This month I do a joint subscriber podcast with good friend Aaron Franz. We discuss David Seivking’s incredible film David Wants to Fly. The film explores Seivking’s relationship and exposé of David Lynch and the destructive cult known as Transcendental Meditation. Aaron and I discuss the entire film, our views on Lynch and TM, and discuss Seivking’s journey for truth and meaning in life.
I had the great pleasure to join John Adams and Chris Kendell again on the Afternoon Commute. This time around we discussed Scientology. We started out by focusing on one of Hubbard’s earliest mentors, rocket scientist and Crowley acolyte Jack Parsons. We discussed Parsons’ relationship with the government and his high-level military clearance while running the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We also discussed Parsons’ and Hubbard’s infamous sex magick rituals that they performed in California. I also talked about Parsons’ girlfriend (possible handler/ intelligence asset) Marjorie Cameron. I discussed Cameron’s rather interesting background as the only woman working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during WWII, and her fascinating past as a spy. Later we discussed Hubbard more directly. We explored his use of hypnotism and his experimentation on his own family during the early stages of Scientology and his writing of “Dianetics.” I also introduced my own theories about the relationship between Scientology and the CIA. We explored Scientologists (and CIA contractors) Ingo Swann and Harold Puthoff’s work on psychic warfare at the Stanford Research Institute. Later on, Chris and John asked me about the famous 1993 IRS judgement that declared the cult a religion, granting it massive power and influence.
Chris and I then explored the nature of cults on a broad level. We examined the concept of the State as the largest cult around. I also discussed how Scientology has slowly been infiltrating the alternative movement. Through the use of the Citizens’ Commission on Human Rights and their stance on vaccines, the cult has been trying its best to get in bed with the alternative community.
This is another long conversation where we get into a ton of different topics and ideas, so make sure you have your E-Meter handy!
[Note: There is a slight audio problem with my recording which makes it sound as if I have a terrible lisp.]
Tom Secker and I had the great pleasure of joining Kira Young on her radio show The Bridge. This time around we continued our discussion of cults by focusing on those within the alt-media. We took at a look at how and why cults seem to flourish within the alt-media, with a particular focus on the role that the Internet plays in reaching out to potential members.
Later we looked at the cult of personality around people such as Alex Jones, and how he is able to operate at the level he does today. We then moved onto a well known figure in the alt-media, Stefan Molyneux, and delved deeply into the cult he has created with the Free Domain Radio community. Tom and I discussed the fact that much of Molyneux’s cult activity is masked by his libertarian/anarchist ideology. We zeroed in on his obsession with destroying one’s own family structure (De-Fooing) so that one can join his own digital family where he is the guru in charge. We also discussed whether or not Molyneux is a psychopath.
Later the three of us explored how many of the more extreme views in alt-media (reptilians, ancient aliens) tend to isolate people from their families and friends, which ultimately makes them vulnerable prey for cults. I rounded off our discussion with a look at the role that cults such as the Moonies and The Church Universal Triumphant have played in crafting and co-opting the alt-media community.
In this interview Pearse Redmond shares some of his research and thoughts on Scientology and cults in general. What is a destructive cult, and why would anyone join one in the first place? A better question might be: what pseudo-cults have I, myself been involved in, and to what extent? Human nature is ours, but it is also the Garden from which the guru attempts to pick Forbidden Fruit.
Porkins Policy Review 