Since my last post, more people have left the Spiritual Rights Foundation cult. After my departure two years ago, a rather significant number of formally hard-core members departed for various reasons. The leaders of the Spiritual Rights Foundation have always believed that when members depart, the urge to leave would be contagious. Well, if I had spread that disease, I guess I'll be happy to be called Typhoid Mary.
Always, immediately after a person left the cult, the remaining members were summoned for healing sessions and psychic readings intended to remove any "energy" that would cause the member to leave the cult. These sessions would last sometimes for hours. I have personally been summoned to the heads of the cult for personal healing sessions designed to maintain control over my membership with them.
A married couple left, citing the cult's control over their lives as a reason. This couple have three children and are stuck living in a Spiritual Rights Foundation-owned one bedroom apartment. ONE BEDROOM!
Despite their good income, the costs of membership, the long hours of "volunteer" labor they were required to commit to the Spiritual Rights Foundation enterprises, they were unable to afford anything better.
Worse, the cult has lied to them both about several things. The leadership of the cult made several disparaging statements about them in their presence and when asked about it directly, denied having said them. No wonder this couple was fed up with it.
Thankfully, they have pulled themselves out of that situation have moved into a nicer situation with more room. It didn't take long after they quit paying the outlandish and never-ending fees to have enough funds to escape. Woohoo!
One other person left as well. In his situation, he has a small business that makes good income and provides a good living for him and his employees. However, as his costs increase, he's got some serious pressure on that end of the business.
This comes in addition to his tithe and other fees for classes and any other levies SRF asks for.
Of course, that situation became untenable. I do not know what specifically led to his departure but I understand that it was full of rancor. He is still pretty mad, I hear.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Spiritual Perversion - The Steve Sanchez Story
Steve Sanchez is a former minister at The Spiritual Rights Foundation who left after 15 years of affiliation with the church. His relationship with The Spiritual Rights Foundation became strained over the years due to several reasons. The whole sordid affair is well described in his book "Spiritual Perversion"
Steve's no saint and he admits it - that is also well described in his book. But behind he un-saintly behavior is a graphic description of daily life at The Spiritual Rights Foundation. Steve's frustration with SRF is directed at the founder, Bill Duby and much of the megalomania, foul behavior and unrelenting verbal abuse did indeed come from Bill. Some amount of that behavior ended with Bill's death in 2001. However, his legacy of control, greed and incomprehensibly irrational and impulsive behavior continued.
Steve Sanchez describes several events in his book. Many were stories of how Bill Duby (Rev. Bill to his followers) influenced his followers to work for the church for free, actively and deliberately pitted spouses against each other, turned children against their parents and started for-profit companies (owned by himself, his partner or his wife) using the money donated to the non-profit church as start-up capital. Monies earned from these for-profit companies were then skimmed off to pay the church's board or directors - who would serve as the for-profit company "managers". People like Steve, who were the for-profit company's employees were paid less than market rate wages and frequently, paid nothing at all.
I won't go into the details here as Spiritual Perversion can be previewed on Google Books and purchased at Amazon. I will say that I had either witnessed or was told of several of the events he writes about. While some of those events have some artistic license applied to them, in general they are accurate. Spiritual Perversion is not a well-written book by any stretch of the imagination. It is one of the few first-hand accounts of life in a cult of mind control and it will put a chill down your spine.
Steve describes many events where he was fiercely berated, shunned and humiliated in front of his SRF peers, students - even his wife and child. He also describes having to work for SRF for free. In one utterly amazing event, The Spiritual Rights Foundation stooped so low as to force him to turn over every penny he had (even the small amount in his pants pocket) and work a full work week in an SRF-owned construction company for absolutely no pay.
That event was prompted by a supposedly illegal act Steve committed while employed by an SRF-owned construction business. From what I was told about the acts, Steve's actions were maybe a bit shady but less than illegal. Besides, he was paid very little - about half of market rate, and was forced to support his then-current wife (who did not work outside the home), support his two daughters and find room to pay the fees demanded by The Spiritual Rights Foundation. Did I mention he had to tithe also? Who wouldn't resort to some shady dealings if he was desperate to feed his family? Why not deal a bit for yourself, if the church was paying you with the left hand and taking away with the right, especially if you have a family?
