Ever get blindsided by a friend or person, blink a couple times, and think, “what the bleep just happened here?!?” after they’re gone?
A once revered friend came over to drop something off, but it turned quickly into Cult Recruitment 101 for an upscale “health drink” multi-level marketing scheme. She wanted me to join, and out came the bully tactics of insults, comparisons, and speculative judgment. It was a rapid one-two-three punch.
Oof!
Wasn’t expecting that from someone I trusted. But since I’ve done a similar type of recruitment when I was in my spiritual cult, I could see the identification with the group, the lack of listening without an agenda, the threat that questioning creates. In my instance, it was an escapism-based agenda. In her instance it’s a greed-based agenda. Doesn’t matter the root cause. Same dirty playbook.
There’s nothing that can be said to someone who’s in a cult. Nothing. Don’t even bother. Why? Because they get too much out of it. They think you’re the loser for not being in it, and the longer they’re in their cult, the the more they absorb clever positions to counter anything that questions The Way Things Are.
Now my job is to not get sucked into the abusive verbal recruitment drive should I meet this friend again and just love her where she’s at. I now admire the few remaining friends who did that for me when I was in my cult and waited me out. It’s a little sticky as she’s a sometimes client of mine, but we’ll see. Wish me luck.
