Massa Jesus My Foot

Cults Can Breed Insanity

Initial Concerns

Cults can breed insanity, and insane guys may be found to gravitate to cults that match their disorders and stupidity.

Kinds of disorders. There are many kinds of mental disorders, and different degrees of them. Synonyms for madness abound, and definitions vary. One definition tells that mental disorder comprises "significant psychological or behavioural manifestations that occurs in an individual and that is associated either with a painful or distressing symptom, with impairment in one or more important areas of functioning, or with both. [Ebu "mental disorder"]

Artistic functioning can help some, and far better brain use, as that is good for man in its own right, and also because cognitive treatment is a boon in many cases of mental derangement.

Christian Madnesses: Something that is taken to be a sign of insanity in a single person, may be a criterion of a cult member, or maybe a common Christian, who is an "ill sort of sheep" per definition - according to Jesus in two gospels [Matthew 9:12-13; Mark 2:17; John 10:14, 27, 21:16].

Psychopaths are strangely influential, clever, subtle, scheming, and of devious mind. In the United Kingdom, psychopathic disorder is legally defined as "a persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct on the part of the person concerned."

Some psychopaths can be next to impossible to ferret out. Often it takes years, and some may escape being diagnosed and sedated altogether. In such cases the near ones are typically made victims of their various forms of nastiness, Professor Tollak Sirnes points out. Hitler may have been a psychopath. In the opinion of Gabriel Langfeldt he was, and mind "You don't have to be ill to be a doctor", as the proverb has it. [Toh; Daks]. The term psychopathy denotes chronic immoral and antisocial behavior, and is often used interchangeably with sociopathy.

The term "psychopathy" is often confused with psychotic disorders. It is estimated that approximately one percent of the general population are psychopaths. They are overrepresented in politics, law firms, and in the media. It is possible for psychopaths to become successful in many lines of work.

Mental health professional rarely treat psychopathic personality disorders, for they are considered untreatable.

In sects of various kinds, psychopaths will often cause long-term harm, both to their co-workers and the organization as a whole, due to their fraudulent behaviour.

How to diagnose insane ones: The means to diagnose psychopathology are not much refined, but can still be useful and help us detect gross and evident cases. In testing mental sides of others, we have to decide how valid the test can be, taking the conditions into consideration. Validity is "traditionally defined as the degree to which a test actually measures whatever it purports to measure." How reliable the test is, is another important facet. [Ebu "psychological testing"]

Face validity is a danger. Some "great ones" obviously lie to the effect that others flounder beneath them. At the bottom of senseless or foolish drivel many an undiagnosed, mental disorder could lie. Yes, teachings of some gurus may look fine and sound fine, they say they are here to help you, but still fail in actual living. That shows up through putting cherished teachings to actual use by living them for long, or many years. It is this that is called the road-test. The term stems from testing vehicles in actual use. Afterwards we could be more fit than gullible beginners to judge some fruits of the teachings. Therefore it can be quite fit to listen to experienced guys when they speak of from what they have actually experienced, such as, "The teachings of SRF about teaching the original Christianity of Jesus is charlatanry."

What to do in suspected cases of unsoundness:

• One should stay away from deceivers, no matter how devout and holy-looking their demeanours are.
• Many of the instructions of Jesus are maiming, not only hard. He says he is not a man of peace, but of splitting families and so on. He owns that his followers are in for bad times, even massacres. That is part of his scheme. Leaders and others - psychopaths - of today's cults are just like it. If undiagnosed they may enjoy their freedom and life to rob many of preconditions of a good and decent life. Normal persons are far better off without their influence.
• Have in mind that road-tests can be made by insincere, deceitful and bad people too - some of them of unsound mind. That is a current sect experience.

Some Nuts

Have a "nut" to chew on: What if a cult leader tells that he and all of them are part of a "crazy gang"? "The trouble is that all of us, as Paramahansaji used to say, are a little bit crazy, and we do not know it," says SRF's president, Daya Mata, or Faye Wright [On, "Qualities of a Devotee"].

Don't you know what to do? Think twice about selling out on your freedoms for no good reasons in the first place.

Yogananda and SRF has a kriya yoga pledge as a control device. [Pledge] [Human Rights]

Psychopaths may feel an inner attunement with these teachings of Jesus:

You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many . . . will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. [Matthew 24:9-11] . . .

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. [Luke 12:51 etc]

It sounds like a psychopath breeding terror.

