One very clever way for a free meditation group to be attractive -- and get you ever more involved with them it to create a "one stop shop" were the meditation group gives you access to a venue for great parties, yoga, martial arts, socializing, networking all in one place.
All bundled together. If they also have a retreat center in the countryside, what could be better.
Where it will poison you is when they slip in teachings about negative influences, and how you must drop all friends and family members who are sources of negativity and dragging you down.
A group called NXIVM did exactly this. Result: you are kept busy and all your friendships and business ties slowly get linked to the meditation group.
Lots of similarities to Lenz and Rama Meditation/American Buddhism, except that Lenz did not acquire any celebrity disciples.
How an Alleged Sex Cult Leader Preyed on Celebrities
[www.vice.com]
This description of Keith Rainiere, leader of the NXIVM group resembles Frederick Lenz (aka Rama)
All bundled together. If they also have a retreat center in the countryside, what could be better.
Where it will poison you is when they slip in teachings about negative influences, and how you must drop all friends and family members who are sources of negativity and dragging you down.
A group called NXIVM did exactly this. Result: you are kept busy and all your friendships and business ties slowly get linked to the meditation group.
Lots of similarities to Lenz and Rama Meditation/American Buddhism, except that Lenz did not acquire any celebrity disciples.
How an Alleged Sex Cult Leader Preyed on Celebrities
[www.vice.com]
Quote
We certainly created, especially in Vancouver, a community of people who were, for the most part, young actors and artists and entrepreneurs. There was certainly an environment of people who were like-minded trying to help each other achieve goals. We'd have parties and events, and people who were really striving toward bettering themselves in whatever way would see what we were creating and say: "I want a part of that."
This description of Keith Rainiere, leader of the NXIVM group resembles Frederick Lenz (aka Rama)
Quote
When did you start hearing about allegations against Keith? Did he have a reputation with women?
In the beginning, I was told he was celibate. So he had no material possession. He was like a monk. He didn’t indulge in those types of things because he didn’t need to—he was so evolved. It sounds ridiculous now. I remember asking if Keith had a girlfriend a couple of times. Later, polyamory was more deeply formulated as part of our belief system—that it was OK for men to be nonmonogamous, but women should stay monogamous. That’s more where he almost stopped making an effort to keep it hidden, and just made it OK. It never occurred to me that he was keeping more than one partner. Still, I thought it was none of my business. If I asked questions they were shot down. I didn’t figure it out until I left.