15 May 2013
I agree and disagree.
Yes, the early or superficial levels of Brahma Kumarism are identical to hypnotic and self-hypnotic practises but I think BKism goes beyond that and we have to allow for their additional "psychic" influences upon individuals.
What do I mean by "psychic"? I am using it fairly loosely here to many all and any other non-physical influences.
BKism is rooted in spiritualism, the practise of consorting with the spirits of the deceased and other incorporeal "spirit beings". Since the very beginning individuals were subject to or manifested fairly extraordinary influences beyond normal ones and, in the teachings, it is made clear that this influence or over-shadowing, to use the non-BK terminology, happens and continues on ... in short, they claim that BK adherents are used unconsciously by other "spirits" and not just their god spirit to do whatever is those spirits' will.
And, as we have discussed, part of that will is the death and Destruction of humanity.
Now, what do we mean by "spirits"?
We all know what "spirits" mean regardless of whether we believe in them, their existence and influence or not; the ghosts of the deceased or other individual beings from other 'realms'. It could also mean the 'group spirit' or 'groups spirits' of the BKWSU, whether that means the 'collective consciousness' or egregores.
Again two concepts which might not be exactly 'scientific' but are still felt and recognised to exist.
It could also mean the influences or both or even all of the above in which the group spirit is the most easy and rational to accept ... when one enters a group one is affected not just by what it says it is but what it actually is; the dynamics of the individuals within it.
There is no scientific consensus about the ghosts, spirits and beings from other realms that BKism is made up of behind its slick marketing.
Well ... there is ... and the hard scientific consensus is that is it is all nonsense and fraud, a prejudice which has evolved over the last 150 years or so in the West during which materialistic science has fought with spiritualism. And it may well be true that spiritualism *also* involves nonsense and fraud. But that it also involved nonsense and fraud, and may even well be composed *mostly* of nonsense and fraud should not, I would argue, allow us to disregard any other influence, or the strength of that influence, upon individuals behind all the smokescreens of spiritualism.
BKism, stripped to its most essential, is the initiation of individuals into a relationship with an entirely unaccountable, shifting, changing, moprhing spirit being which sees the death of all humanity except its adherents. More than a relationship, what it apparently wants is those individuals' total subjection to it and its will ... unquestioning, indiscriminating and total subject not just to it but also its representatives.
Now, that is not "my" opinion, that is what it and the BKs say written in plain English and I think we should start understanding the BKs by accepting what they say and understand of themselves ... only in our language, not their vague and flowery marketing spiel.
If we say BKism is *just* hypnotism, then that opens the door to say that it is OK because it is *only* hypnotism ... but it is not. The hypnotistic aspects are merely a means to an end ... an induction into the initiation of the individual into a relationship with their psychic influences; the power of their minds and whatever spiritualistic influences they are playing about with.
The spirit beings behind the BKWSU would have us believe that it or they are the God of all religions? On the basis of the practical evidence we see around the BKWSU, does that ring true?
If it does not ring true, what is a spirit being or beings who claims to be the God of all religions when it is not? What would their nature be?
The BKs love to cloak and obscure the truth of their religion with vague and misleading language, hiding it from outsiders, planning and scheming way to capture and use the influence of non-BKs ... look at all those verbs I am using there and tell me if they are accurate descriptions of what the BKs do because in them, I argue, you will find the nature of their spiritual influences.
As the parents of one prominent, now ex-, BK said, "the only thing the Brahma Kumaris taught our child to do ... was lie". They are the people of the lie. Whatever they say their aim and objective is, their spirit is of lying and their master not only appears to have no problem with that but encourages and rewards it.
At the very least, BKism is a hypnotic induction into a relationship with the spirit of lying or, if you believe, a spirit of lies.
And can one really build an Age of Truth out of lies? Obviously not. Therefore, BKism is just about what it is does, dividing and ruling humanity from a family level up, and acquiring power and wealth in order to ...