In 1972 the Bee Gees drummer left to join a band dedicated to a cult leader named Maharaj-ji. A few years later George Harrison of the Beatles produced a different band dedicated to the same cult leader. Carlos Santana was given the name Devadip by his abusive guru Sri Chinmoy. Donovan traveled to India with the Beatles studying Transcendental Meditation. Soon the Doors, Mick Jagger and the Grateful Dead would all be practicing TM. The Beach Boys recorded one of Charles Manson's songs. Leonard Cohen dropped out and moved into a Zen Monastery, but his guru would be ousted for sexual abuse. Musician turned cult leader Mel Lyman was dubbed the "East Coast Charles Manson." John Travolta and Frank Stallone recorded a vinyl record made up of Scientology lyrics that went gold.
These are just some of the fascinating stories in Cult Rocked
"In mid-February, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Bravewell Collaborative are convening a 'Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public.' This is a watershed in the evolution of integrative medicine, a holistic approach to health care that uses the best of conventional and alternative therapies such as meditation, yoga, acupuncture and herbal remedies. Many of these therapies are now scientifically documented to be not only medically effective but also cost effective.
President-elect Barack Obama and former Sen. Tom Daschle (the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services) understand that if we want to make affordable health care available to the 45 million Americans who do not have health insurance, then we need to address the fundamental causes of health and illness, and provide incentives for healthy ways of living rather than reimbursing only drugs and surgery."
-- The Wall Street Journal, with a pseudoscientific group quack column (wow!) written by - drumroll please:
Next up is Rustum Roy - he's a homeopath. TMR will say no more. No, the truth is more like TMRcan say no more - without swearing and screaming. Seriously, this clown claims "that for the first time, there have been identified some key elements of water structure that can be tested and are directly related to its effectiveness as having healthful qualities." Got that?
Turn on the tap, people.
And, finally, there's Dean Ornish (and yes, that's a real photo) who thinks TMR doesn't know "Dr. Ornish began as a devotee of an Indian guru, Sri Swami Satchidananda. He became involved with the Swami after dropping out of Rice University in 1972 in a state of suicidal depression."
Nor does he think TMR knows that Dr. Timothy N. Gorski, Associate Editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine said:
"Ornish's recommendations are not suitable for most people. The few small studies claimed to prove the worth of his work have also been questioned on scientific grounds. Dr. Richard Pasternak, director of preventive cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has said that 'There's virtually no science' in them. Dr. Robert Eckel, Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and chairman of the nutrition committee of the American Heart Association also expressed serious doubts, as did Dr. Frank Sacks, a nutrition professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Sacks, in trying to replicate Dr. Ornish's results with a grant from the NIH, found that it was difficult to recruit patients and few could stick with the program. Fortunately, Ornish's program has been superseded by more effective forms of managing elevated blood cholesterol and the discovery of other treatable risk factors."
And don't forget there's Obama's U.F.O. guy, Sanjay Gupta, as Surgeon General. He agreed with the child molester, "Rael," below:
But not to worry.
There's absolutely no cult infiltration of the government going on with the election of Barack Obama. It's just a coincidence all these people are, specifically, Indian (where cults and cultism are rampant) or suck up to Indian ideas of health. It's just a coincidence all these people are, somehow, affiliated with wild-eyed cult ideas that go against what we know of reality. It's just a coincidence all of this is exactly the con job TMR has been warning against.
Everyone's assured TMR of that, for months now, so it must be true - it's gotta be. Sure. Let me remind you of two things. First are the words of Michael D. Coleman, Ph. D.:
"In the early 1960's [The Maharishi] claimed we would have enlightenment within 5 years if we simply meditated 20 minutes twice a day and didn't change anything else. Then in the late 60s we needed to do 'rounding', then become teachers of meditation, then become celibate, then follow a special diet, then put special oils on our bodies, take special supplements, get special massages, learn 'siddhis', practice siddhis regularly in groups, pay thousands of dollars for some pundits to perform 'yagyas,' then live in special architecture, then get 40,000 people together doing the siddhis, then pay $1,000,000 to have a 30 day course with Maharishi and get a little personal attention."
