NYC Adult School of Practical Philosophy Oct. '05

Discussion of the SES's satellite organisations in the USA.
nomad
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NYC Adult School of Practical Philosophy Oct. '05

Postby nomad » Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:40 am

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site. I have been shocked and saddened reading most of everyone's previous posts. I would like to know people's experiences with the NYC school, such as: How many semesters did they attend? When did they realize something funny was going on? Is this really a cult? When you confronted the tutors, did you get a good response. People's experiences with the mantra. Is it evil? Do you feel you've been brainwashed? Has this affected your relationships with others outside the school? What happens if you don't give service to the school and if you don't go on their retreats? What if you want out after you've been initiated? Does anybody come looking for you? Are these people dangerous? Have you ever let your fellow students know all the negative points that you've discovered with the school. Is either the adult and the childrens school abusive? Do they really take notes on each student attending? Do they enforce these crazy rules like women must wear skirts? Is it true that the tutors only have sex to procreate? Who are the men in charge of the new school? Is it possible that some tutors don't even know what is going on? When do they let you in on their dirty little secret if you've proven to be one of them? Being that women are of the lower class, are there any women in high positions? Is this really a wife farm? Has anybody written to the newspapers in the USA about this cult? Has anybody stood outside their front doors with signs warning others?I hope you get the gist of the type of things I am interested in knowing. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance.

mgormez
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Postby mgormez » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:21 am

Geezh.. answering all your questions would take a book. :-)

Search for 'NYC New York' on the search page at the top to see what she has posted about her experiences in NY.
Mike Gormez

nomad
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Postby nomad » Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:12 am

I know I had asked alot! Thank you Mike for responding. I was having problems trying to search different things, because I am new to the forum I was playing catch up with everything. I found that I was able to access certain topics, but it wasn't until I stumbled upon putting different words in the search fields that I had gotten somewhere. Sometimes I was ending up with nothing matched. I was afraid I was missing something or that I was scrolling incorrectly. I will try your suggestions but I am really hoping that someone will help me and give me some answers to my questions by replying right here where I can easily find it! After reading more last night on different websites pertaining to Hindu initiation rites etc. I found that meditation and the mantra is an exercise which dulls, tires and hypnotises our brains! The mantra also definitely has a religious meaning. I also read that in the ceremony, you kneel before a Hindu God and sentences are said in Sanskrit by your initiator, (you are never given a translation) and you are basically praying to this picture before you of this Hindu God! It really pisses me off that the school is not up front with you about this! I am so concerned for the welfare of all who think this is all okay. I have also read that this meditation is a terrible thing for a young mind to be exposed to! I can't believe no other jourmalists have picked up on this except the guys who wrote secret cult. Please help me get to the bottom of this all! I was hoping especially that NYC and Free Thinker would be able to help me out!? Many thanks for your responses in advance!

ross nolan
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nomad's odyssey

Postby ross nolan » Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:21 pm

Dear Nomad , your posting is jam packed full of the "right" questions and seems to disclose a detailed familiarity with the workings of the 'school' yet you do not give a summary of your personal involvement with or reason for such interest in the SOP. (?) Perhaps you could give this basic information which might make others more willing to give the answers to your queries. Fundamentally all the answers you seek are on this site albeit not condensed in one posting .

I took note of your question about 'has anyone stood outside ... to warn others etc " -- this could of course expose that person to physical abuse or be somewhat counter productive in dealing with the brainwashed and those being trained to feel 'isolated' and possibly even persecuted as the bearers of the 'truth' that the venal world seeks to wipe out .....

It would be better to get some like minded supporters before commencing such an action (which is itself admirable but needs careful planning) -- the use of trespass laws can make such a thing backfire for example -- I agree we need to stand up and oppose this ,yes, evil phenomenom and in particular to protect the young who are being damaged in the children's schools without even the option to walk out or previous life experience to detect and reject false dogma.

If you are serious about organizing a counter force then please send me a PM and some bona fides (see "investigation into the adult schools")

Given that you are genuine and committed to following through you could do much good in ridding us of this disreputable body -- don't worry that there are a lot more just like it ready to step in and do the same thing -- no one will ever protect people from their own gullibility entirely but it is better to defend the rational and civilized against the tide of pseudo religion and new age tripe than to let them prosper by default. Even though the US is a bastion of science and secular humanism it is also the most beset by fundamentalist religiosity and the rise of various way out cults, including the current 'intelligent design' fad ( mainly from Eastern cultish religious groups and the old world Amish,Mennonites , Mormons etc ,I would think that the SOP is maybe about the only "English" religious cult imported to the States even if really Hindu -- how you get around the "freedom of religion" streak in US legal thinking will be a challenge even when the SOP disavows a religious nature. (I lived in the states over thirty years ago in the midwest and got to see a lot of "revivalism" and fervent religiosity --- )

At least a "franchised" teaching system common to all countries they seem to operate in gives some hope to work out a common 'solution' or de -culting procedure and some background for media to expose them

Best of luck , Ross Nolan.
Skeptic

nomad
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Postby nomad » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:25 am

