People involved in RS gradually move from the real world to their own
special reality.
Here I want to cover some key characteristics of this reality.
Mental Constructs
Gradually, the concept of "the master" is inserted into every aspect
of their thought
processes. For example, instead of thinking to yourself, "I went
to school, studied hard
and now I have a good job at which I am competent and respected", you
now think,
"I am thankful that the master willed that I have a good job".
This general thought
reorganization eventually covers everything you think, do and say.
There is an episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer joins a cult - try so see it if you can.
Talking Books
When I first started talking to RS people they had a appeared to have
a great deal
of esoteric knowledge. When I checked through the various books
I would come to
sections that looked strangely familiar and then I realized that I
was reading almost
word for word what people had said to me in conversations. They
were "talking
books" - they had no independent thoughts of their own and were just
parrots
reciting what they had read.
Shallowness
RS is advertised through its books such as "Mysticism- The Spiritual
Path" to be a mystic
school and so you would assume members were enlightened people.
However, gradually,
little things happened that made me start to really wonder. Here
are some examples.
I was talking to an RS guy and mentioned that this person was looking
at this other
person's aura. Immediately he stopped me and said "You really
know someone who
can see auras ?"
In another conversation I was discussing that people who know how can
defeat
karma/reincarnation by stealing a new body from another person (possession).
Immediately the guy said, "No, that is impossible - no one can change
bodies like that".
I played the tape of the "Sightings" episode on "remote viewing" to
a satsangi.
"That is impossible - it must be science fiction - no one can do things
like that",
my satsangi friend said.
On several occasions talking about "inner experiences" I would have
someone say,
"I met someone once who could go inside". I would ask,
"A satsangi ?" And the
answer was always the same: "Oh no, he was from another path."
Anit-Intellectual - Anti-Enlightenment
Whenever you ask a question something you are told "not to think about
it"
or "the mind cannot understand" or some such. Also, things that
you would
expect one to encounter in the natural process of enlightenment are
looked
upon as bad or scary. For example, your past lives: You
are told, "Don't
attempt to find out about past lives."
I went to a satsang where there was an "official speaker". At
the end of the
satsang, the man started to tell a real life story about a satsangi
who had died.
The story had to do with her drifting in and out of consciousness saying
that
she was having an inner encounter with the master. I was on the
edge of my
chair for a change thinking that finally someone was going to talk
about something
interesting. However, as soon as he started to tell the story,
one of the women
interrupted him saying, "Oh no - you're talking about something
on the inside -
we're not allowed to talk about that - we're not allowed to hear things
like that -
you can't talk about that..."
Fear
Fear appears to be a key ingredient in RS Mentality. Fear about
life. Fear about
death, hell, being reincarnated as a dog or whatever. Fear that
they are always
under psychic surveillance by the master and will be punished if they
don't do as
they are told. Gurinder Singh reportedly recently suggested that
Secretaries be given a
copy of the "initiation notes". Our local secretary said she
did not want a copy-
she would be afraid to have it in her house.
The biggest fear appears to be the fear of disillusionment. The
fear that they might
read something or see something which would make them realize that
the path they
are on may not be what they have conditioned themselves to believe
that it is.
I learned that when I found the part about the "marked souls" and the
"10%" in
the books (discussed under Mission Statement). I was trying to
show it to a
satsangi to get a second opinion and, even though it is in an approved
RS book,
he would not even read it because "it might be upsetting".