Prime Time Replay:
Keith Harary
on the Lure of Cults
MsgId: *infinities(1)
Date: Sun Apr 6 21:39:21 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
Welcome to Infinities. Tonight we have an extra special show lined up. Our guest will be psychologist Keith Harary, Ph.D., one of our country's foremost authorities on cults. Harary, who happens to be Editor at Large of OMNI, is also director of the Institute for Advanced Psychology in California. He was also therapist to the survivors of the Jonestown debacle -- perhaps the most notorious mass cult suicide, outside of the Heaven's Gate incident last month. We will be interviewing Dr. Harary for the first part of the interview, and later on will open the chat to the public.Keith, I would like you to start with your own story and experience in the realm of cults. You were the educational counselor for the survivors of Jonestown, the first notorious mass cult suicide. Can you fill us on how you came to travel that path, and, in the process set the scene for the Jonestown tragedy so we have some context?
MsgId: *infinities(9)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:17:23 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
The Jonestown holocaust, from the moment it hit the press, seemed to me to be the equivalent of a major earthquake in the field of geology, or the moon landing in the field of space exploration. For the field of human behavior research it was an event of unparalled significance. As soon as I heard about it, I decided to get out to California and investigate.
MsgId: *infinities(11)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:18:42 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
Can you please fill us in on what went down at Jonestown -- what was the year, what was the social climate in the outside world, and what happened there?
MsgId: *infinities(12)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:22:17 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
The Jonestown holocaust took place in November 1978. The Rev. Jim Jones had created a jungle compound in Guyana for the members of his Peoples Temple cult. In response to the racism and inequity in the outside world, the members were promised a new vision of Apocalyptic Socialism. In reality, it was just another version of oppression.Jones convinced his followers that he was, literally, God incarnate via a series of fraudulent psychic demonstrations -- supposedly healing people in staged events, supposedly raising the dead (they were drugged) in other staged events. Eventually, Jones took total control of the lives of his followers. And, eventually, when Congressman Leo Ryan went to Guyana to investigate the goings on in Jonestown, Jones had Ryan murdered along with many other members of Ryan's group. Then Jones forced his followers -- 912 of them -- to take poison.
MsgId: *infinities(14)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:27:32 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
So how did YOU get involved?
MsgId: *infinities(15)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:34:46 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
I gave notice that I was resigning from my job at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, where I was doing research on altered states and perception. Then I literally packed up and went to California. I knew that in order to investigate the events in Jonestown properly, I would need to be flexible. Rather than worrying about looking for an apartment, etc., I simply put most of my belongings in storage. Then I showed up at the Human Freedom Center, after making contact with the people there through various channels. That was the center that had asked Ryan to go to Guyana. I asked the former Peoples Temple members there if Jones had been a phony psychic. They were surprised that I had figured that one out! In fact, some of the people there had helped him with his fake demonstrations of alleged special powers. I had also had years of experience as a volunteer crisis and suicide intervention counselor in college. I was asked if I could join the staff as an educational counselor -- educating former cult members and others about various groups while doing my own research. There was virtually no money in it, of course, but I jumped at the chance. That is why I was there. There was one caveat. I was warned, up front, that an alleged Peoples Temple hit squad might burst in and kill us all at any moment. I decided, oh well, I hope that is an exaggeration.But I was staying. Around a year later, two of my colleagues and their daughter were found murdered. The case remains unsolved. Needless to say, that was quite disturbing.
MsgId: *infinities(18)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:45:22 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
Can you relate this experience, in any way, to the Heaven's Gate situation?
MsgId: *infinities(19)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:49:36 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
Yes. Both situations involved cults in which the main doctrine revolved around visions of the Apocalypse. The only way to be saved, allegedly, was to become a member of the group in question. Both groups involved totalistic thinking and heavy, heavy social manipulation. I am not referring to ordinary peer pressure. I am referring to efforts to undermine the members' sense of self and identity, and to convince them that the leaders were divine and the only route to salvation. The most obvious comparison, of course, is that so many people died in the name of both groups -- in each case because the leader decided it was time for everyone to die.
MsgId: *infinities(20)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:52:25 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
How can people be undermined like this? Especially in the case of the Heaven's Gate cult, we are talking about highly educated computer programmers. What happened? How does such brainwashing occur?
