land’; a fitting description of two charismatic leaders and their effect on two sets of communities.
I once worked for a man who had a way with words. His cologne would engulf a room and sure enough, the scent made sure your senses recognized that he is in the room. Then your eyes had to concentrate on him as you wondered how an oversized suit could somehow look good on his round body. He would show up in times of crisis and convince us how he was suffering just as we were. He led you to empathise with him. How can the world be so cruel to a man who has worked this hard? But what a beauty time is. Slowly I started to realise that the infallible leader was fallible, and without a doubt, the problems I was facing were mostly his fault.
Psychologists have come up with three common characteristics of a cult. The first is a charismatic leader who is authoritarian and to whom followers must bow down. The second characteristic is indoctrination, a mind control program designed to convince you that you are under a god-like character. Lastly is exploitation which is usually financial or sexual in nature.
Not every charismatic leader is evil. Some use their influence to change the lives of people positively. So how can we identify those who are out to exploit us and control us? Indoctrination is a process and here are a few elements that we can identify to help us avoid it.
Just as in the animal kingdom, predators go for the easy target. The easiest prey for a cult leader is someone going through hard times. We have all been through tough situations and maybe are going through a tough situation right now. This makes us easy targets as we search for love and comfort. We should be careful with whom we trust, whom we open up to, and always weigh the advice we receive at our lowest moments.
After you have been identified as an easy target, they understand that they need to convince you that you are in the right place. This is usually done by others who had been recruited before and have similar or almost similar circumstances as you. Once you see people with who you have things in common, you can easily be sold to the idea that you are in the right place.
You are now part of a new group or society, so the next step is being introduced to a new reality. This new reality has to be birthed in a new environment. You will be forced to isolate yourself from family and friends, only interacting with those in the cult.
At this point, your relationships have been reduced only to the people in your cult. The most important relationship in your life now will be with the cult leader who you are expected to worship and never question. The cult personality that you are now loyal to spreads his or her roots throughout your mind. They give you a false sense of security, where there is an imaginary enemy and the only one who can protect you is this person and your cult members.
You find security in your group, you feel like you belong. Peer pressure we sometimes believe only affects us when we are rebellious teens; in essence, humans have a fundamental desire to belong in a group and this affects how we perceive reality.
Solomon Asch conducted an experiment in 1951 to study conformity. He had participants, where seven of them were instructed to all give a similar wrong answer, and one participant who wasn’t aware the rest were coached, had to make an independent choice. It was a simple exercise where there was a target line and the participant who wasn’t part of those who were coached had to choose which line among the options given was similar to the target line. 75% of the participants chose the wrong answer similar to what those who were coached chose; proving it’s easier to conform and be wrong than be alone and right. When there was no pressure to conform 99% of the participants chose the right answer. What a difference!
And the final element is a sociopathic narcissist. Everything has to revolve around this cult leader. You are constantly reminded that you are nothing without them—that you are not important as they are. They have an obsession with being worshipped and this often leads them to crash and burn in their quest for more affection and praise.
Fortunately, people realise that this perfect person they have been worshipping is not perfect at all and leave the cult. Unfortunately, some do not get out alive. Jim Jones saw an opportunity when there was racial tension in the United States of America and sold to his members of the Peoples Temple the idea of a utopia where there would be no racism. It didn’t end well; more than 900 people committed mass suicide among them children, men, and women in a remote jungle in Guyana.
Before the mass suicide relatives of some of the cult members had reached out to government officials concerned about Jim Jones and his activities. Congressman Leo Ryan was sent to investigate and was killed by members of the cult. This escalation of events led to Jim Jones inciting a riot and mass suicide. To the applause of his followers, before the mass suicide, he said, “If we can’t live in peace then let us die in peace.”
We might have never been victims of a cult but in one way or another, we might have found ourselves under the control of someone who was out to exploit us. Maybe it’s a charismatic politician who created a fake reality where the neighbouring tribe is your enemy and he or she has come to save you. Maybe it’s your boss who has convinced you that beyond that job you have no life. No one is unerring; so taking in opinions from those above in rank and age without taking time to think is a great disservice to our lives.
Paul in the bible interacted with two sets of groups. One, the Berean Jews heard what he said eagerly and studied the scriptures for themselves. Another, the Corinthians chose to form factions admiring various leaders, rather than being keen to learn what was been taught. We will not always find someone like Paul who saw people follow him blindly and rebuked them, reminding them his message is Christ not follow Paul.
When we find ourselves duped, it won’t help being stuck in resentment and embarrassment. We must bounce back from the bitterness and shame realising it can happen to the best of us. Do not let anyone construct your reality for you. God gave us the ability to think, so we must. He went further than that to send His only son to die on the cross so you can have a personal relationship with Him. So take the time to learn how He who fashioned that relationship wants it to be.
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