Are people cult like in nature?

I don't get how people always talk about how they do not like how certain religions or certain things treat people like they were mindless slaves or they don't think for themselves but in reality a lot of people do not put that much thinking into what they want to do.

Sometimes I think too much and that gets me into trouble sometimes and I've learned to control that myself (it usually leads to me talking too much). People seem to tend to find something or someone they like and they follow everything that they do. I think that people have this one-itis mentality where they just look at one thing and try to follow everything that person does and says.

I am all in favor of people having close personal bonds with each other. That's totally fine with me. I just don't like the mimicking part. Rather than trying to be themselves like people so claim that they are doing they try and act something different. Something that they are not.

I've been trying to stay away from this forum because I've been having a much more positive outlook on life but I feel like there are many things in this world that are still concerning to me. And I just can't help but being cynical about them. I guess this disproves the notion that people are only cynical because they've had bad stuff happen to them. I've had bad stuff happen to me and I'm much more optimistic... but even though my life is better than where it has been when I see people, I see two groups of peoples- leaders and followers. But the followers don't act for themselves. They just do it for the collective or because they want to be like the other people.

Anyone else feel similar lately?

reply to post by Frankidealist35


Dear Frankidealist35,

They are not cult like, they are social. As someone who is Autistic, I see it; but, I also try to understand it. People feel their best when they feel accepted. They feel less threatened. Most people just want to get along, enjoy their family, their routine and have a lack of stress. There is nothing evil or cult like about it. In the end, the things they copy from each other are not as important as the amount to which they choose to be themselves.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


Wow kid. You have certainly focused in on an interesting delima, this notion of most of the masses are drones,who almost mindlessly follow, trends, fads, traditions, doctrines, leaders etc.
Are we or arn't we. Would that it could be that simple.

Admitting this to ourselves is very difficult. It is much easier to separate ourselves from all the others that we then put in that category of mindless masses. This is a central division among us. This, better than syndrome.
This, I know and you don't game. This, I got it you don't decease.

I have been a fool. I am a fool. I have been fooled over and over and over throughout my life. I will be again.
I figure there are two kinds of people. Those who get fooled the first time and stay fooled and those who don't stay fooled and move on until they are fooled again,
and in some cases over and over again.

whenever JW or missionaries or hare krisna converts etc invade my personal space with their obsession over "their" secular God or guru,

it's obvious people are inclined toward occult "group think" as long as there is self-servient positive reinforcement (ie, the promise of forgiveness, salvation, eternal afterlife, etc).

reply to post by TerryMcGuire


Ironically it's something that I used to believe just mindlessly but as I've gotten more and more experience in life through social interactions and looking at the world I've come to accept it more often. It's not true all the time. But I do see people acting like they strongly believe something... then so many times I see when someone else believes something differently they just change their view. They just go with the flow. It's getting late so I'll post my thoughts more and I'll be able to reply to more people later... but I think that unless someone is really self-aware of themselves and their individualism than they become one of the herds. Maybe they're not mindless but they certainly do act that way.

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by Frankidealist35

 

Dear Frankidealist35,

They are not cult like, they are social. As someone who is Autistic, I see it; but, I also try to understand it. People feel their best when they feel accepted. They feel less threatened. Most people just want to get along, enjoy their family, their routine and have a lack of stress. There is nothing evil or cult like about it. In the end, the things they copy from each other are not as important as the amount to which they choose to be themselves.

This is exactly the issue. I'm autistic as well, and although I have a Facebook account, I don't use it much. I also don't have a mobile phone.

Non-autistic people generally are not evil. Their single greatest exploitable weakness, however, is their social need to belong to a group. The psychopaths exploit said need on a continual basis; it's the entire reason for most of what is currently wrong with human society. Facebook, mobile phones, American Idol, all of Apple's products; they are all designed to abusively exploit the human need for social acceptance.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
-- Matthew 7:13-14

"But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest."
- Buddha

"If you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you king for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't a man's father, mother or wife,
Whose judgement upon him must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in his life,
Is the man staring back from the glass.

He's the fellow to please, never mind the rest,
For he's with you clear up to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test,
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward wil be heartache and tears,
If you've cheated the man in the glass."

reply to post by Frankidealist35


It's the essence of intelligence. Ideas hold power among conscious minds.

Some don't have the ability to determine when they are on the proper path. Some people just follow.

Depends on your definition of cult, really. First time I stepped into a catholic church for a funeral procession, it was cult all the way. "Eat and drink the flesh of our savior to attain immortal life." Turns out, all religions are cults that simply have a large following. Humans can tend toward a cult or be completely turned off by one. It really varies. Sometimes there is no organized cultic system, but there is plenty of magic and superstition. Modern science is something very unique in its ability to avoid magic completely.

I think it is a lot worse now, than it used to be. I think it is really due to the constant fearmongering that goes on. People are bombarded with fear, constantly afraid of the boogymen, think the world is so horrible and dangerous.

People turn to others,groups, and things, that make themselves feel more safe or less worried. A lot of people these days bury themselves in TV and videogames, rather than joining cults. It's a lot easier.

reply to post by TKDRL


Exactly.

Life is not about submitting to what is wrong, it's about fighting for what is right.

Making the world right for everyone. Not gathering into sympathy groups.

I guess I can't do anything either though, I'm just a lowly individual.

reply to post by petrus4


Dear Petrus4,

Non-autistic people generally are not evil. Their single greatest exploitable weakness, however, is their social need to belong to a group.

We all have weaknesses that can be exploited. God referred to people as sheep for a reason. We are generally social beings who seek to avoid problems and just get along and enjoy each others company. They are not the problem, the problem is that the shepherds who are supposed to guide and guard them are busy abusing them and selling them out. We have put predators in the place where the shepherds should be because they promise us things that we have not earned for free. Peace.