CULT MENTALITY
Even though the major religions of the world are not
considered cults; still they operate based upon cult dynamics. They are based
around endless repetition of mantras, phrases, and prayers that are
"mysterious" sounding and most certainly not the words of the
practitioner who is mouthing them. They evoke a feeling of “magic” and
wonderment.
Most major institutional religions are also based largely
on emotionalism and group or "herd" mentality where participants are
afraid to admit that they didn't see or hear or feel anything unusual for fear
of being ostracized or shunned. Very few people get “saved” or healed while
just sitting at home praying. It is only during vast tent meetings and revivals
and pilgrimages or where emotions are running high, that these “miracles”
occur. The same is true in Islam when adherents flagellate themselves en masse
or dance themselves into a frenzy, as in the case of the Sufi whirling
dervishes, or go on “the Haj” or pilgrimage to Mecca
They are almost never based upon individual thought,
intellectual study or the individual's ability to tap into their own innate
spiritual centers. No, they are almost always based around dependence on
priests, mullahs, rabbis or some form of clergy, who are the only dispensers of
truth and holiness, because only those individuals are perceived as having a
direct “hotline” to God. Individuality and individual efforts at approaching
God and spirituality are usually frowned upon and seen as acts of “rebelliousness”
because it isn’t good for ‘business’.