Hi Ross, Many thanks for your informative and well thought out response.
I know you're down under and I'm just back from work, so sorry late in getting back to you. I am currently a student and I have done alot of reading on this website, that is where I got my information from. Reading everything posted here has made me question whether or not I should continue with the school. So far, I thought I had learned some usefull skills in dealing with everyday life. I have encountered nice fellow students and my tutor seems sincere. The surroundings and the building are beautiful, down to the fresh flowers in the classroom and the dinner break foods seem lovingly prepared. I would describe the people there as simple, laid back, attentive and eager to help. I had a good first impression and I felt that way until I read this website. I cannot believe that they have deceived me in this fashion. I find it hard to also believe that I never had an idea what was coming, like you I can also be a skeptic. I am travelling so I will be offline for a little bit. I still encourage people to please help me piece together this puzzle and help answer some of my questions. I have since read that they recommend sleeping only 5 hours a night, have a vegetarian diet and only listen to Mozart as Beethoven isn't good enough! Funny, who decides these things!? Anyway, it would be helpful to post what each center has learned from the school and what percautions need to be taken. Many thanks in advance.

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Free Thinker
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Postby Free Thinker » Sun Oct 23, 2005 3:19 am

Hi Nomad,

Almost everything was decided by Mr. McLaren, who took advice from the Shankaracharya and other religious leaders and either chose things from it or twisted things around, or just added in his own personal views on issues like women's clothing, etc.

I don't have time to answer all your questions here, but if you look, there are several recent threads that do, where both NYC and I have posted.

Cheerio!
FT

nomad
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Postby nomad » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:05 am

Hi Free Thinker!
Thanks so much for getting back to me!
I have tried reading almost all the posts and I have tried to condense all that information in my questions and comments to make sure I understood it all correctly. Most importantly, I wanted to provide easy access to new people to this web site. Can you please at least confirm that the information I have previously gathered is true?! I really feel that if more people knew the true intentions of the school, most people would not pursue it. I am very upset that they have used false advertising to lure the masses. The next time they advertise on the subways, someone should go around with stickers to put on the posters that say, this is a Hindu cult and they will suck the life out of you! I have since learned from further reading on this web site that the mantra Rahm is the 7th incarnation of the Hindu God. All these new recruits are praying to a Hindu God and they don't even know it! Also, I have read from various other web sites that reciting a mantra is actually very harmful to you. It dulls the brain, makes you lose your reasoning capabilities and makes it more plyable for them to control you! Their goal is to suck your personality out, put in their beliefs, make you feel guilty about leaving or not giving them proper service in terms of working for them, polishing brass doorknobs as someone else has mentioned. Unfortunately, for those who have been in the school for many years, they are too far gone or too embarrassed to see their mistakes, they are often too dependent on the school, have already cut off all other relationships or left depressed or suicidal. I don't want anyone else to have to go through this! What would be the best way to advise these new students to the school what is actually going on!? PLEASE, free thinker, you know the school so well. What am I missing in terms of info. that people should know? What can we do to prevent others from suffering? I would love for you to tell us all! Many blessings! Nomad

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Postby Free Thinker » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:30 am

Hi Nomad,

While I understand that you are shocked finding out this information, I think you are taking it too far. Obviously, I don't like the school or those leading it and have spoken out about it here, but come on, about meditation?

Meditation has been practiced by many religions around the world through the ages, and I heartily disagree that it dulls the mind and makes you more prone to brain washing. While I struggled with meditation - mainly due to tiredness and not having enough time - there were moments when it "worked" and they were really intense connections with whatever sort of higher power or infinite love or whatever the hell you want to call it.

"The surroundings and the building are beautiful, down to the fresh flowers in the classroom and the dinner break foods seem lovingly prepared. I would describe the people there as simple, laid back, attentive and eager to help"

This is true. The people are simple, and eager to help, and attentiveness is a quality that is much revered and worked on by members of the school.

I think it is a cult, but it's not a dangerous one - at least not like many other actually dangerous cults out there. I feel that for many people who are vulnerable, it really erases much of their personality but replaces it with one that is always "blissful" Neither school is abusive, particularly not the children's school, but it depends on what you ID as abusive. I feel that someone I know was, but it is an abuse that is meant to help the other person. Many people there genuinely believe that they are making their lives, and other's lives better, and some of them certainly do. But there are people who are fragile emotionally, and this school is NOT the place for them.

People do take notes. Tutors don't just have sex to procreate. There are women in high positions. It is not a wife farm.

leon
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Postby leon » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:58 pm

.....after months of hard meditation a Zen monk runs to his master. "It's amazing!!" he shouts. "Finally during meditation I was filled with enlightenment and witnessed the love of the universe! Everything became clear and I saw the truth and beauty of all things!"

"hmm" the master says, "just do those breathing exercises I showed you and it shouldn't happen again".

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Postby Free Thinker » Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:41 am

Wow - Mr. MacLaren is posting from the "other side" on our message board! A nice joke, too. I guess several years of tormenting has given him a sense of humor!

J/K - how about a post to introduce yourself, Leon?

nomad
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Postby nomad » Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:08 pm

Thank you Free Thinker for your additional comments, I was patiently awaiting those. I think I will finish out my term as I have already paid for it and then quit. What do you think would happen to you if you are fragile emotionally and you continue with the school? I feel like the life has been sucked out of me already just researching this! Thanks, Nomad.


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