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Whatever they say about the decline of print media, a book undeniably has a bigger impact than a website.
The books about cults that I have read have mostly come out after their downfall. (Aside from one I've read about the Hare Krishna sect, which still operates in it's fairly undiluted set of Hindu practices, though at a much smaller scale...there's a temple few blocks from my house in Denver, which attracts Indians, white folks in dhotis, and a lot of people for its free Sunday dinner. Oh, and one weird biography of L. Ron Hubbard!)
The others: Raven about Jim Jones, Daughter of a Prophet about the Church Universal and Triumphant, and The God That Failed about Osho (Bhagwan Rajneesh). This last one would probably resonate most closely to our experience of life with a Guru.
A book about Guru Maharaji's life and work will be hard to ignore. I can't imagine a die-hard premie's temptation to resist reading the book! Most fringe premies will read it. I will recommend it to my two premie friends. (One a premie for thirty-five years; one a premie for aabout thirty-five days now.)
I haven't read the book yet, but given the lurid cover, the compelling narrative suggested by the chapter titles, and Mike's crisp prose, I'm sure it will be good. I hope it gets some good press. Perhaps some book reviewers will remember when Rawat was Lord of the Universe.
Can't wait to see the reaction!
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I'd love to be able to search for and collect all the posts by ex-premies predicting the demise of the cult since the internet made communication between a reasonable quorum of "disaffected apostates" possible. Fortunately this is an open Forum of people who overall are mainly interested in truth and accountability so we will be able to determine if significant numbers of premies buy the book. I suspect that very few will avail themselves of the opportunity. When did Rawatism have any relevance outside of itself?
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>When did Rawatism have any relevance outside of itself?< It’s certainly impacted upon the families and friends of premies, and to lesser extent upon anything identifiable as a real world community, but even there, where there have been active premies willing to acknowledge to others what their faith system is, I think there has been actual influence. Also the legitimacy activities have given Rawatism a degree of ‘relevance’, albeit essentially corrupt, to groups such as the Gandhi Foundation. The existence of Without the Guru, will IMO, act to ‘disinsentivise’ many community premies, while also acting to extend any sense of dubiety on the part of organisations sucked into the legitimacy campaigns. I think Gregg is right to point out that, culturally at least, a ‘book’ is a more significant thing than a ‘website’ – that may change over time but it is still relevant today. After all you can’t send a website to someone as present, and the investment in the purchase takes on an emotional significance for both the purchaser and any receiver of a gift. Have past reports of Rawatism’s imminent death been exaggerated ? Yes – but static or shrinking income, falling adherent numbers, an aging adherent profile, e aren’t exactly the hallmarks of rude health. Like Stalin laying on his bedroom floor – it may be quite a long time before anyone actually determines that the tyrant is dead, after all how will anyone know when the cult no longer has an effective ‘life’ ? I’m just suggesting that anyone who is interested in the cult take note in the weeks and months ahead of changes, particularly in premie behaviour that may follow in the wake of "Without The Guru". >so we will be able to determine if significant numbers of premies buy the book. I suspect that very few will avail themselves of the opportunity.< That’s probably true, however the book will be gifted by exs to old premie friends, and also quite possibly will be bought by premies’ families; I can certainly see those who have posted here such a Premie Spouse wanting to read the book. One way or another premies will be exposed to the physical reality of ?Without The Guru?whether or not they actually purchase it themselves. Nik
Modified by Nik at Thu, Oct 29, 2009, 10:55:32
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Nik: I would love to hope that Mike's book would have quite a number of premies reconsider their delusion.However, in the words of Carl Sagan: "You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep-seated need to believe." That is the biggest stumbling block, IMHO...
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