Sound individuals tend to seek and go for concord more than discord, and try to make the conditions for their children better than those of betrayals, misery and untimely illnesses and deaths. With psychopaths of inflexible, maladaptive, or antisocial behaviour it is not like that. But before we say more on the subject, here is what Britannica affirms:

There is no simple definition of mental disorder that is universally satisfactory. This is partly because mental states or behaviour that are viewed as abnormal or pathological in one culture may be regarded as normal or acceptable in another, and in any case it is difficult to draw a line clearly demarcating healthy from pathological mental functioning. [Ebu "mental disorder"]

It must be good to know.

Hallmarks of Psychopathology

Among laypersons and professionals, there is much confusion about the meanings and differences between psychopathy, sociopathy, antisocial personality disorder and so on.

Even if there is no clear-cut understanding among professionals as to what is mental disorder or not, various hallmarks are used for determining it in a lot of cases. These criteria have to be used with discretion. Even so, there are hundreds and thousands that get a wrong diagnosis in Scandinavia each year. This is in part due to the fact that so-called abnormal conduct can be rooted in the person involved, in the interplay between that one and close others, significant others, such as in-groups, and the large society too, with the estrangements, nervous troubles, and abuses of others that accompany some sides of it, but not all of them.

To the last points, Kahlil Gibran observes in The Prophet: "When the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also." The Glasgow-born psychiatrist Ronald D. Laing strongly emphasises that point, and finds it very fit to suspect that if a person "snaps", turn insane, it could be the loom of family and other contacts - or lack of them - that is to blame. The warp could be unfit, askew, or suffer from other defects. More specifically, Laing thinks much insecurity may prompt a defensive reaction that can make ill by turns. In Laing's view many mental illnesses may be induced by relationships with other family members, and what is called madness could be a strong "miming" reaction to a more or less common state of alienation. [Ebu "Laing, R. D.]

To enlarge on the subject of insecurity:

Shyness among adults is now escalating to epidemic proportions, according to recent research by Dr. B. Carducci in Indiana and my research team in California. More than 50 percent of college-aged adults report being chronically shy (lacking social skills, low self-esteem, awkward in many social encounters). [Philip G. Zimbardo]

Zimbardo, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University. [▾More]

It could be that individuals who initially suffer from insecurity and/or estrangements may be set adrift on the way to psychopathy through neuroticism that gradually worsens. Sociopaths may come to consider their deviant behaviour as natural, feel no guilt when they harm and ruin others, and resist therapy - or getting away from the sect or cult that have made them like that. They can be very sly and submissive to such ends. Others may get explosive, overly excitable, procrastinating, persistently promiscuous, and paranoid. Strange lack of humour marks some of them.

Not a few criminals suffer from a personality disorder. Some mental disorders involve preoccupation with fantasies. Lack of concern seems to be a key element involved, and much and unsound immodesty also. The expression of symptoms of personality disorders often tends to get less intense in middle and old age.

Back to Daya Mata's Words on the "Crazy Gang" of Yogananda

Back to Daya Mata's entertaining statement. Does she know her guru is crazy, and did Yogananda handle her in crazy ways, and how crazy is she now? Or common SRF members? Are they crazy to think Christianity can be perfectly aligned with the teachings of Krishna? Or mad because many of them were Christians and Mormons etc. in the first place?

It is difficult to answer all of it unequivocally, for it could be unethical and indecent to freak diagnose (maim) others who are living far away. Suffice to say that as she publicly stands by her guru's words, and presents them as true, he and she would be of "the crazy gang".

Accordingly, to the degree others are crazy, not just nervous and unfair, do not invest trust in them, at least not publicly. An ancient Chinese philosopher says:

He who knows he is a fool is not the biggest fool; he who knows he is confused is not in the worst confusion . . . the biggest fool will end his life without ever seeing the light . . . And with all the confusion in the world these days, no matter how often I point the way, it does no good. Sad, is it not? [Co 139-40]

We take many other reminders by Chuang Tzu into account as we go along. It might also do well to consider how far the octogenarian Daya Mata just quote her gurudeva for show, for entertainment, or even ceremonial purposes. It is better to be of sound mind than crazy, better to stay away from Jesus and others like him, accordingly. For Jesus teaches the healthy ones do not need him, remember, that he is only for ill ones. Well, only for Jews, he says too.

Even those of excellent health before the became part of a Jesus freak cult, can be made insane by "him" or the coercion, internal control, intrigues, pressures and lies that influence them in the cult's comparative isolation. Mind battering (brainwashing) has many forms, and cult studies reveal some typical expressions of the results.

