leaders that lead people astray are very common. they have spiritual power to hurt people that do not want to be their followers.
You can see this idea illustrated most clearly in the events surrounding Adi Da [a guru]. He was one of the best examples. He had great spiritual powers and was also a jerk and quite evil. One of his closest disciples broke away and exposed the events that were going on there. That disciple was killed in a plane crash a short time after that.
How do people get involved in cults? There are consciousness traps. There is some idea that get inside one's head and acts like a seed. It grows and absorbs collects all the surrounding material and it grows.
I don't have a general answer for this cult problem. And I also do not even know the general conditions for an answer. However I might as well explain my own approach that is my own answer to the cult problem. My approach is that which you can find in authentic Lithuanian yeshivas. That is Talmud with traditional books of Musar. This path is connected to the path of the Gra. It is holistic. It encompasses everything about a human being.
This is not a blank check for Litvak yeshivas . It is just my own approach and also I suggest this to others. But I mean this suggestion in a tentative way. I know that in complex human relationships and change of variables is bound to have unforeseen consequences.
I think today learning Jewish Philosophy is very important. [That mean medieval Jewish philosophy, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, etc. However the actual book of the Rambam in philosophy I found too hard. But David Hartman wrote a great introductory text.]
I should mention that Lithuanian yeshivas were tailor made to be safe havens from cults. That explains the reason they are so ready to throw out anyone that does not fit into the mold. They are not just into learning and teaching authentic Torah. They rigorously exclude pseudo Torah. And the more successful they are in excluding pseudo false Torah to that same degree they succeed in learning and keeping authentic Torah, This is the reason why Ponovitch is the top yeshiva in the world, Rav Shach would not stand any nonsense.
The trouble with Litvak yeshivas is the aspect of depth. To stick with Torah one needs some kind of justification that goes beyond Jewish philosophy. That is one needs more that intellectual justification. It has to be holistic. The trouble with philosophy especially after the Middle Ages is that it is all about "I" (the self). It's entire domain is the region between the empirical I and the abstract metaphysical "I". And God is a reasonable postulate. God is the beginning and end, the first cause and the final teleological cause. And the existence of the "I" is a reasonable postulate.
You can see this idea illustrated most clearly in the events surrounding Adi Da [a guru]. He was one of the best examples. He had great spiritual powers and was also a jerk and quite evil. One of his closest disciples broke away and exposed the events that were going on there. That disciple was killed in a plane crash a short time after that.
How do people get involved in cults? There are consciousness traps. There is some idea that get inside one's head and acts like a seed. It grows and absorbs collects all the surrounding material and it grows.
I don't have a general answer for this cult problem. And I also do not even know the general conditions for an answer. However I might as well explain my own approach that is my own answer to the cult problem. My approach is that which you can find in authentic Lithuanian yeshivas. That is Talmud with traditional books of Musar. This path is connected to the path of the Gra. It is holistic. It encompasses everything about a human being.
This is not a blank check for Litvak yeshivas . It is just my own approach and also I suggest this to others. But I mean this suggestion in a tentative way. I know that in complex human relationships and change of variables is bound to have unforeseen consequences.
I think today learning Jewish Philosophy is very important. [That mean medieval Jewish philosophy, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, etc. However the actual book of the Rambam in philosophy I found too hard. But David Hartman wrote a great introductory text.]
I should mention that Lithuanian yeshivas were tailor made to be safe havens from cults. That explains the reason they are so ready to throw out anyone that does not fit into the mold. They are not just into learning and teaching authentic Torah. They rigorously exclude pseudo Torah. And the more successful they are in excluding pseudo false Torah to that same degree they succeed in learning and keeping authentic Torah, This is the reason why Ponovitch is the top yeshiva in the world, Rav Shach would not stand any nonsense.
The trouble with Litvak yeshivas is the aspect of depth. To stick with Torah one needs some kind of justification that goes beyond Jewish philosophy. That is one needs more that intellectual justification. It has to be holistic. The trouble with philosophy especially after the Middle Ages is that it is all about "I" (the self). It's entire domain is the region between the empirical I and the abstract metaphysical "I". And God is a reasonable postulate. God is the beginning and end, the first cause and the final teleological cause. And the existence of the "I" is a reasonable postulate.
