I watched a documentary on Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame. It was interesting hearing him talk about his mental illness and a healthcare provider who took advantage of him. It got me to thinking more on how we can easily be taken in by others.
I never got wrapped up in celebrities. There have been a couple of times in my life where I kind of fell for it. First, for me, was The Monkees. That was my rebellion against everyone else going ga-ga over The Beatles. Thankfully, that didn’t last because something inside me has always kept me from falling for the latest, greatest.
But, many years later at a healers’ meeting, I almost fell for some “leader”-type guy. I went home that night and all I could think about was how wonderful this guy sounded, how he had all these interesting theories on how to live a good life, how we can all live better, healthy lives, etc. I can’t even remember exactly what he said, all I know is I felt spellbound. I was totally taken in by him. Today, I even remember the feel of that pull of him on my soul. During that meeting, I would have given anything had he asked. I went home wondering how I could next meet him again.
However, when I woke up the next morning, I “woke up.” Holy crap! What did I almost just do? Wow, that incident scared the living daylights out of me! Thankfully, that self-protection part within me saved me before I did anything totally stupid. Thankfully, I’d been far enough back in the audience that I didn’t do something I’d regret. This was a huge wakeup call on how easy a charismatic person can sucker people in. It put me on guard, for sure, and really started my understanding in how/why this happens.
This showed me how easily people can fall under someone else’s influence. It also reminded me of years earlier when a few kids in my high school had fallen under The Moonies spell. They ran away from home and surrendered all they had to the current leader.
There was one more incident a few years later when I was studying Healing Tao. I was sitting in an upper balcony listening to the master speak to hundreds. He held his palms up to the audience and I felt an overwhelming presence wash over me. I felt I was being invaded and immediately heightened my protections. It slid past me.
Again, here was an interesting, engaging person talking about healing and teaching, but there was something… I don’t think it was sinister, but it felt wrong, like he was trying to hypnotize us. I refused!
Yes, I had periods throughout my life when I was involved with a couple of churches. There is so much of it that’s appealing – the camaraderie, the hymns, the promises of salvations, etc.… but again, I had some of those same feelings of wrong… (I could say more, but that’s just my opinion.)
I wish I could describe this all better to help others become aware of this type of thing – because it happens all the time. People fall for charismatic leaders/speakers, become sheep-followers and lose themselves – until it’s too late and they’re prisoners (in some form or another). And this is something history has proven over and over – only no one ever talks about it. The bottom line is it’s all about greed and control.
Look at Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin… priests, gurus, cult leaders… they all make the so-pretty promises of salvation and saving their followers… after the people are filled with fear, hunger, and loss of their normal way of life and are desperate for someone to save them. But these leaders are all just greedy, controlling humans who take advantage of everyone who falls under their lies and deceits. When they get what they want, the hammer comes down and people’s freedoms are lost. The only ones free are the super-rich leaders and their close followers.
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