Yogananda claims to be in liaison with Jesus, and Jesus teaches he is not for healthy guys, he is "only for ill and depraved Jews", it stands out. The message was changed later, in part through forgeries, when the original scheme failed. Can you hope to heal others if you band with Jesus? Jesus is the originator of what started as the tense sect of Christianity, and flashes many cardinal signs of psychopathy. That his original sect, Christianity, has grown large and aspires to clasp everyone, is no sign of it getting healthy either. To the contrary.

Get Away from Cults and Psychopaths

Take care of yourself and stay away from psychopaths you are aware are that. The next best thing is to get away from them. The third best thing could be to avoid buffoons and other sorts of fools, for some of them act to your harm.

On the other hand, suitable and decent people can be nice to be with. Buddhism tells such and other extremely useful things for the long-range good of disciples.

Some psychopaths create havoc by confusing innocents. To confuse people, playing on their inexperience and decency and good will, is a cause of later nervous disorders that may get progressively worse.

Confusion is the lot of so many trapped in cults. Yogananda taught at length that the world is an illusion, a dream. Let that be his problem, since he himself and his own teachings would come under that heading if that were the case.

Illusions of grandeur - on behalf of oneself and maybe vicariously - are among the signs of psychopathy, and so is hostility and telling lies wilfully. Maybe those who say they are God, suffer from megalomaniac disturbances. All those who want to be with God through vicarious sacrifice, through butchering of innocents, lack something within, something called evolved moral fibre, and are hardly healthy individuals, or fair.

If Public Disorders Control what is Meant by Soundness -

In an unhealthy environment, demanding unhealthy, unfair, unfit adaptations along with initial, basic soundness, could be behind the manifestations of some mental disorders. That is a main point of the Scottish psychiatrist Ronald D. Laing.

Be on the outlook for painful or distressing symptoms, impairment in one or more important areas of functioning. Is there rigour, lack of frivolity and free will? Are others made to pay although they put their faith in vicarious suffering? The church is in part for all that.

Both the church and the cult within it or adjoined to it - just like mental illness - can have an effect on every aspect of a person's life, including thinking, feeling, mood, and outlook and such areas of external activity as family and marital life, sexual activity, work, recreation, and management of material affairs. Most denominations and mental disorders negatively affect how an individual feels about himself and impair or limit severely his or her capacity for participating in mutually rewarding relationships.

Some may fondly think that the effects of a deceiving church on persons is not so bad, but devout and useful for most part. Not so. For example, the faith that long rotten and gone corpses will rise again "some day", is freak faith that probably serves ulterior ends, probably control of masses. Fraud is not innocent. There is reason to drop calling it holy and godly too.

Tracing Jesus

What does Jesus do and teach that is so offensive? Self-mutilation, impoverishment, non-assertive non-retaliation are among them. You should have the good sense to stay permanently away from the church that teaches that. And there is to be no place for cringing before cruel tyrants.

When someone says you are guilty of sin if you have not done anything, that one becomes suspect. Jesus does. He may add that if you have not done anything terribly wrong, but still has had an urge for sex with someone that is not your partner, you should pluck out your eye, tear off your hand, foot or member. The moment he sets himself up above you, it becomes his command in your face. At least you should think about what is insanity and what is divine. and bear in mind the Ghost and all the disciples dropped all the commands of Jesus and Jehovah for Gentile followers, and kept only four points [Acts 15; 21:25]

What is insanity? First, it is a label you give someone you want to get rid of, more or less. Jesus should have learnt that - or maybe he did too well. Some who are called insane, are too troublesome in their environment. Then even their relatives want to get rid of them, for example by pushing them out of a cliff. Jesus should have learnt that lesson well too. The gospel says he experienced it.

Farce

What is being insane? It can be what judges in court call you to put an end to a long, expensive case. There is a memorable case in Norway about a man. The sheriff found him too troublesome about some significant matter. Bureaucrats put away the man in a mental hospital, where he did not quite fit in. So they called him bad and furnished him with some insanity label.

Diagnosis of mental diseases often function in a labelling manner, you should know, assisted by observation and possibly relevant investigations, all of which do not have to be regular, long, or fair.

With this man things seemed to go from that bad to much worse, for after several years in mental institutions he had become so "bad" - read: non-adapted - that they threw him out. Smell a rat.

It was then he started "protest camping" in a tent outside the gate of that institution, Gaustad, and got much public sympathy. He came to be a celebrity too.

Notable psychologists now came to his rescue too late, and said he was not mentally diseased at all. His case ended in a court. One expert said he was insane, and the other he was sound. Finally the judge - who was not an expert on such matters at all - decided he was unsound. As if he could know.

