so, the other day I wrote a blog, but I never posted it.  This is what it was:

why can't we be friends? I mean, all of humanity: why can't we just get along? Why does everyone have to be so high-strung all the time? Why do people cause themselves so much stress? Sit back and let shit roll, I say. Evertone seems to be so concerned with themselves that they throw everything else out the window and create friction where there shouldnt be any. True, I take a moment and have a fit once in a while...I do it daily, but that's just my style. No one usually sees it, just me, and no one ever knows, but I don't let it ruin my life.

My sister tries to print things this morning before she went to class. She gets all sorts of pissed off at me because the computer froze and she wants me to fix it. So she takes her floppy disk to mom and dad's computer...which doesn't have a floppy drive with which to read it. So she gets mad at me for that not working the way she wanted. Anyway, I restart her computer and put in the floppy disk. I open My Computer and then the floppy drive, and ask her which document she wants to open. She takes the mouse from me, looks at which documents there are, and clicks one. Right-clicks one. Right-clicks one and goes down to View. That obviously doesn't work. "Why can't I see it?! Make it work!"
*sigh*
"double click it, hit print when Word comes up."
"That's stupid. No one does it like that. That shouldn't even work. You should have to open the program before you open the document."
*sigh*

Mom's been all sorts of pissed this morning...I'm not even really sure why. She just yells a lot, without reason. In a away, I almost hopes she gets a stress-related heart-attack, just to prove my point. But that's a little too malicious...I cna't do that right now. Peace and understanding, anyone? Yeah, I think you're all screwed in the head for the whole religion thing, but I don't hate most of you for it...I'm not gonna go kill all of you because we don't get along one a few points...

I think Doug said it....he said something along the lines of : "it's so weird...like, Hitler was a terrible man, and he did horrible things, but he did have a dedcent idea to get world peace: take out everyone that's a little too different or hurting the economy and society." As ironic as that sounds, he's got a point. Hitler did have a good idea about how to get peace, but he went about doing it the wrong way...



and so on and so forth.  Today I was researching things for no particular reason (which I tend to do a lot, which is probably why I know so many obscure facts about things I'll never really need) and I came across this:

What is a Cult?

A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g., isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.) designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community. (West & Langone, 1986)

Characteristics of a Destructive Cult

1. Authoritarian pyramid structure with authority at the top. Charismatic or messianic leader(s) (Messianic meaning they either say they are God OR that they alone can interpret the scriptures the way God intended.....the leaders are self-appointed.
2. Deception in recruitment and/or fund raising
3. Isolation from society -- not necessarily physical isolation like on some compound in Waco, but this can be psychological isolation -- the rest of the world is not saved, not Christian, not transformed (whatever) -- the only valid source of feedback and information is the group
4. Use of mind control techniques (we use Dr. Robert Jay Lifton's criteria from chapter 22 of his book Thought Reform & the Psychology of Totalism to compare whether the eight psychological and social methods he lists are present in the group at question)

• Mileu Control: Control of the environment and communication within the environment
• Mystical Manipulation: Seeks to promote specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that it appears to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment, while it actually has been orchestrated totalist leaders claim to be agents chosen by God, history, or some supernatural force, to carry out the mystical imperative the "principles" (God-centered or otherwise) can be put forcibly and claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only true path to salvation (or enlightenment)
• Demand for Purity: The world becomes sharply divided into the pure and the impure, the absolutely good (the group/ideology) and the absolutely evil (everything outside the group) one must continually change or conform to the group "norm"; tendencies towards guilt and shame are used as emotional levers for the group's controlling and manipulative influences
• Confession: Cultic confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself sessions in which one confesses to one's sin are accompanied by patterns of criticism and self-criticism, generally transpiring within small groups with an active and dynamic thrust toward personal change
• Sacred Science: The totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic doctrine or ideology, holding it as an ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence questioning or criticizing those basic assumptions is prohibited a reverence is demanded for the ideology/doctrine, the originators of the ideology/doctrine, the present bearers of the ideology/doctrine offers considerable security to young people because it greatly simplifies the world and answers a contemporary need to combine a sacred set of dogmatic principles with a claim to a science embodying the truth about human behavior and human psychology
• Loading the Language: Words are given new meanings -- the outside world does not use the words or phrases in the same way -- it becomes a "group" word or phrase
• Doctrine Over Person: If one questions the beliefs of the group or the leaders of the group, one is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them to even question -- it is always "turned around" on them and the questioner/criticizer is questioned rather than the questions answered directly the underlying assumption is that doctrine/ideology is ultimately more valid, true and real than any aspect of actual human character or human experience and one must subject one's experience to that "truth" the experience of contradiction can be immediately associated with guilt one is made to feel that doubts are reflections of one's own evil when doubt arises, conflicts become intense
• Dispensing of Existence: Since the group has an absolute or totalist vision of truth, those who are not in the group are bound up in evil, are not enlightened, are not saved, and do not have the right to exist; impediments to legitimate being must be pushed away or destroyed one outside the group may always receive their right of existence by joining the group; fear manipulation -- if one leaves this group, one leaves God or loses their salvation/transformation, or something bad will happen to them; the group is the "elite", outsiders are "of the world", "evil", "unenlightened", etc.

