[extropy-chat] Cults/drugs/and Asatru too

[Pete Bertine]

--- BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> That is a very silly, smart-alec statement unworthy
> of you, Dirk.
> 
> Either,
> 
> 1) You have very little knowledge of the way cult
> persuaders work and
> the techniques they use. (Which I find hard to
> believe), or,
> 
> 2) You are intent on defending the cult persuaders
> techniques by
> equating them with a group of people having a
> discussion.
> (Which is a ridiculous comparison. Naive people
> meeting these cult
> persuaders for the first time are like children in
> the lions den).
> 
> 3) Or maybe it was just a cynical remark that
> appealed to you at the time.

>Actually there is a another possibility:

>4) Dirk realizes that cult persuasion techniques are
>the same ones that get people to join ANY organization
>from the military to the PTA. The techniques
>themselves are employed separately for such things as
>fraternity initiations, soliciting charitable
>donations, and prospective sales. So apparently the
>difference between cult persuasion and girl scout
>recruitment is simply the nature of the organization
>one is being persuaded to join. Therefore if you are
>favorably disposed toward the military, you could
>truthfully say that U.S. Marine Corp bootcamp is
>"persuading" its recruits to be good soldiers, but if
>you don't, you could make a very strong case that it
>is instead "brainwashing" them.


And another possibility:

5) Perhaps Dirk is in a cult and or a Cult leader himself. Or perhaps not.
But he is an Asatru. http://www.neopax.com/

The question is what do the Asatru do?

Well, they practice something called "Experimental Heathenism." See
http://www.neopax.com/nineworlds/index.htm and Dirk wrote:
http://www.neopax.com/asatru/pk/index.html 

My question to Dirk would be, "Given that you admire L. Ron Hubbard, do you
think he was on to something?  Do you believe that he HAD acquired knowledge
of the "Gods" that you speak about in your literature. See
http://www.neopax.com/asatru/gods/index.html 





 He writes," There is no overall committee and nobody has the power to set
up any rules either for or against any activity, person, group, belief, view
etc. There is no 'official' Nine Worlds publication, website, contact list,
meetings etc. And what I (Dirk Bruere) write here is merely a matter of what
interests me and a few others who attend meetings called 'Nine Worlds'.
Other people may have other views, and are welcome to them.

If you want to set up meetings, publish 'The Official Nine Worlds Magazine'
etc nobody is going to stop you. You will find, however, that you cannot
claim exclusive copyright to the title 'Nine Worlds' as used in the context
of the bulleted points above, nor stop anyone else doing the same. That's
all folks!

It should be noted that the public meetings are mainly concerned about what
the people who turn up want to do outside of that venue. The 'real stuff'
will not be advertised (at least by me).

Also, individual projects may be run under different rules at the discretion
of those engaged in them.

Projects - volunteers needed

There are currently two projects that interest me. 
Anyone who has any to add to the list are welcome to do so.

The Ghost Project:
This stems from the essay here. 
We are looking for women or couples in order to create/maintain a gender
balance within the group(s).
Be warned, however, that this will likely require substantial commitment.
Ideally weekly meetings will probably be necessary over a period of months.
Currently based in London.

The type of people we are looking for are those who have flexible belief
systems and are not wed to one particular worldview. Additionally, anyone
with a history of mental illness, drug addiction problems or epilepsy should
not apply. On the plus side we are looking for knowledge of parapsychology,
sciences, magickal practices, hypnotism and NLP, or familiarity with
psychoactive drugs. However, mainly we are looking for stable, reliable and
committed people.

If you wish to take part contact dirk.bruere at gmail.com
I will then arrange an interview and we'll take it from there.
Note that ongoing results will not be published, so if you want to know
what's happening - be there.