Long after the brave man died, it came up that he had been right in the first place, back home, when he first had been put away.

When someone is called worse and worse and then finally thrown out of an asylum, smell a rat. Those who do not adapt well to asylums, may not belong there, also for good reasons. Experts in their halting labelling trade diagnose many wrongly.

When someone who is no expert on insanity is put to judge whether you are or not, smell a bigger rat still. Incompetence in power is troublesome to deal with, like corruption camaraderie in high places.

"Not so much what you believe, but how, and how many and how influential - that matters"

There are yearly, public statistics on how many are wrongly diagnosed.

Much depends on corruption, and whether the so-called troublemaker is isolated, impoverished, let down or has social back up, for example by being a member of a big group and thereby being backed up by the "power of many". Jesus was let down, was called a trouble-maker and executed as a blaspheming devil or lunatic (what is the difference?) Now he is Massa (master) Jesus to many. Things change.

Being a Liberal Is Advocated

Who is a liberal? It is one who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways, and adheres to individual rights. Some liberals may focus on great develop mental capacities. There is a stress on individual freedom, and that the state serves and protects the rights of its citizens instead of going against them where it matters. Liberalism seeks to "protect the individual from arbitrary external restraints that prevent the full realization of his potentialities" [Ebu "liberalism"]. It stands against dogmatic, often cruel and hard authoritarianism and the under-dog servility it demands of the masses.

Will the dead rise again? Really?

In Norway the faith of the official state church is that the dead will rise again. If you don't think the dead rise again after hundreds of years in the soil, have the courtesy to quit the church of clowning.

Paul and His Former Comrades in Killing

Paul said that before his conversion, he had taken part in killing early Christians. He was a mass murderer earlier [Acts 22:29 to 23:6-8].

This does not ridicule or deny the possibility of rising recent corpses, where there is something that can get up and going. It is when there is nothing left it may be all too foolish to expect such a miracle.

Do the dead bury anyone, and is scapegoating healthy?

To believe that the dead are to bury their dead, seems insane. The gospel says Jesus taught it. "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." [Matthew 8:22] Does this mean that all those who bury their dead relatives are dead themselves? Or sick, because they are followers? [Matthew 9:12-13]

Insanity - Definitions Vary

To revert to recognised insanity: In criminal law there are different principles to decide by in different countries. Laws differ, in other words. Also, "Various legal tests of insanity have been put forward, none of which has escaped criticism," says Encyclopaedia Britannica. [Ebu "insanity"]

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary helps us to circle in on what insanity might be by defining it for us. What can be meant by it:

• A deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia);
• A mental disorder;
• Such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility;
• More loosely: extreme folly or unreasonableness, in other words something utterly foolish or unreasonable.

The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus helps further by saying insanity is a "grave disorder of mind that impairs one's capacity to function safely or normally in society." That is a good one. having delusions may be a sign of insanity, and so is behaving irrationally, unreasonably. It is seen to be in contrast to behaving sensibly, wisely, rationally, reasonably, wholesomely, then. To seem reasoned, sensible, healthy, sound and clean looking should pay, then . . . and why not being shown reverence as God Himself? A "delusion of grandeur" could be so masked. In some cults and sect the phenomenon is well known. Interestingly, Christianity started as a tense sect.

We may enlarge on the subject further by "mentally disordered", "demented", "of unsound mind".

Now these few inroads to "insanity" may do for now. There are textbooks on the subject, and very helpful symptom lists (called inventories) that seem to catch main marks of various mental illnesses. Before we go into that, may it be said that neuroticism lets itself be cured, whereas some mental diseases are beyond treatment by today's standard procedures. Understanding of just what is health is not clear-cut.

Onword

On the next page you may find the main criteria that are used today to ascertain a compulsive personality disorder. We try a much used labelling test on Jesus as he is described by the witnesses who wrote and edited the gospels.

Literature  

Ay: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 1st ed. New York: Theosophical, 1946. Online. [oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk12.html]

Co: Watson, Burton, tr. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968.

Daks: Langfeldt, Gabriel. Abnorme karakterer. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1976.

Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2006.

Eksy: May, Rollo, ed. Eksistensiell psykologi. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1971. (Existential Psychology, New York: Random House, 1961).

On: Mata, Daya. "Only Love". Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1976.

Pa: Yogananda, Paramahansa. Autobiography of a Yogi. 11th ed. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1971.

Toh: Sirnes, Tollak. - at vi skal elske hverandre (- that we shall love each other). Oslo: Gyldendal, 1968.

We: Koestline, Henry. What Jesus Said about It. New York: Signet, 1970.



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