My brother is a moonie and has been for 30+ years. I believe he is "brain-washed" or "mind-controlled", whatever the correct term is.
His behavior swings from this extreme and frantic zealot who "would DIE for his religion" back to my lovable nerdy older brother whom I adore.
At times he seems to be chanting something under his breath, over and over again. Sometimes his eyes will dart all over the room but seem to see nothing at all.
Sleep deprivation is common for him as he chants and prays in to the wee hours of the morning. He and his family bows to the framed picture of Moon and his wife that is displayed on the wall in his living room during their prayers. They are the "True Parents", you know.
He becomes arrogant, sarcastic and downright mean when anything other than praise and admiration is discussed about that billionaire messiah Sun Myung Moon.
He acts especially wacky right after one of his 3 week trips to Korea for "spiritual conference".
I never wanted to believe he is brain-washed, I mean, how could he be?!! He graduated from university and was going on to med school to become a psychologist. He graduated with honors. He was an atheist. He was funny, brilliant, sceptical, analytical, annoying, smelly etc...everything an older brother should be.
I do believe his mind is under some diabolical type of control but he seems very comfortable in his fantasy world. His sudden and drastic change of behavior speaks for itself. It was totally out of his character and personality that was steady for his entire life up to the point he had that unfortunate meeting with the deceptive love-bombing moonie recruiters.
I grew up with him. I knew him every day. How else would you explain it?