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Circa 2013ish, after torching my life to spend two-ish years in a high-demand group, I found myself languishing in my childhood bedroom trying to sort out what was up from what was down.
High-demand groups (yes, cults) operate by warping one’s thinking and creating an environment with a set of norms and values that are distinct from mainstream society. What is prized by the “regular” world is often shunned by the high demand group. Here’s a seemingly insignificant personal example that was surprisingly pretty difficult for me to conquer after leaving the cult: while I was in the group I came to believe that decorating my apartment was a distraction from spiritual growth, and that my desire to do so was evidence that I was deviating from my spiritual destiny.
I’m cringing as I write this. It’s obvious to all of you how this line of thinking starts in a fairly logical place but ends up going way too far. Yet, I was willing to follow it there (albeit, for less than two years).
How did I let my thinking end up in such an extreme place?
