Don't forget the multi level marketing game which is mostly indistinguishable for a cult apart from the elnightenment being the ability to lease an expensive car. Herb-alife and other nutritional supplements went through here like wild fire - "Use you circle of influence" was their catch phrase.

Peter

What about the water purifier deal?  Wasn't Raja Ji a benefactor of that?

I remember meeting a young women from Los Angeles once and I asked her what she did for a living and she replied that she sold water purifiers.

Yeah, I bet that lasted a long time.

The fact is that a lot of premies didn't take care of themselves by going to college and sticking with a job long enough to turn it into something real because they had to quit so often to follow Maharaji around the globe every two months or so.

I wonder if we have a psychological profile that makes us vulerable to cults, in the same way as some for drugs, or some get into abusive relationships.

Hi Juan,

I wonder if we have a psychological profile that makes us vulerable to cults, in the same way as some for drugs, or some get into abusive relationships.

I've suggested that's the case, but lots of people disagree. At most it's a trend thing, and doesn't apply to everyone. It's a plausible theory.

Actually, there are some cult experts who would agree with you on this issue and I'm inclined to agree, to a certain extent.  In the book Captive Hearts, Captive Minds by Madeline Tobias and Janja Lalich, the authors use the terms "cult leader" and abuser in a relationship quite interchangeably to describe the dynamics between someone who has undue control in a relationship, such as a cult leader or say, a spouse batterer or other controlling persons in any relationship.

Also, recently Rick Ross came out with a DVD called "In the Name of Love:  Abusive Controlling Relationships."  I haven't reviewed it myself, so I can't speak for it personally, but it does look interesting.

http://www.rickross.com/dvds/dvd.html

Rick Ross is a very controversial person in the world of cult experts, by hey, he's a brave guy, sticks his neck out, and wins the lawsuits against cults, so he's okay in my book, even though cults love to hate him...