However, The Spiritual Rights Foundation called it embezzlement. According to Steve and others, the President of SRF conjured up evidence against Steve while in a self-induced trance state. Using the visions experienced in this trance state, the President of The Spiritual Rights Foundation concluded that a criminal act was committed and set a dollar value on the amount supposedly "stolen". According to Steve's writings, he was not presented with actual concrete evidence of theft.
Steve was led to believe that felony charges would be filed unless he submitted himself to humiliating, degrading, and very likely illegal "retribution".
I would have loved to see that case presented to the district attorney. What reaction would you expect from an officer of the court when you ask him to prosecute a guy, claiming a psychic vision as evidence? Maybe the D.A.'s office would have picked up the hot line to the nearest psych ward. Come to think of it, that's probably why no one went to the D.A.'s office. Why risk having the D.A. throw you in the nut house, when you can just bully, intimidate and degrade someone you hate?
Even if there was an illegal act and even if Steve could have been convicted, no one has the right to confiscate a man's entire paycheck in order to make restitution. The courts and common sense insist that a person making restitution deserves to keep at least enough to feed, clothe and otherwise care for himself. But if you are The Spiritual Rights Foundation, you believe you have the right to take everything that anyone owns or earns and leave that person's living to his own devices.
The Spiritual Rights Foundation exerted such control over Steve, he believed they would ruin his life. In fact, his life was ruined much earlier as his wife (who was a devoted SRF member) and child (who was intentionally kept away from him and raised within SRF) were told to shun him as he was at a "lower vibration" and could contaminate their spiritual growth. Steve could not live with his family for a long time.
After the alleged theft incident, he soon hit bottom with The Spiritual Rights Foundation and made the decision to get out and get away to save his life. Steve's book is his way to heal the trauma and inform the public of the inner workings of dangerous cults. He is now re-married and is living a very comfortable and happy life.
If you do have an interest in mind control cults, Spiritual Perversion is a fair account of the kind of behavior the current and former members faced in The Spiritual Rights Foundation. He makes no conclusions nor does he direct the reader to any opinions. It reads like his journal, rather than a textbook. But, reading Spiritual Perversion can help make sense of situations such as the FLDS polygamist cult and others.
Of course, The Spiritual Rights Foundation hates this book. Shortly after it's publication, the President of SRF related to me that she was seeking a legal action against Amazon.com because one of the book's reviewers used the phrase "Spiritual Rights Foundation" on the book's web page without saying that the term was owned by the "Spiritual Rights Foundation". She went on to say she instructed her attorney to begin a lawsuit.
The only problem with that is, a search on the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could find no registration for the term "Spiritual Rights Foundation". Besides, that term was not use in a manner that usurped their name for commercial purposes or confused it with something else. It was used in a commentary, which constitutes fair use. Even better, she was not smart enough to look at the Amazon legal page stating that all copyrighted terms belong to their owner - a perfectly legal way to give attribution to copyright holders.
The offending statement "The Spiritual Rights Foundation" is still there on Amazon. I wonder how hard the Amazon legal team laughed?
Well if you can't beat them in the courts, try to make the guy look bad. The president, rebuffed by the legal system, decided to read some passages of Steve's book where he described how the isolation, abuse and humiliation drove him to seek a sexual outlet with prostitutes and other men aloud to the assembled SRF congregation. No other passages were read aloud.
All of the current members of SRF have sworn to not read Steve's book. It's no wonder why.
If you are interested in Spiritual Perversion, here are some links to get you started:
Spiritual Redemption Blog
A Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Another Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Yet Another Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Buy "Spiritual Perversion"
Steve's no saint and he admits it - that is also well described in his book. But behind he un-saintly behavior is a graphic description of daily life at The Spiritual Rights Foundation. Steve's frustration with SRF is directed at the founder, Bill Duby and much of the megalomania, foul behavior and unrelenting verbal abuse did indeed come from Bill. Some amount of that behavior ended with Bill's death in 2001. However, his legacy of control, greed and incomprehensibly irrational and impulsive behavior continued.
