Could a Cult personality be someone's Authentic Personality

by cantleave 14 years ago 32 Replies latest 14 years ago jw friends

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  dgp 14 years ago

  LeavingWT I think some people find cults an ideal place to operate. They can find status and control others, by a position they attain in the cult, that they probably would find elsewhere. Do these people want to be free?

  I read "Escape from Freedom" by Erich Fromm (http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Freedom-Erich-Fromm/dp/0805031499/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309480610&sr=8-1) a long time ago. I think I remember that Fromm describes how sadistic people (in the sense psychologists give to the term) actually fit very well in rigid hierarchies. They want to inflict pain on others, but they also want to be subservient to something "higher" than themselves. Being a masochist is the other side of the coin of being a sadist. If I'm not mistaken, Fromm says Hitler was one of such men. He wanted to be above everyone else, but only so he would be closer to "the ideal". He'd be, say, the first among all the servants. Perhaps this applies here?

  I don't remember exactly where I read the comment about the choice of occupation a certain woman made. I think it was a book by Fromm as well. The thing is, this sweet woman became a prison guard and people wondered how she could fit there. Fromm (or whoever wrote that book) pointed out that she had the right personality for the job, or else she wouldn't have chosen it.

  Someone else pointed out that Joseph Goebbels eventually chose the Nazi Party but had trouble making his mind up as to whether he should join the Socialist party instead. There was more than one similarity between the two parties, but Goebbels chose the one that fit his own personality best. He was, of course, a very smart man.

  I know of someone who joined the witnesses after having been in the Army. At that time, I didn't know what being a witness entailed, and so I thought nothing about it. Now I think that he had some need of a hierarchy, and he found it elsewhere. He could but recognize his past brutalities, and perhaps this organization gave him a sense of order and a sense of righteousness.

  My speculation.

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  breakfast of champions 14 years ago

  I'm not sure you would call it an 'authentic cult personality', but there are some truly 'psychopathic personalities' in 'the truth' who find it quite a comfortable spot from which to control and manipulate others with guilt and fear. Creepy.

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  jwfacts 14 years ago

  Excellent question. I wonder about this with my mother, as I have only ever known the cult personality. Is it is really just a cult personality, or was she attracted to a cult because it suited an already existing personality.

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  Lady Lee 14 years ago

  There are many people here who were true believers, and fervently espoused all WT doctrine. They would have just as strongly defended their faith as the JWs who come here. Their cult personality was in charge all the time.

  But something triggered them to start thinkign or feeling and they got themselves out. Once they left they did start thinkign and feeling. It wasn't fun but they learned to be a person without the WTS guiding every thought.

  People who joined had personalities before they became JWs. They became true believers and submerged who they were - even if who they were was pretty similar to the JW personnae. The WTS just gave them some direction for their beliefs. If they left they would revert to whoever they were before. I know some who just turn around and join a different cult. They need someone to tell them what to do.

  But that doesn't mean the cult personality is who they really are either. The question is who would they be if they had never joined a cult? I suspect many of those who wind up in cults and totally take on th ecult personality are people who suffered abuse early in life. The strict controls, the monitorin gof behavior, thoughts and feelings mimic the families they grew up in. I believe my mother is one of these joiners. Her life would derail without the constant direction of somebody else. She has gone from one abusive family to an abusive marriage, then another abusive relationship, to an abusive cult, to another abusive husband. I don't think she has lived without abuse for more than a few weeks in her entire life. She knows no other way. Looking back at many of the JWs that I knew well the same could be said about most of them - not all but certainly most.

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  Band on the Run 14 years ago

  I believe a certain temperament is more deferential to authority than others. Stereotypes about nationalities ring true. I recall when the present Pope visited Germany for the first time after his election. Millions of Germans flocked to see him. Unlike other countries, there were no traffic offenses. Only two people were arrested. Mercedes could come from no other place.

  IMO, the US does not teach critical thinking skills in schools. The big leap for me between high school and college was not more knowledge of content but the process of thinking itself. The best compliment you could get was to ask a hard question.

  I don't think all Witnesses are drones. It is possible to be normal and still be a Witness. My aunt and uncle were living proof. They were very deferential. My uncle paid a fortune for dental work that was not finished when the dentist died. Rather than call the office or the state, they absorbed the loss. My respectful questioning bothered them. I don't mean irked or irritated. My aunt was so terrified of authority. The Witnesses isolate people from real life to a large extent.

  My father was a Witness fantatic. He hounded his co-workers so badly that he was about to lose his job. Wives of his Roman Catholic victims called my mom, begging her to intervene. My brother was raised in this environment. We were severely abused. Supposedly, we were liberated when my father died and I refused to go to KH which meant they all did not go. One year later my brother left for the University of Chicago on a good scholarsip. It was so heady for someone of our background. College and what a college. He was Mr. Intellectual. Well, Maoists picked him up during his first semster. He thought he was not in a cult b/c he was an atheist. Mao killed more people than Hitler. He would occasionally visit us and sing the Internationale and other commie songs fervently. The content did not bother me much. American leftists showed up everywhere with Chariman Mao placards. I recall huge papier mache puppets at antiwar demos. The robotic, parroting, the process -- my brother was even worse than my father. He left after decades being underground and hunted by the FBI. I am certain he sees no link between our father and his Maoism.

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  jamiebowers 14 years ago

  Excellent question. I wonder about this with my mother, as I have only ever known the cult personality. Is it is really just a cult personality, or was she

  attracted to a cult because it suited an already existing personality.

  I think the same thing about my mom. Being a jw is the only sense of credibility she ever had. She's unwilling to give that up for anything or anyone.

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  cantleave 14 years ago

  JWFacts - I can understand your point. I would say the same about my mother and brother.

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  wobble 14 years ago

  I think many people are genetically programmed to " worship" , they have the God Gene.

  I don't think I have that, thank god.

  There may be many also programmed to want direction and control from external authorities rather than make their own decisions.

  (Though this often stems from mental and moral laziness)

  Such people already have a major part of the Cult personality. I think though, that with the majority of JW's it is a persona that they put on when with other JW's, and underneath they do have the real them. This certainly does not apply to all, but I think to a majority.

  How do we know if someone like my oldest sister , UberDub and damned annoying because she is so willfully blind, is a genuine 100% cult personality, with no "real" her underneath ? we cannot be sure, but I firmly suspect that is the case with her, and her ilk.

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  the-illuminator81 14 years ago

  I think you could better describe it as someone who feels comfortable being in a cult.. there are those who like giving direction, and they need a cult to supply them with the types that like getting direction. Even though it's comfortable, I think everyone would be better off to make their own decisions as free persons because that's the only way you can learn and improve yourself.

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  watersprout 14 years ago

  Abiblestudent I totally agree with your statement.

  Most people develop the most emotionally, physically, and intellectually between the ages of 0-25, therefore a born-in or a less than 4-year old convert would not have had the chance to discover their authentic personality.

  I was three when my parents became borgites... My mom said I changed... I went from a stroppy, spirited, happy toddler to a child/teenager/adult who suffered with severe emotional issues, anger, anxiety the list goes on. Now I have left I am finally developing my personality... It's a long process that should as you said should have taken place between 0-25 years of age... Let's hope it takes less than 25 years! Lol.

  Peace to you and yours.

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