MsgId: *infinities(21)
Date: Sun Apr 6 22:56:02 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
First, Pam, we need to understand the larger social context in which these events occur. In both cases, as in all cults I have studied, the leaders claimed to have extraordinary psychic powers. We live in a society that believes, strongly, in psychics. Psychic telephone hotlines are reportedly a three-hundred million dollar a year business! So, to begin with, there is this widespread idea that there are people out there with special powers and insights who have the answers about the exact details about how you, personally, should live your life. That is very dangerous. I have been through it myself -- being called a psychic -- and I can tell you that it is very dangerous and unhealthy for all concerned. Now to your question . . .Within that social context, let's focus on a person who is feeling depressed, lonely, confused. Perhaps some unfortunate series of events or a general life situation has left this person feeling alienated. The individual is feeling fragile and lost -- most of us have been there at one point or another, or perhaps will be at some point. Here you find a group of seemingly very intelligent people -- good programmers at least -- and they tell you that you are feeling "alienated" precisely because . . . You really ARE an alien!!!! Perhaps you never felt as though you "fit in" and perhaps you always felt different from other people. The group tells you that you have been drawn to them by powerful psychic forces -- that the leader has great powers and is rounding up his crew here on Earth. You are told that you belong, and have alll along, to this very elite group of visitors who took human form and then FORGOT that they were really aliens! The idea seems crazy at first, but then compelling. It becomes more compelling as the group actively breaks down your existing sense of self and fills in the blanks with their own beliefs.
One more thing to keep in mind . . . Is that all of this occurs against a background of very confused and wide-ranging beliefs about UFOs, aliens, government conspiracies, and such. The believers were easily able to find seeming "verification" on late night radio, among questionable practitioners of "remote viewing" making irresponsible, unfounded and wild claims, and all over the tabloid psychic media.
MsgId: *infinities(27)
Date: Sun Apr 6 23:04:50 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
Dr. Harary, even given the fragility of these individuals, how can the group possibly break down the sense of self in this way. After all, these members were not certifiably insane. It's hard to understand. Still, isn't it true that most of the educated elite does not widely accept such ideas?
MsgId: *infinities(29)
Date: Sun Apr 6 23:06:12 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
Consider the way you feel when you have had no sleep. Cults typically manipulate sleep patterns, diet, sexuality, and the flow of information. In the case of Heaven's Gate, the members were given new names, told what to wear and how to cut their hair, and forced to sleep odd hours -- four hours on and four hours asleep, in rotation, for months. One month's long exercise had the members in hoods unable to see one another's faces. They all ate the same diet -- which apparently lacked important nutrients.Against that background of physical deprivation came endless hours of lectures and reinforcement of certain ideas to the detriment of others. Of course, access to the media was also stricly monitored to enforce certain concepts at the expense of others. Once you change the basic context of reality, everything else seems to fall into place. It is actually falling out of place, of course.
As far as the educated elite not accepting certain ideas . . . You can forget it. First, you would be amazed at the things that educated people believe when you scratch and sniff beneath the surface. Somebody, after all, is spending a lot of hard-earned money on spurious psychic telephone services. Then again, if you are someone with very rigid beliefs about reality, if you think you have it all figured out, then you might be MORE vulnerable to a cult than you might ever believe! Because once a crack in your worldview begins to occur, perhaps via an experience you can't explain, or even a faked demonstration, you may begin to question everything and suddenly fall prey to a lot of wild ideas that are floating around -- or more specifically the ones the cult wants you to embrace.
MsgId: *infinities(34)
Date: Sun Apr 6 23:17:22 PDT 1997
From: OMNI_Moderator At: 168.100.204.58
Dr. Harary, thank you so much for your time tonight. This will be the first of a series of interviews with Dr. Harary, who will be speaking with us live as part of his month-long participation in OMNI's Live Science coverage. Look to this section, over the coming week's for an in-depth exploration of the cult phenomenon. Dr. Harary, we hope to see you back at OMNI chat next week. Meanwhile, look for the start of the Cult-Consciousness Live Science, folks, and take Dr. Harary's Cult Test, part of our Mind-Brain Lab.
MsgId: *infinities(36)
Date: Sun Apr 6 23:19:33 PDT 1997
From: Keith_Harary At: 152.163.206.33
Thanks, Pam!
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