Dr. Robert Lifton's Eight Criteria for Thought Reform

1. Milieu Control.  This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.

2. Mystical Manipulation.  There is manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture, and experiences as he or she wishes. 

3. Demand for Purity.  The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.  The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here. 

4. Confession.  Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.  There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders. 

5. Sacred Science.  The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.  Truth is not to be found outside the group.  The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism. 

6. Loading the Language.  The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.  This jargon consists of thought-terminating clichés, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking. 

7. Doctrine over person.  Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group. 

8. Dispensing of existence.  The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.  This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology.  If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the  members.  Thus, the outside world loses all credibility.  In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also.  (Lifton, 1989)

Most of you probably know exactly what I'm thinking, so I'm not even gonna say it...but I wasn't searching for that in particular.  I was actually researching Celtic symbols and Druidism and Vodoun (the original Haitian Voodoo) and also Santeria, mainly because I love the song and I was curious

On Santeria, we have:

Baba Eyiogbe writes on his website Orishanet, "The slave trade brought many [Africans] to the shores of Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and Puerto Rico among others. But along with the bodies being brought over for sale into a life of misery, something else was being brought along... their religion." Once in the New World, African religions survived by merging with Catholicism.

According to Harry Lefever's book, the two religions possess some naturally sympathetic parallels, "Both religions had high gods who were perceived as creators and sustainers of the world. And both religions had a host of intermediaries that stood between the high gods and the humans who worshipped them. The Catholics had their saints and the Africans had orishas."

For the purpose of clarity it should be noted that Santeria and Vodou are two distinct traditions. Their primary difference is that Vodou began in Haiti; Santeria in Cuba. However, because both are syncretic religions that blend African indigenous traditions with Catholicism, there are basic similarities with regard to belief and practice. Both religions involve sacrifice, trance, initiation, and divination, and although in Vodou the spirits are called the lwa and not the orishas, they perform the same functions and are similarly associated with the saints.

The orishas

The primary focus of Santeria is the worship of the orishas. Joseph Murray describes orishas in his book, Santeria, as "The person- ifications of ashe that can be put at the disposal of human beings who honour them." Ashe is the blood of cosmic life; a divine current that finds many conductors. This divine current, then, is concentrated in the orishas, each of whom govern a specific area of human life. Each orisha, while associated with a Catholic saint, at the same time has a much wider field of meaning. As Karen Brown writes in her book, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, "The Vodou spirits are not models of the well-lived life; rather, they mirror the full range of possibilities inherent in the particular slice of life over which they preside. Failure to understand this has led observers to portray the Vodou spirits as demonic or even to conclude that Vodou is a religion without morality - a serious misconception." In this way, the orishas are much like the Greek and other gods - they quarrel, rage, kill, love, have sex, betray each other, etc., and generally provide models for all the possible roles a person might take in their life.

That sounds interesting...to say the least.  At lest it sounds a little more realistic than some of the other ones I've read about...*cringes* Doug knows what I'm talking about

Vodoun sounds pretty intense too:

It would probably be no exaggeration to say that Vodoun, (Vodun, Vodou) the traditional religion of Haiti, is one of the most misunderstood religions of all time. The persecution of Vodoun began when French slave owners, suspicious and highly afraid of practices unlike anything in their limited experience, outlawed the religion in Haiti. (In retrospect, they were probably right to be frightened- Vodou played a lkarge part in the successful slave rebellion) Hollywood hasn't done much to rectify the issue, producing lurid tales of zombies, evil sorcery, and ritual murder, which reinforces the Western association of voodoo to images of black magic, curses, sticking pins in dolls, and human sacrifice.

Many attempts have been made to rid the world of this "demonic" religion. The use of magic, and the practice of trance possession is very alien and even intimidating to many people raised in Christian traditions- the Loas are seen as demonic rather than divine, symbols misinterpreted. During the thirties, a mass persecution intended to rid Voudoun from the world was unsuccessful; in 1996, Vodoun was declared the official religion of Benin, Africa, its land of origin.

"Voodoo" as we know it today originated with African slaves in Haiti; traditional Dahomey regional practices were blended with other African traditions, with elements of Masonry, ritual magick, and Catholicism, creating a unique faith that has survived some of the worst persecutions. The word 'voodoo' is a corruption of the word 'vodun,' a word that means 'god' or 'spirit' in the West African Fon language.

Vodoun traditionally embodies two traditions- obeah, or folk magic, also known colloquially in America as 'hoodoo,' and the ancient African worship of the Loa, an initiatory religious system. The primary worship practice in Vodoun is through possession, whereby the Loas or ancestors are enticed to inhabit or "mount" the bodies of worshippers, using their bodies and voices to communicate with devotees. This practice is the true Vodoun, the traditional ancestral root of the religion.

Crazy...not like, mentally insane, but I can't find any other word for it.  It's  interesting, I'll say that.  Fascinating, really.