Mundane Cults
from btrmt. lectures Hosted by Dorian
The word cult conjures images of hooded figures, mass suicide, and narcissistic leaders. But this dark image is nonsense—the kind that makes us more vulnerable to destructive groups. Cults are actually a pervasive building block of modern community, from veganism to fitness franchises to health movements. The question isn’t whether you’re in one, but whether it’s one you chose. Rather read? I also made this episode into an article: https://btr.mt/analects/mundane-cults-lecture And the pieces it’s based on: https://btr.mt/analects/mundane-cults, https://btr.mt/analects/true-family-ties. Stuff I mentioned: Successful Prophets The Value of Ritual Human Perspective is Not the Only One Everything is Ideology The Scientific Ritual Panpsychism All Food is Toxic Easy Measurement Bias The Placebo Effect The Charismatic Leader (Weber) True Family Ties Abstractions as Gods Sociological classification of cults Roy Wallis on Wikipedia The Protestant Reformation Robert Jay Lifton on Wikipedia Robert Jay Lifton: Theories of Totalism Margaret Singer on Wikipedia Janja Lalich on Wikipedia Steven Hassan: Combating Cult Mind Control Korean War Brainwashing: China and the Korean War Jonestown Heaven’s Gate Manson Family Religious Behaviour on Wikipedia LA Times: Cults as Places of Value JSTOR: Affiliation and Spiritual Fulfillment Church vs Sect (Troeltsch and Niebuhr) own book Stupid Questions Related stuff: Questions That Don’t Matter Belief-Consistent Information Processing
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The word cult conjures images of hooded figures, mass suicide, and narcissistic leaders. But this dark image is nonsense—the kind that makes us more vulnerable to destructive groups. Cults are actually a pervasive building block of modern community, from veganism to fitness franchises to health movements. The question isn't whether you're in one, but whether it's one you chose.
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