How to start a cult
If you ask the average person what a cult is, a religious cult comes to mind. In fact, it's safe to say that most people see cults as religious. However, part of why I publish content on cults is to educate people on what a cult actually is.
A cult is NOT a religion. A cult is a group dynamic.
A cult is not a religion. It is a group dynamic. Any group can become a cult. All it takes is a charismatic leader, loyal followers, a grand vision, and viola! You've completed the cult starter kit.
Any group can become a cult. People confuse a cult with the infamous religious cult. This is not true. There are also political cults, new age cults, business cults, self-help cults.....what makes a group a cult is how it functions. For example: cults recruit people into their group. A normal group is one you can join. Joining a group is different than being recruited into one.
What makes a group a cult is how it functions. A cult is NOT a group. It is a group dynamic.
Cults are like pornography. You know it when you see it. Cults have certain markers or red flags. Some people debate over what a cult is. They feel that such broad definitions make almost everything a cult. I say, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck.
There are socially acceptable cults that are normalized in society. One example of this are Greek fraternities and sororities. People in these groups get mad when I say this, but these organizations recruit members and make them go through a degrading hazing process in order to become a member, an event they call "crossing over". Once you're approved to cross over, your identity changes. You adopt rote behaviors of the group, such as making cat calls or dance routines and become clones, wearing identical clothing with the organization colors. Those who survive the trauma-bonding process of initiation and hazing go on to become "frat brothers" or "sorors".
In these groups you are sworn to secrecy. Whatever happens in the group, stays in the group. I had friends who wouldn't tell me what happened to them during their hazing process because I was an "outsider". Cults have an "us vs them" ideology. If you betray the group by questioning authority or telling outsiders anything unethical or problematic that occurs within the group, you instantly become an enemy.
These are just a few characteristics of a cult that Greek organizations embody. Yet, Greek organizations are highly esteemed in our society. People are afraid to explore the subject of cults because it will force them to examine the dark side of human nature. They will have to look at the world around them and decide for themselves if the society itself is indeed a cult and what can or should be done about it. The reality is, most insititutions held up to the 'cult test' will fail. So will our culture. The word says it all: cult-ure.
Cult expert Steve Hassan wrote a book on the political cult of Donald Trump and he got so much pushback. Why? Because people want to think that cults are fringe religious zealots who drink poisoned kool-aid on compounds or who believe in UFOs or stockpile weapons in bunkers or follow Charles Manson.
No.
Cults are in our midst. Any group can start out democratic and end up a cult. Your church can be a cult. Your family can be a cult. Your political party can be a cult. A content creator on social media or You Tube can have a cult following. The same applies to celebrities.
The dynamic makes the cult. So, when someone on the internet has a cult following, they may not necessarily be a narcissisitic cult leader. But the dynamic of the group is cult-like. You can't disagree with the group ideology. You can't question the lead person.
If you are reading these words, you [yes, YOU] can start a cult. Of course, you would have to be a specific personality type for this. Cult leaders are always narcissists and sociopaths. They have a pathology within them that sees themselves as larger than life-in some form or fashion they are gods. Some cult leaders literally think they're deities while others see themselves as the chosen vessel for deities. If you're reading this, I doubt you fit such a description.
Cults: how it all begins
Cults always start out small. There's a visionary and the original disciples. Cults all follow the pattern of the original [OG] cult leader: Jesus of Nazareth.
Blasphemous, I know. But Jesus and the twelve disciples are the cult blueprint.
What makes a cult so powerful?
Well, unfortunately, most cult leaders have the loudest voice and the biggest ambitions. They are charismatic and powerful speakers. When they talk, especially before crowds, their words make your spine tingle and butterflies flutter in your stomach. They are visionaries who think beyond what the ordinary person conceives as possible.
Because of this, people tend to follow them and believe the hype these leaders proclaim about themselves-and about their grand visions. Jesus was a master at public speaking. He drew crowds. He was controversial. He was the iconoclast, the counterculture messenger of his time.
Cult leaders are, as Jesus was, controversial. Their message goes against the grain of what is commonly accepted. This counternarrative is the magnet that pulls people in. Just as Jesus amassed large crowds following him because they were hurting or seeking a remedy to their lives, cult leaders have a 'vision' that appears to be just what the doctor ordered.
The cult I was part of for 11 years, the International Church of Christ, or ICOC, had a leader named Thomas "Kip" McKean, who launched the ICOC as his 'movement'. Kip had a vision he said was from God that he transcribed into writing, called the 'Evangelization Proclamation". In short, this document, which mimicked the U.S. Constitution, declared the ICOC's mission to plant an ICOC church in every major country on Earth. This big vision, Kip often repeated before crowds of cheering followers, was always closed out with the phrase, "and to God be the glory".
Kip was, if not anything else, a very persuasive figure more suited to be a CEO of a multilevel marketing company than a religious movement....
But hey, these cult leaders fit in where they can get in.
Anatomy of a cult leader
Most cult leaders are usually under-achievers or average in life. They were bullied in school, or grew up in poverty, or some life challenge that made them feel small. Many cult leaders have that passionate, driven, "I'm gonna show em, I'm gonna show 'em all!" attitude that becomes a dangerous pathology.
The future cult leader decides that he or she will prove the world wrong. This hole within is what motivates them to go above and beyond what the average person will do. This is what makes them appear to be exceptional. Beneath the veneer of ambition, drive, and charisma lies a psychopathy. A lust for power over other people that burns within. An absence of compassion and empathy while having an abundance of narcissism.
Cult leaders always have a vision or mission that appeals to people in some way. This vision taps into people's deepest desires. Or like with political figures, it exploits people's desperation for change or hope. People need hope to live. And cult leaders offer something more than what a person's current reality is offering.
For example, a cult group offers bliss and happiness through self-improvement. You can have the life you want if you internalize a specific ideology. Prosperity gospel, Law of attraction. EFT, Scientology.
The list goes on. Let's list some possible cults to be on the lookout for:
Religious cults
Evangelical christian cults
Discipleship movements
ANYTHIING calling itself a "movement"
MLMs (Multilevel Marketing Companies)
Pyramid schemes
Law of attraction movement
New age cults
Political cults (i.e. Donald Trump followers)
Military Industrial complex
Sororities/Fraternities
Boule
Hollywood
Satanic cults
Luciferian cults
Corporate cults (i.e. Uber, Google, Amazon, or Facebook)
There are more to list, but these are enough to tick some of you off. Why? Because some of you belong to at least one of these or have someone you care about who does. I'm not lord of the universe, so if you disagree with the list, then that means I am not a cult leader. Freedom of thought and the freedom to disagree is a sign of autonomy in a healthy society.
Some red flags that your group might be a cult:
Narcissist leader with god-complex who can't be questioned or challenged.
Leader with "big" larger than life, magical vision
"Us vs them" mentality
A secretive, degrading initiation process to be considered a member of the group.
Group isolates members or distances them from friends and family outside the group.
Group members are watched constantly.
Group members are abused mentally, spiritually, physically, sexually, verbally or all of the above
Group has insider language that only the group members know and understand the specific meaning.
Group targets new members and recruits them using deception.
It's important to be aware, however, of falling victim to a cult environment. When the red flags begin waving, it helps knowing how to recognize them in order to best protect yourself and those you love.
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