The question of healthy vs unhealthy spirituality is one which has been relatively at the forefront of discussion about spirituality for quite a while; what if i want to join some spiritual group to meditate and develop myself, but without being indoctrinated into a cult? Is every spiritual group a cult? And how do we know? On the one hand, we know what propaganda is and how to spot it. But on the other hand... if it wasn't effective, it wouldn't be propaganda. If every piece of propaganda was easily spotabble, nobody would ever fall for it. So how can i engage with spirituality in a healthy way? In a way that doesn't trap me? We'll have a look.

The Problem

It has become pretty hard to seperate spirituality and religion from cults. But what is a cult? Before we get to that, let's look at what the actual problem is with cults;

  • They force you to do and believe things you don't want to do.
  • They force you to stop interacting with friends and family, for one reason or another.
  • Beliefs and practices from the cult might lead to something bad happening.
  • They slowly shape your beliefs, outside of your control.
  • And you end up believing something which isn't true.

In spirituality, and philosophy, and life, we want to be dealing with truth. Belief is more or less not important, we need (and want) to, in a very clear way, unobstructed and uncomprimisingly, freely, find the truth. And this is a process which is different for each person.

When we are forced into finding the "truth" through this way or another, and especially when this way or another requires belief, we are rightfully suspicious. So, we can kind of narrow things down; whatever spiritual (or scientific) path we look to walk down, it must not have dogma or doctrine which we cannot argue against, because, in having dogma, it means we are not free, and it is also unlikely that this dogma contains the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So, naturally, we want to argue.

In the words of Rudolf Steiner;

We no longer want to believe; we want to know. Belief demands the acceptance of truths that we do not fully understand. What is not clearly understood goes against our individuality that wants to experience everything in the depths of its inner core. The only knowing that satisfies us is the kind that submits to no external norm, but springs from the inner life of the personality.
Nor do we want the kind of knowledge that has been encased in rigid academic rules, and stored away as valid for all time. Each of us claims the right to start from the facts we know, from our own direct experience, and from there advance to knowledge of the whole universe. We strive for certainty in knowledge, but each in his own way.
Today, no one should be compelled to understand. We expect neither recognition or agreement from anyone who is not driven to a certain view by his own distinct individual need. We do not want to cram facts of knowledge into an immature person, or even a child. We try rather to develop the child’s capacities in such a way that his understanding no longer depends on our compulsion, but on his own will to understand.

What is a Cult?

This question is quite the interesting one. And this is where language becomes an interesting thing to look at. Because, unfortunately, we cannot transmit exactly what we mean to the heads of others, we have to use language, which is not perfect, and to some degree up to interpretation. The reason i'm putting this here is because this is one of those things where people constantly get the wrong idea.

I personally would say that a cult is a dangerous group or organisation, usually headed by or centered around one person, which causes harm. It might kill, indoctrinate, advocate for and do things that cause harm (through which its members or even outsiders are harmed). So my definition is pretty clear, and many people have the same general conception as i do; a cult is something really dangerous. But other people don't have the same idea.

Many people use the word cult to describe organisations that are a just bit weird, that do things that are vaugely not normal, do things that they're not used to, even using it for groups they just don't agree with, in no uncertain terms not causing actual harm (not to say that what every group does is good). You've probably seen someone talk about cults like this.

And here comes the problem; if someone tells me about a cult, i expect it to be dangerous, but they might just mean a weird group they don't like. And if i don't do my research, maybe i'll assume it really is dangerous. What the other person means and what i think they mean is different, and this misunderstanding leads to practical things happening, maybe i won't support that group, maybe i'll avoid them. Again, this is not to say everything is good and no group is ever bad, but thinking and judging for ourselves, on a case-by-case basis is generally a good thing. Most if not all of the time, we will make the right choice.

Considering all the media and conversation centered around cults that has popped up in the last few years, people are generally fearful that anything vaugely cult-like might turn into (or turn out to be) a cult and the only way to prevent this is to stay far away. Which is a valid approach, though in my opinion developing a full understanding of everything we come across is the better way, so even if we choose to walk away (and we probably will) from all the random groups giving out leaflets about the end of the world on the street, understanding the group, the people, and their beliefs, from experience, really helps in knowing the world outside of our comfort zone, and to some degree helps in knowing yourself, what it is you actually believe and know.

I think people should have the right to be a bit weird. I may disagree with what people do, but so long as it's not causing harm, besides my own stance and convictions, i think they should be able to do whatever they want. (within reason obviously).

One other thing before we move on; basically every "cult rating" or score or anything similar that exists today is mostly nonsense, and the reason for this is because they are almost entirely subjective. Arguments could be made for a group's placement to be higher or lower depending on how much you like or dislike the group. With these things there is a pretty easy way of finding out how reliable they are; pick something relatively normal, maybe a company, brand, field of science, whatever, and assess them on whichever scale or rating you're using, and be pretty critical, you'll find that they end up with a. If many normal things are reading as cults (and don't get me wrong plenty of things that are considered normal are pretty weird), then your way of reading is off.

Demands

What do you want to do? This should really be the main question in terms of spiritual practice and living spiritually. Something something the world is your oyster. When you approach spiritual stuff (in a healthy way), you are free to do as much or as little as you want. Because it's your life, anyone trying to make you live it in a way which you do not believe to be the best for you is trying to make you live their life.

To those people, i always say "Next time you're me..."

Though, on the other hand, wanting to be your best self is a good thing. But maybe we can think about spiritual practice like the gym; we can do lots and get loads of (spiritual) muscle, but it maybe isn't very healthy to start with everything all at once, and it's not sustainable to do everything for a long time.

So back comes this word; healthy. What can you carry? What do you want to do? Sure, there will be peaks and troughs, times where you want to do way more, times where you want to do nothing, but what do you really want to do, what feels right? What is healthy for you to do? Maybe you'll do more in the future, maybe you'll do less. But if you want to, start. And do what's healthy.

So what does make a spiritual path healthy or unhealthy? The answer is, really, it's kind of up to you. You are the master of your own destiny. Or something.

This article really only scratched the surface, and further articles on this topic and similar ones will be published in the future. If you liked this article, consider subscribing to the Epoch for free to get articles about spirituality (and other stuff) to your inbox every now and then.