All very cost-effective.
Remember: Mr. Coleman ended up no better off for all those years of effort, and you can be sure that - once they really start this nonsense here - you won't be doing it right.
That's how it works.
In regards to all this cult foolishness, you can find TMR's second tip here, and it's probably the best advice you'll get today.
"[Ken] Wilber has a passionate -- almost cultlike -- following in certain circles, as well as some famous fans. Bill Clinton and Al Gore have praised Wilber's books. Deepak Chopra calls him "one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness." And the Wachowski Brothers asked Wilber, along with Cornel West, to record the commentary for the DVDs of their 'Matrix' movies."
-- Steve Paulson, once again dropping the "c-word" (which so many want to deny, as it keeps popping up in article after article) while writing for Salon.com
Look at those names: the adulterer and serial liar; the baseless Global Warming fearmonger; the guy who tried to scam the Journal of American Medicine; the brothers who convinced a bunch of lamers this reality isn't real, and a "race man" who not only makes no sense but - and this is his larger crime to me - made a bad rap album.
What an example that collection sets, huh? Just the idea that someone could look at that list of names, knowing what impoverished roles these people are playing in our lives, and not call "bullshit" on Ken Wilber, should tell you all you need about what's wrong with the West today. All major players, all proven douchebags on the public stage, and all "followers" of Ken Wilber. I ask you: who's running the show here? These so-called "leaders" or the bald-headed asshole they all suck up to?
What is it about people that makes them vulnerable to cultism? I was reading about James Taylor's hit "You've Got A Friend" the other day - that line "they'll take your soul if you let them" got my attention - only to discover it was written by Carole King as a sop to Sri Swami Satchidananda, author of yet another book on Yoga. It never ends with these people. There's no escaping it. The Boomers can't die fast enough to give the rest of us air. Is it any wonder why people go on rampages when there's so much deception being pulled on them? Not in Washington, D.C., but right on their fucking radio?
Scientologists in PBS. All the Leftists "educated" by Werner Erhard's destructive est - which is a Scientology offshoot that's now sold as the Landmark Forum. With the Beatles' help, even more followers of the Maharishi, and, now, Oprah Winfrey and Ekhart Tolle, and on and on and on. Is it no wonder so many people don't understand what good there is in being a plain ol' patriotic American anymore? Why this country's "stand on your own two feet" idea is alien to so many? We're talking generations of "followers" here, destroying individuals, and families - and the national fabric - with their impulsive "be here now" live-for-the-moment "teachings" that lead to "feelings" that unleash all manner of mystic mayhem, in the personal, public, and political worlds of others. The idea of leaving others alone is so alien to these fundamentalists they don't know how to hold a decent conversation otherwise. Tell them to stop, stand up like an adult, and they don't listen anymore. As a matter of fact, the act of not thinking makes them feel superior. It's like high school on steroids - or the worst drugs you ever had - when you knew the "cool kids" were assholes.
These "followers" are people who won't grow up enough to shake off the shackles in their minds. To be "real" men and women - not childlike "followers". Always on the prowl to rope others into another kooky idea that's supposed to bring happiness but, after all these years, has done nothing but bring life in America low; started another generation to follow. Like the proverbial company man who's working against the organization, there's just nothing worse.
I hate this. Yes, "hate". If you had told me, when I was a child, that when I grew up I'd be surrounded by so many people who lacked independence of thought - and who, despite all the evidence cultism is extremely bad for human beings, will ignore all that for their own personal fulfillment - I'd have never believed you. Adults, by now, were supposed to be brighter than this. But not these adults. They know less about themselves than anything else - and will admit it when pressed. My hearing "Oh, I don't know" is now a cliche' of my waking life - always said by some formally passionate idiot who, apparently, no one else has ever questioned deeply about what they believe. They just don't know what they believe. And they won't try thinking.
But God damn it, whatever they're doing - good or bad or happy or scam - they're sure gonna pass it on.