Steve Sanchez describes several events in his book. Many were stories of how Bill Duby (Rev. Bill to his followers) influenced his followers to work for the church for free, actively and deliberately pitted spouses against each other, turned children against their parents and started for-profit companies (owned by himself, his partner or his wife) using the money donated to the non-profit church as start-up capital. Monies earned from these for-profit companies were then skimmed off to pay the church's board or directors - who would serve as the for-profit company "managers". People like Steve, who were the for-profit company's employees were paid less than market rate wages and frequently, paid nothing at all.
I won't go into the details here as Spiritual Perversion can be previewed on Google Books and purchased at Amazon. I will say that I had either witnessed or was told of several of the events he writes about. While some of those events have some artistic license applied to them, in general they are accurate. Spiritual Perversion is not a well-written book by any stretch of the imagination. It is one of the few first-hand accounts of life in a cult of mind control and it will put a chill down your spine.
Steve describes many events where he was fiercely berated, shunned and humiliated in front of his SRF peers, students - even his wife and child. He also describes having to work for SRF for free. In one utterly amazing event, The Spiritual Rights Foundation stooped so low as to force him to turn over every penny he had (even the small amount in his pants pocket) and work a full work week in an SRF-owned construction company for absolutely no pay.
That event was prompted by a supposedly illegal act Steve committed while employed by an SRF-owned construction business. From what I was told about the acts, Steve's actions were maybe a bit shady but less than illegal. Besides, he was paid very little - about half of market rate, and was forced to support his then-current wife (who did not work outside the home), support his two daughters and find room to pay the fees demanded by The Spiritual Rights Foundation. Did I mention he had to tithe also? Who wouldn't resort to some shady dealings if he was desperate to feed his family? Why not deal a bit for yourself, if the church was paying you with the left hand and taking away with the right, especially if you have a family?
However, The Spiritual Rights Foundation called it embezzlement. According to Steve and others, the President of SRF conjured up evidence against Steve while in a self-induced trance state. Using the visions experienced in this trance state, the President of The Spiritual Rights Foundation concluded that a criminal act was committed and set a dollar value on the amount supposedly "stolen". According to Steve's writings, he was not presented with actual concrete evidence of theft.
Steve was led to believe that felony charges would be filed unless he submitted himself to humiliating, degrading, and very likely illegal "retribution".
I would have loved to see that case presented to the district attorney. What reaction would you expect from an officer of the court when you ask him to prosecute a guy, claiming a psychic vision as evidence? Maybe the D.A.'s office would have picked up the hot line to the nearest psych ward. Come to think of it, that's probably why no one went to the D.A.'s office. Why risk having the D.A. throw you in the nut house, when you can just bully, intimidate and degrade someone you hate?
Even if there was an illegal act and even if Steve could have been convicted, no one has the right to confiscate a man's entire paycheck in order to make restitution. The courts and common sense insist that a person making restitution deserves to keep at least enough to feed, clothe and otherwise care for himself. But if you are The Spiritual Rights Foundation, you believe you have the right to take everything that anyone owns or earns and leave that person's living to his own devices.
The Spiritual Rights Foundation exerted such control over Steve, he believed they would ruin his life. In fact, his life was ruined much earlier as his wife (who was a devoted SRF member) and child (who was intentionally kept away from him and raised within SRF) were told to shun him as he was at a "lower vibration" and could contaminate their spiritual growth. Steve could not live with his family for a long time.
After the alleged theft incident, he soon hit bottom with The Spiritual Rights Foundation and made the decision to get out and get away to save his life. Steve's book is his way to heal the trauma and inform the public of the inner workings of dangerous cults. He is now re-married and is living a very comfortable and happy life.
If you do have an interest in mind control cults, Spiritual Perversion is a fair account of the kind of behavior the current and former members faced in The Spiritual Rights Foundation. He makes no conclusions nor does he direct the reader to any opinions. It reads like his journal, rather than a textbook. But, reading Spiritual Perversion can help make sense of situations such as the FLDS polygamist cult and others.
Of course, The Spiritual Rights Foundation hates this book. Shortly after it's publication, the President of SRF related to me that she was seeking a legal action against Amazon.com because one of the book's reviewers used the phrase "Spiritual Rights Foundation" on the book's web page without saying that the term was owned by the "Spiritual Rights Foundation". She went on to say she instructed her attorney to begin a lawsuit.
