I've just finished reading this account by Debbie Layton and it is an incredibly revealing story of the inward spiral of cult membership.
I thought this section from her Epilogue is worth sharing, definitely amongst ourselves but also perhaps with friends and family still 'in':
"I hope my book will give my daughter some answers about how I got caught and how the Jonestown tragedy happened. I hope it will provide clues about the workings of a cult and shed light on the darkness of deceit. There are essential warning signs early on. Our alarm signals ought to go off as soon as someone tells us their way is the only right way.
When our thoughts are forbidden, when our questions are not allowed and our doubts are punished, when contacts and friendships outside of the organisation are censored, we are being abused for an end that never justifies its means. When our heart aches knowing we have made friendships and secret attachments that will be forever forbidden if we leave, we are in danger. When we consider staying in a group because we cannot bear the loss, disappointment, and sorrow our leaving will cause for ourselves and those we have come to love, we are in a cult.
If there is any lesson to be learned it is that an ideal can never be brought about by fear, abuse, and the threat of retribution. When family and friends are used as a weapon in order to force us to stay in an organisation, something has gone terribly wrong. If I, as a young wonan, had someone explain to me what cults are and how indoctrination works, my story might not have been the same."
- Seductive Poison - A Jonestown Survivors Story of Life and Death in The Peoples Temple - Deborah Layton