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

[Dirk Bruere]

On 2/16/06, Pete Bertine <pkbertine at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >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.

True.

>
> 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/

'Asatruar'.

> 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

No, that's what *I* do.
The nearest thing we (as an international religion) have ever agreed
upon to define ourselves is this FAQ:
http://www.neopax.com/asatru/faq/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

I think Elron had access to psychological techniques decades ahead of
their time. A lot would now fall under the heading of NLP, but some
are still 'out there'. Not that he invented all of this, because he
didn't. He was part of a well documented 'underground' where magickal
techniques met science. He was also intimately connected with various
intelligence agencies and 'fellow travellers' like Jack Parsons who
founded JPL. His background, and the origins of Scientology are
fascinating.

Dirk