Cult watching is a minority sport. This is a mistake, for a cult is a mirror of society. The beauty of a cult is that it is an extreme microcosm of what goes on in our culture and our lives. Indeed, throughout life we all express cultish behaviour.
The most obvious example of this cult behaviour is the veneration of a pop star. He is put on a pedestal as if a god, and fans by the million behave and dress like him. Yes, it is watered down, certainly, but it is sociologically identical to the guru/disciple relationship.
At every stage of our life we get involved in cult behaviour. In a normal family home, children will learn automatic loyalty and authority in a parent. This programs the future cult member for such obedience.
Eventually the child will rebel, but goes straight into another cult through fashion, gang membership, or the pop star veneration above. As he grows up, he will hopefully get a partner and children of his own, where he puts himself on a pedestal as the arbiter of all knowledge and standards to his children.
In work, modern corporate enterprise encourages loyalty to the ‘company.’ I’ve spoken to many such minions, and they truly believe everything their company stands for. This is cult behaviour par excellence – and usually just as delusional.
Occasionally we get an example of cult behaviour so over-whelming that it is hard to deny. Consider the simmering hysteria in the UK in the week following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. If that wasn’t cult berhaviour, I don’t know what was.
Cult watching should increase – it tells us more about ourselves than normal life. Perhaps this is because the abnormal is simply the extreme of the normal.
© Anthony North, March 2007
New on Cult Guru page – Mark Prophet, Chris Brain, Sabbatai Zevi
See Beyond the Blog (News page) for my latest posts elsewhere.
