Last night I watched a documentary about Bikram Choudury, the yoga teacher. Long before they got to the parts about him raping his students, I turned to Susie and said "Wow, not too much of a cult". I recognized the signs right away. Sometime soon I will be posting my own history with a cult, but suffice it to say that I know what I'm talking about, at least experientially.
One of the words that come up frequently when discussing cults and their influence and abuses is "brainwashing". There are several competing definitions of brainwashing; here's one: "The concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques". According to this definition, brainwashing, or mind control, is said to reduce its subjects ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into the subject's mind, as well as to change his or her attitudes, values and beliefs. I will steer clear of government-sponsored efforts that involve torture or chemical means to affect these changes, and look primarily at groups that people initially join voluntarily but end up unable to leave, even when actions take place that are abusive or otherwise harmful.
Looking specifically at Bikram's organization, the outer circle is fairly innocuous. People generally first come in contact by attending a Bikram-affiliated yoga studio in their own neighborhood. The yoga teacher is local (usually a woman) who may be known in the community as an all-around nice person. She drives her kids to school, is a volunteer at the PTA, pays her taxes and shovels the snow off the sidewalk in the winter. New participants may or may not feel like it's worth their time. Those who don't, drop out. Those who do stick around and begin to invest time and money in the program. That's the first step, and that's where the hook first starts to sink in.
Most people do not understand the economic concept of Sunk Cost. That's the idea that any money that you have invested or spent is gone. If you spent $20,000 on a new car in 2010 and sell it for $10,000 in 2019, you haven't lost anything. You got 9 years of use out of the car and its value decreased. Selling it for $10,000 means that, in terms of the here and now, you just made $10,000. But let's say you insist on waiting for someone to pay you $20,000 (or more). You're then making zero dollars. I used to run into this as a retail grocery manager. Each department had a goal for how much of a profit margin they should make on average in their department. Let's say your goal in the Dairy Department was 20%. But let's further imagine that you have a slow-moving yogurt, or you bought way too much for that ad. You can mark it down to a 10%, 5% or even sell it for less than cost. You may be taking a loss on paper, but in reality you're taking in some money, rather than throwing all the excess in the trash. I worked with a lot of people who couldn't understand that taking a paper loss, or a reduced margin, meant you were still coming out ahead - better than taking in no dollars.
People who have invested time and money in something are loathe to admit that they wasted their time. The longer they're involved, the more determined they are to get something out of it. Maybe they've spent $500 on membership fees, and figure, "what the hell, I might as well keep attending, even if I don't like it all that much". They have talked themselves into the first phase of believing in "the thing".
The second hook is peer pressure. In Bikram, it was the yoga veterans who constantly talked about how Bikram Yoga had helped them, even changed their lives. In the documentary you heard about people who had lost weight, or had been cured of various maladies, or just became more confident people, all due to Bikram. In religious cults you'll hear about various "miracles" and "healings", always unverified, but the principle is the same. For those who have already decided that they were "all in", the peer pressure to start seeing those miraculous and life changing experiences cause one to desire to be in that inner circle. Any real benefits are magnified and emphasized. And that's a key to understanding cult behavior - there has to be some real benefits, even if the benefits are later exaggerated. Sometimes the benefits are tangible like better health and stamina; sometimes it's a matter of belonging, or receiving praise, the feeling of family. That's the next hook.
In some groups the concept of family is taken to the extreme, and leaders advocate shunning the actual family, but in others it's just another level of belonging, with the members spending most of their time together to the exclusion of outside interests. Once this family dynamic is established, what's more natural than a relationship with the group's "father"?
By the time someone is actually in the presence of Bikram for one of his "Teachers' Classes", a student has a tremendous amount of time, effort and resources invested. They have already internalized the teachings and are convinced of the benefits. They have been recommended by someone in their home area that they like and trust and feel that they are ready to advance. They feel at once proud and humbled that they have been chosen. They don't need much convincing that Bikram knows what he's doing. And if they aren't 100% convinced, Bikram let's them know that he knows what he's doing. He tolerates no slackers, no arguments, it's his way or the highway. Everyone there has been primed to look to Bikram as a wise teacher who can virtually do no wrong. He is presented (and he presents himself) as not only an authority in his brand of yoga, but simply an authority...period. He can do no wrong.
Until he does.
What happens when he rapes young women who attend his classes? Some are so stunned that they can't believe it happened. Some keep quiet because they have wrapped their livelihood up with Bikram Yoga and try to, as one person put it "separate the man from the program". Those who did come forward were reviled by those who still supported Bikram. It is likely that there were some who convinced themselves that they weren't raped, or that they had somehow caused it. It is probable to the point of virtual certainty that many more women were targets of rape, sexual abuse, or groping. Why do people persist in following a person like this?
Not all cult leaders engage in physical abuse. But all have brought their followers, step by step, to the point where they have their own selves invested in believing that he (it's almost always a "he") can do no wrong. Sometimes there's still some personal benefit to be derived from following the cult leader, sometimes their own experience doesn't conform to the negative experiences of others, sometimes people just don't want to admit that they're wrong.
Cult leaders, whether with an organization like Bikram's, or a religious sect, or even a political figure target people with a specific need - to belong, to become fit, to put down the "other", and tailor their message to bring those people into the fold. A cult doesn't have to have "a compound" or empty your bank account, all it has to do is get you to forsake rational thought for the dogma of the cult. It doesn't take "brainwashing", some ephemeral method of mind control, no one "takes away" ones ability to think critically, individuals choose to abdicate their thinking skills to instant gratification; it takes individuals believing successive lies, because the perceived benefit of believing the lie is greater than the hard work of rational, logical, skeptical reasoning.
Been there, done that.
