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In Reply to: Generational rejection posted by lady with the alligator purse on July 28, 2005 at 15:20:21:
I continue to hold the belief that fear--primarily the fear of death--is the core vulnerability that sets us up for cultic mind control. I say "belief" because I haven't read tons of research on this topic, but this hypothesis makes sense from a theoretical perspective.
Anecdotally, that is what I hear people on this board and NDN say all the time about their experience of mind control: I was terrified.
So, if fear is a major reason people get caught, it's also a major reason people get stuck.
In order to change, people must fear the unknown less than they fear the pain of remaining the same. One of the contributors to this board tells her story like this: I thought God was going to strike me dead when I left, but I was so miserable I didn't care. I would have welcomed death over what I was going through before I left.
I think people get stuck because they find their comfort zone in the cult. Actually, I think that's how people get stuck in terms of any kind of personal growth and maturation. They hit their comfort zone and don't feel compelled by circumstances or curiosity & ambition to try new ways of experiencing at the world and looking at life.
