Why do people appoint themselves as leaders of crazy cults

[PatentLawyer]

Hello,

I know that this is a complex subject, lacking simple answers. 

A fellow named Collier has a video available here:

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/34011-alex-collier-andromeda-contact

The wacky stuff begins at 4:30.

Collier (1) supposedly receives messages from extra-terrestrials, (2) speaks of the forthcoming arrival of the "motherships," and so on.  It appears that he is not doing this to collect money from his audience.

Can you suggest where I would start researching the motivation of people like this ?  That is, he has appointed himself as leader / spokesman of a philosophy / movement which is, to outsiders, completely insane.

It seems reasonable to assume that he has done this to fulfill some hidden need within himself.  Why ?

And why would people follow him ?  Is there a technical term for such followers, which I can use as a starting point for reading ?

Thank you.

[SWM]

its something akin to the scientology movement. they make a fortune from it. David Icke has written many books and puts on seminars etc. they charge a lot of money. this is not about sharing the knowledge as sharing knowledge can be done for free. true wisdom is easily recognised and does not need marketing or promotion.

[grasshopper]

While I understand all too well the greed and megalomania that lies at the heart of all the wild and preposterous claims made by cult leaders for the purpose of fleecing their profoundly gullible flocks, I cannot for the life of me fathom how highly educated and supposedly enlightened people fall for such blatant deception in such large numbers, and just NEVER recognize that their revered “leader” is nothing but an industrial scale freeloader.   

From the wealthy followers of Guru Bagwan Ranjeesh, who ran a commune scam in Oregon some years ago, and who used the “donations” of his mesmerized sheep to purchase a fleet 93 Rolls Royce cars that were painted in all the gaudy colors of the rainbow, to the Japanese research scientists who handed over their net worth to the murderous Aum cult leader, and then blindly followed his instructions to manufacture Sarin poison gas, I never cease to be amazed at the ease with which otherwise brilliant minds can fall under the spell of gibberish spouting conmen, to the extent that the brainwashed joyfully give up all they worked for in life, and even become willing accomplices in plots to perpetrate genocide.

/ Rant over.

[pert -5]

I agree with your "rant" grasshopper.  

I think that it is because humans seek answers to the unknown.  Intelligence does not equal "spiritual capacity," in any sense of the word(s).  Reason can never reach the apex of spiritual integrity, no matter how much the little choir-boys may tell us.  Thus we have a need that is driven by anti-logical means.  I always suggest Yoga--the type that aims at Samyama ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samyama ), not the stretching exercises that currently utilize that name/word.  Even LSD, as Enigma would probably suggest, is more edifying than "throwing it all away."

But, like SWM says, look at Scientology.  The adherents believe that space aliens created civilization and humans.  And yet thousands of people belong to the religion (read:scam).  They spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars--as that's the ONLY F'ING WAY (seriously)--to reach the higher "thetan levels," only to find out that the unifying doctrine (read:sci-fi scam) is some L. Ron Hubbard-created story about Xenu.  No, I'm not joking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu

Ultimately, in the "heart's" search for spiritual complacency, or evolution, unreasonable assertions take hold over us in profound ways.  See Christianity (a guy on a stick died for my sins?  What about the Cambrian expansion ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion )?  A large part of the problem (and I rant too GH ) is that people nowadays are too concerned with growing their bank books (reasonable) or American Idol (....) to bother about their "spiritual" affairs.  Thus they throw their resources of money and/or trust to any of the salivating wolves in waiting that they can.

[edit]
Oh, to answer the OP, it's all about money, fame, and/or power.  There is no hidden truth that they (or anyone for that matter) hold any form of monopoly on.  They're just greedy megalomaniacs; in all cases.

[edit 2]
iliw would've loved this...    (OK, I'm done)

[docjp]

There are levels of answers to this question.  Each will answer according to the level of "insight" one possesses.  For the "Thinker", or those dominated by "thinking" and the Left-Hemisphere of the brain, the answer will be intellectual.

For those capable of going a bit deeper, and who are knowledgeable regarding the workings of the <about-psychology.com/MIND.html,  the answer will be a bit more difficult to "think" about, but will more precisely explain what is happening that causes your question.

The bottom line answer is that each is drawn by the Fate Karma of each, that is, they were part of some group in the past, and those drawn to this new group have not completed the Karma each is working out with others of the group.  But this explanation is resisted by many because they are unfamiliar with the Law of about-psychology.com/karma.html Karma.

