Dr. Janja Lalich, the renowned sociologist and internationalexpert on cults, points out that any organization can become a cult. Aside from religious and political organizations, a cult could be posing as a yoga camp, a karate club, a dog training camp, and even a multi-level marketing scheme. A cult is dangerous, regardless of the size of its membership, because itexploitswell- meaning people sexually, financially, and emotionally. Lalich defines a cult as a closed social system that has four

key features: 1. A tough charismatic leader; 2. a transcendent belief system; 3. a system of control; and 4. a system of influence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQlmgC4S5ro

Almost always, the cult leader is a malignant narcissist with a touch of psychopathy, Machiavellianism and sadism. He or she is more abusive and harmful than your run of the mill narcissist, demanding unwavering loyalty and absolute obedience from cult members. Nobody can question his or her actions shrouded in obscurity and without any clear line of accountability. The cult leader feels entitled to the resources of the cult owing to his or her divinity or superiority. The cult leader is lazy who doesn’t do much work except to give orders and basks in his or her whatever-ness.

The cult’s transcendent belief system basically gives you theanswer to everything: past, present and future. It is utilitarian, the end justifies the means. A member can be asked to do anything for as long as the results serve the cult leader. This places people in a sticky wicket because most people who come in to the cult, unless they are born in it, have their own sense of morality which they must renounce and acquiesce to the immorality of the leader which is a necessary step towards complying with the orders of the latter.

The system of control are overt rules and regulations to be practiced such as shedding of one’s identity by taking on a new name, speaking in a certain way, and leaving to the cult leader the choice of who and when to marry. A member can progress in rank and seniority by undergoing workshops packaged in cycles, steps and levels for a fee. The system of influence is less obvious.

They are social psychological techniques that prey on emotions,exploiting one’s guilt and shame, love and anger, fear based on

secrets revealed by the recruit in the indoctrination process. Features three and four are designed to tear down one’s self trust,self-confidence, and identity so that the cult can build up thefresh recruit with a new mindset framed with the belief that theonly life worth living is inside the cult.

Cults target people who have money, or are going to help raise money, recruit others with money, and those with talent to lend legitimacy to the organization, run the cult’s businesses and internal organization. According to Dr. Lalich, persons who join cults share a common denominator- idealism. They are people longing for a better world, an improved self, an enriching family life, an enlightened spiritual or transformative political aspiration. They are showered with “love bombs” consisting of lavish praise that makes one feel special. Cults reject weak, fragile, stupid, weird,crazy or lazy people because those adjectives only fit the cultleader. A cult is not there to take care of its members. Instead,its members are to take care of the cult leader and the cult. Dr. Lalich, a cult survivor, shared the metaphor of a shelf at the back of her mind where she deposited all the negative experiences she endured working 20 hours a day for four and half years in a cult posing as a political organization which she joined. This shelf finally broke when she was not sanctioned to attend her mother’s funeral. Asked why it took her that long to decide to leave, Lalich explained that she had a “bounded choice” which narrowed the full spectrum of her choices. Leaving meant financial distress, anxiety of losing her life as retribution fromthe cult, banishment from friends still in the cult, and the fearof being shamed for joining a cult in spite of her intelligence. Dr. Lalich prescribes to every cult survivor a “psycho education,” where the first step is to unpack the cult’s manipulation techniques that duped the survivor in spite of the good motives in joining. Otherwise, a cult survivor risks being sucked up again in a cult. Dr. Lalich also advised family members or friends of a person being targeted by a cult not to be confrontational but acknowledge that said person is going through something that is appealing to his or her idealism even if it is harmful or may lead to harm. Tap into past happy experiences of shared activities and invite the loved one to recall those times and do the activity with the hope of re-awakening his or her identity that is gradually being stripped away by the cult. Knowing the features of a cult will spare us and our loved ones from the trauma of being victimized by cults.

Atty. Magi Gunigundo is a former lawmaker, civil law instructor, and author of law books. He is also an education reformer and an advocate of anticipatory governance.