My name is Walter and I have been involved in the Balanced View (www.balancedview.org) organization for 8 years before realizing it turned into a cult and I miraculously managed to leave.
Balanced View is in my experience a potentially damaging organization created by Candice O'Denver and based in Bolinas California, with many followers in Europe and Australia, probably more than in the US. I esteem the number of followers in 600-800, although the official propaganda claims hundreds of thousands
I consider myself a cult survivor and once reasonably recovered from the shock of leaving, I decided to contribute to the safety of the people involved and to prevent new people from being brainwashed, by creating a blog where ex members can publish their stories and various investigations on the controversial financial and organizational aspects are also available. Have a look at abalancedviewofbalancedview.wordpress.com.
Balanced View's body of spiritual teachings and practices were taken from Alcoholic Anonymous 12 steps and from Tibetan Dzogchen Buddhism for a long while without any acknowledgement.
After an initial success with the name of Great Freedom in the early 2000 where many young and cool people joined in from Europe and Australia creating a really compelling creative community, the founder twisted the organization towards devotion to herself as the main tool of liberation and enlightenment.
She presents herself as the carrier of powerful transmission powers, infinite love and unerring wisdom. The organization is led by her and other 4 people who are actually in complete psychological submission to the teacher although they pride themselves to be a democratic grassroot movement.
To the eye of a non involved person, Candice O'Denver clearly presents few narcistic treats and shows a significant level of delusional disorder which leads her to claim results and scientific discoveries that are obviously unfounded. She is currently claiming for example to have invented an Artificial Intelligence technology which is orders of magnitude superior to the state of the art of the industry.
Followers are pushed to donate to support the 'Candice's Vision' and the many projects presented as revolutionary and systematically failing for lack of substance and competence. Some end up in debts or in difficult financial situations to be able to pay for donations and courses fees.
Candice's vision is a sort of prophecy that sees Balanced View taking over the governance of the world ensuring lasting peace on the planet and sees herself and her teachings as the only way to solve world's problems.
Dependency on the community and the personal teachers is encouraged as a way to choose a nurturing environment and avoid the indulgences of the profane world. Followers are encouraged not to share their emotions with friends and family but only with their personal trainers. Restricting one's social life to the members of the community is seen as an ideal life style.
Candice explicitly tags "leaving Balanced View" as getting lost in one's doubts and spiritual weakness and giving oneself a hell future.
Exaggerated claims are made in the field of mental health, saying that Balanced View is able to cure all mental and emotional instabilities. Some people are kept out of professional help while the ideological love received from the fold gives them the relief and the illusion of recovery. When people leave they may face a very harsh reality.
In the years a support group has been created on Facebook and it has helped many people, including myself, to start taking distance from the programming of the system.
I hope these few notes and the blog can help people to be aware of the risks this organization can pose to themselves, their friends and dear ones.
With regards.
Walter
Balanced View is in my experience a potentially damaging organization created by Candice O'Denver and based in Bolinas California, with many followers in Europe and Australia, probably more than in the US. I esteem the number of followers in 600-800, although the official propaganda claims hundreds of thousands
I consider myself a cult survivor and once reasonably recovered from the shock of leaving, I decided to contribute to the safety of the people involved and to prevent new people from being brainwashed, by creating a blog where ex members can publish their stories and various investigations on the controversial financial and organizational aspects are also available. Have a look at abalancedviewofbalancedview.wordpress.com.
Balanced View's body of spiritual teachings and practices were taken from Alcoholic Anonymous 12 steps and from Tibetan Dzogchen Buddhism for a long while without any acknowledgement.
After an initial success with the name of Great Freedom in the early 2000 where many young and cool people joined in from Europe and Australia creating a really compelling creative community, the founder twisted the organization towards devotion to herself as the main tool of liberation and enlightenment.
She presents herself as the carrier of powerful transmission powers, infinite love and unerring wisdom. The organization is led by her and other 4 people who are actually in complete psychological submission to the teacher although they pride themselves to be a democratic grassroot movement.
To the eye of a non involved person, Candice O'Denver clearly presents few narcistic treats and shows a significant level of delusional disorder which leads her to claim results and scientific discoveries that are obviously unfounded. She is currently claiming for example to have invented an Artificial Intelligence technology which is orders of magnitude superior to the state of the art of the industry.
Followers are pushed to donate to support the 'Candice's Vision' and the many projects presented as revolutionary and systematically failing for lack of substance and competence. Some end up in debts or in difficult financial situations to be able to pay for donations and courses fees.
Candice's vision is a sort of prophecy that sees Balanced View taking over the governance of the world ensuring lasting peace on the planet and sees herself and her teachings as the only way to solve world's problems.
Dependency on the community and the personal teachers is encouraged as a way to choose a nurturing environment and avoid the indulgences of the profane world. Followers are encouraged not to share their emotions with friends and family but only with their personal trainers. Restricting one's social life to the members of the community is seen as an ideal life style.
Candice explicitly tags "leaving Balanced View" as getting lost in one's doubts and spiritual weakness and giving oneself a hell future.
Exaggerated claims are made in the field of mental health, saying that Balanced View is able to cure all mental and emotional instabilities. Some people are kept out of professional help while the ideological love received from the fold gives them the relief and the illusion of recovery. When people leave they may face a very harsh reality.
In the years a support group has been created on Facebook and it has helped many people, including myself, to start taking distance from the programming of the system.
I hope these few notes and the blog can help people to be aware of the risks this organization can pose to themselves, their friends and dear ones.
With regards.
Walter