Posted by VERA CITY July 01 2008
There was tremendous pressure to get the approval from CB and therefore the group. You did not want to be the next brunt of one of CB's jokes pointing out all of your flaws in public. CB once called a young woman a "dog in heat" because she wanted to marry a man who was not in the group. She married him anyway and CB continued to reject her but didn't mind a lot of free labor. This man succumbed to the cult too.
Followers of Chris Butler with doubts say they felt like they could not express them to anyone or become a target for insults and shunning. They were told that "doubts are demons!" One person told me that they didn't get the "lord in the Heart" thing and complained about not "feeling" anything at kirtans. No one would have dared to express these feelings publicly! Other people would go on an on about stories and spiritual experiences with their guru, how "amazing" he was. A smug toss of the head and the feeling from them that YOU could NEVER understand just made you want to follow more diligently so you COULD really feel like you were one of them! Everyone had at least one event that proved to them that Chris was a pure devotee. Some only based their belief on what other people "for sure could trust" had said. Others based it on dreams or on a comment or charismatic smile from Chris.
There was tremendous pressure to get the approval from CB and therefore the group. You did not want to be the next brunt of one of CB's jokes pointing out all of your flaws in public. CB once called a young woman a "dog in heat" because she wanted to marry a man who was not in the group. She married him anyway and CB continued to reject her but didn't mind a lot of free labor. This man succumbed to the cult too.
Followers of Chris Butler with doubts say they felt like they could not express them to anyone or become a target for insults and shunning. They were told that "doubts are demons!" One person told me that they didn't get the "lord in the Heart" thing and complained about not "feeling" anything at kirtans. No one would have dared to express these feelings publicly! Other people would go on an on about stories and spiritual experiences with their guru, how "amazing" he was. A smug toss of the head and the feeling from them that YOU could NEVER understand just made you want to follow more diligently so you COULD really feel like you were one of them! Everyone had at least one event that proved to them that Chris was a pure devotee. Some only based their belief on what other people "for sure could trust" had said. Others based it on dreams or on a comment or charismatic smile from Chris.