IPPY Awards
Friday, May 18th, 2007Just learned that the book won the silver medal in the Independent Publisher Awards Visionary Fiction Category–
Archive for the 'Cults' Category
Book Discussion Group
Monday, April 2nd, 2007Yesterday I hosted a discussion group for people who wanted to talk about the book a little more in depth. This is the second of these I have done, and I’ve found that the discussion tends to be less about the book than about the personal struggles people have had with finding a healthy spiritual community and/or a trustworthy teacher. Sometimes, people who have had a bad experience just need to tell their stories to others who understand just how easy it is to find oneself involved in something that was very different from how it first appeared.
At one point, a woman who had spent decades in an intentional spiritual community made a comment about how stressful day-to-day living was in that community because of the pressure that came from the idea that any mistakes they made would be magnified because they were on the cutting edge of spiritual evolution.
“Hey,” I said, “that can’t be possible because WE were on the cutting edge of spiritual evolution!”
“No,” said another woman, “MY group was on the cutting edge of spiritual evolution!”
And then we all dissolved into gales of laughter.
Virtual Book Signing
Friday, March 30th, 2007The book signing at the Boulder Book Store went really well. We had a great turnout and there was a lively discussion with a lot of very interesting questions. To see an excerpt from the talk, go to:
The Secret
Sunday, March 25th, 2007My husband and I have watched all the fuss surrounding The Secret with a lot of fascination. For me, it’s been disturbing to see how willing people are to suspend critical thinking in the face of an idea that has such seductive appeal. I was surprised to notice how trying to talk to true believers about some of the evidence against The Secret is a lot like trying to talk to a cult member. The classic “You’re just being negative” response we get is a thought-stopping phrase right up there with the best of them.
While I no longer have any interest in following a teacher, I stumbled across a new master recently who I found inspiring on many levels. His name is Puppetji, and I think his comments on The Secret reveal a true transcendent wisdom:
Heaven’s Gate
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007We’re coming up on the 10-year anniversary of the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide in southern California. TLC just aired a documentary about the group, and the LA Weekly has written a very comprehensive article covering the history of the group and recent efforts by its sole surviving member to get out the group’s message that Marshall Applewhite was the second coming of Jesus. Seems he’s got a book coming out, so maybe staying behind to bear witness to the truth wasn’t such a bad deal for him after all.
