From: "ShepherdJ" 
Newsgroups: alt.paranormal.channeling
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Original Date: 18 Apr 1997 21:54:01 GMT
Recently on another newsgroup, a poster had been talking about the
Heaven's Gate fiasco and got to thinking what the main qualities of cult
leaders seem to be....
He came up with three great ones:
Dead Seriousness
Self-Importance
Absolute Certainty
If you have two of these, you might just be a boring egotist who doesn't
get invited to many parties (i.e. Dead Seriousness and Self-Importance) 
But I think it's when you add the third ingredient to the cocktail
(Absolute Certainty), that the mixture becomes poison, not only lethal to
you, but to everything that you touch.
Suddenly, everything in your world becomes an agenda...your desires as a
human being crystallize into the  need to convert everyone else to your
point of view.  At that point you lose the ability to relate as an equal
to other people.  Humility goes out the window, and arrogance sets in.
If you have spiritual leanings or a deeply rooted desire to "save"
humanity in some way, it takes very little to push you over the edge into
becoming a militant dictator. Oh, you might only be aggressive and nasty
on a verbal level, but the spiritual intent behind your words will be one
of clear aggression.  You want your point of view to be the only thing
left standing, and you don't clear who you take out or how much bloodshed
you cause to accomplish your goal. 
It doesn't take much, though, for that type of personality (especially one
who has been continually thwarted by people who have more sense than to
bow down to him) to become a character out of our worst nightmares.  Since
nobody else is buying into the "fact" (which he is convinced of, since he
has Absolute Certainty) that he is a "specially chosen genius", he'll have
to show them in a different way. (If Hitler had been accepted into art
school, as he had wished, would he have become alienated enough to commit
his atrocities?)  Brute force, emotional and/or physical abuse, enters the
picture. 
An "army" is amassed, whether this be the Nazis of Hitler's age, the
Crusaders of Richard the Lionheart, or the brainwashed followers of
cultists like David Koresh.  
Now there is a group who will help the leader to feel special, adored,
and, at all times, Absolutely Right.
The problem with Absolute Certainty and Absolutely Being Right is that
when you have them, you end up feeling more alienated and alone than when
you started out.  You may be surrounded by an army now, but not by any
friends.  Anybody who could have been a friend was kicked out of your
life, or killed, ages ago.  You have no equal, no one to be a normal human
being with.  Now you're just Super Being, the specially chosen one. 
What do you do?  How do you conceal or protect yourself during those more
vulnerable, human moments, when you're not Super Being, but just plain Joe
or Shirley?  How do you find space to be normal, or people to be normal
with, when normalcy has long ago been kicked out of your life?
This is where the cult leader or military dictator starts to
self-destruct, tripping himself up. Either he falls victim to paranoia,
and becomes wrapped up in Armageddon prophecies, or he purposefuly
expresses himself in a weaker way so someone underneath him will mutiny. 
John Gotti, head of the Mob, started getting frustrated with Absolute
Power, and began talking openly about murders he had been involved with. 
It was like he wanted the FBI to find him out, to put a dramatic end to
this unrewarding life he was living.  Or if the FBI didn't do it on their
own, then maybe an underling would rat on him...which is what happened,
when Sammy the Bull told the FBI everything.
Absolute Certainty just isn't any fun, it seems. It's much easier to
maintain your sanity, your life, when you remain Just A Person.  This
doesn't mean you can't be smart, that you can't have innovative ideas or
useful opinions to be shared.  It just means that, rather than squashing
others under your shoe, you honor them as equal partners in the Human
Family.
Thanks for letting me share.
ShepherdJ@aol.com
Jennifer Shepherd
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