It is the MIND of Man that subtly feeds thoughts [Delusional Thinking, or D-Think] to the Left-Hemisphere of ones brain that causes one to think of doing what one does.  Such D-Think is the way in which ones MIND insures that one fulfill ones Fate Karma for this life. But perhaps this level of answer is too Esoteric?

Peace

[grasshopper]

Oh, to answer the OP, it's all about money, fame, and/or power.  There is no hidden truth that they (or anyone for that matter) hold any form of monopoly on.  They're just greedy megalomaniacs; in all cases.

Pert -5 the above sound bite sums it up nicely.     As for the passage below, DocJP, I read it twice and still don't have the foggiest idea what it all means.    Fate Karma ?  That sounds like Guru-talk to me, though I may be mistaken.

There are levels of answers to this question.  Each will answer according to the level of "insight" one possesses.  For the "Thinker", or those dominated by "thinking" and the Left-Hemisphere of the brain, the answer will be intellectual.

For those capable of going a bit deeper, and who are knowledgeable regarding the workings of the <about-psychology.com/MIND.html,  the answer will be a bit more difficult to "think" about, but will more precisely explain what is happening that causes your question.

The bottom line answer is that each is drawn by the Fate Karma of each, that is, they were part of some group in the past, and those drawn to this new group have not completed the Karma each is working out with others of the group.  But this explanation is resisted by many because they are unfamiliar with the Law of about-psychology.com/karma.html Karma.

It is the MIND of Man that subtly feeds thoughts [Delusional Thinking, or D-Think] to the Left-Hemisphere of ones brain that causes one to think of doing what one does.  Such D-Think is the way in which ones MIND insures that one fulfill ones Fate Karma for this life. But perhaps this level of answer is too Esoteric?

Peace

[SWM]

@Docjp
Hi and welcome to the forum. you present an interesting perspective however as you noted probably too esoteric for some.  your observation could be repeated to every enquirer that comes to the forum asking for insight into their problems.  however true and accurate your observation is, to many people it would be nonsense and unhelpful.

[pert -5]

There are levels of answers to this question.  Each will answer according to the level of "insight" one possesses.  For the "Thinker", or those dominated by "thinking" and the Left-Hemisphere of the brain, the answer will be intellectual.

For those capable of going a bit deeper, and who are knowledgeable regarding the workings of the <about-psychology.com/MIND.html,  the answer will be a bit more difficult to "think" about, but will more precisely explain what is happening that causes your question.

The bottom line answer is that each is drawn by the Fate Karma of each, that is, they were part of some group in the past, and those drawn to this new group have not completed the Karma each is working out with others of the group.  But this explanation is resisted by many because they are unfamiliar with the Law of about-psychology.com/karma.html Karma.

It is the MIND of Man that subtly feeds thoughts [Delusional Thinking, or D-Think] to the Left-Hemisphere of ones brain that causes one to think of doing what one does.  Such D-Think is the way in which ones MIND insures that one fulfill ones Fate Karma for this life. But perhaps this level of answer is too Esoteric?

Peace

Spam is coming in so many flavors these days.  I like mine with ketchup.

[Patrickmeister]

it's as deluded as saying a allmighty man from the sky that you can not see will watch over you, and when you die, if you lived well, you go to a beautiful paradiseland whilst if you live badly, you go into a firey pit of pain and torture...

and that 'cult' has gotten lots of people involved, and had transformed into one of the four major religions of the world

That said, no cult or group is "crazy" , and therefore, it is perfectly normal for one to aspire to go to a position of power...

[hortonpilot]

Very interesting subject this , human
gullibility.

More interesting and sinister is the process where those who exploit others do so on a large and organised scale?
I have speculated that there must be training workshops where people learn these "skills of exploitation" as it seems unlikely all people have the time or brains to nut the procedures out for themselves.
idea there are short-cuts to manipulating people for gain.

Probably run parallel to courses in management and training?

Over the years had bible -bashers come to visit and felt that they had training.

Years back i tried to get into the Orange People  but was always blocked , tied various tactics acting different personalities , but i was blocked no matter how needy i seemed.
So i wondered about the recruitment checklist process and how it operated?
Most likely it looked at behavioral patterns and the use of keywords.

At this point you really start to wonder about how we project ourselves and what others who are trained can see?

This gets back to one of the original ideas in this thread;intelligence ,spirituality and commonsense not being related.
Which explains why seemingly educated people get taken in by this stuff.

Also manipulators are sociopaths as well who don't operate as normal people do but seem to have insight into other peoples behavior.


Horton