The only problem with that is, a search on the U.S. Copyright Office and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could find no registration for the term "Spiritual Rights Foundation". Besides, that term was not use in a manner that usurped their name for commercial purposes or confused it with something else. It was used in a commentary, which constitutes fair use. Even better, she was not smart enough to look at the Amazon legal page stating that all copyrighted terms belong to their owner - a perfectly legal way to give attribution to copyright holders.
The offending statement "The Spiritual Rights Foundation" is still there on Amazon. I wonder how hard the Amazon legal team laughed?
Well if you can't beat them in the courts, try to make the guy look bad. The president, rebuffed by the legal system, decided to read some passages of Steve's book where he described how the isolation, abuse and humiliation drove him to seek a sexual outlet with prostitutes and other men aloud to the assembled SRF congregation. No other passages were read aloud.
All of the current members of SRF have sworn to not read Steve's book. It's no wonder why.
If you are interested in Spiritual Perversion, here are some links to get you started:
Spiritual Redemption Blog
A Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Another Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Yet Another Review of "Spiritual Perversion"
Buy "Spiritual Perversion"
Saturday, March 22, 2008
How did I get wrapped up in this anyway?
OK, so I am a reasonably intelligent guy. I'm no Einstein but I do have more common sense than a stapler. What gets a perfectly average Joe like me to wind up getting wrapped up in the really awful situation of having joined a notorious cult?
It's a simple answer and a really complex explanation: everyone need to feel like they have something to hold on to and everyone needs to feel like they belong to someone or something. Despite all the great things we all have in life, there's always something deep inside that haves you looking for more. That's what groups like the Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) looks for.
With crushing job stress and my fair share of failed relationships under my belt I was looking to fill a huge hole in my life. SRF, as it turned out, was on the hunt for a person with an ample bank account and knowledge of PC's. They got me the first time I walked in. How they figured I would fit the bill for them is beyond me. But they were friendly, in their own way. Guess that is how I got sucked in.
I will detail more about the cult as well as my experiences with it in later posts. This time, I'll just lay out some foundation (no pun intended). I will also say that events related here, while correct to my recollection and understanding, may have minor differences to actual events. Still, I would hope that what I describe here will convey the spirit of actual events.
The Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) is a non-profit religious organization formed some 25 years ago by former students of the Berkeley Psychic Institute. Two of those founders have been treated for severe mental illness prior to founding SRF. One of those founders, Pastor Willam Duby (known as Reverend Bill), often raved that he received government disability benefits for being "legally insane" and that he "rescued" a fellow founder from "the crazy house" - which is believed to be a psychiatric hospital. The exact nature of his and the other founding member's illness have not been disclosed, but speculation is that schizophrenia, with paranoia or acute psychosis were likely diagnoses.
SRF has been strongly against the practice of Psychology and especially Psychiatry. With the knowledge of the founder's experiences with Psychiatry, there should be no wonder why. This mistrust of the behavioral sciences is so strong, that students and staff of SRF are required to sign a contract that prohibits the use of counseling or psychiatric treatment.
It's no secret that many schizophrenics and psychotics have religious delusions. It's also no secret that paranoids mistrust the behavioral sciences more than any other element in their lives. The teaching at SRF instilled fear and distrust of psychology, saying that psychologists just "get into your head" and provide no worthwhile treatment.
Psychiatrists fare even worse in the eyes of SRF: psychiatric medicines were said to "freeze" those who are so un-enlightened to use them at the state of mind that exists when treatment begins. So in SRF dogma, anyone swallowing a Prozac will be depressive forever. Even in the afterlife.
Now considering that two founders of SRF had some amount of time in the psych ward, did their experience with psychiatric medicines "freeze" them at their state of insanity? If they were, then how did they "un-freeze" to arise in enlightenment to found a spiritual foundation? And how come no one gets to learn about that?
I never asked. It just never occurred to me. I suppose that is what organizations like SRF bank on - that the members will be so caught up in the organization's propaganda that no one could question the people dealing it.
I drank the Kool-Aid.
Bill was an incredibly charismatic and interesting guy. Loquacious when he wanted to be, quiet when it suited him. Full of laughter and merriment on moment and consumed with rage the next. His talks and writings were engaging. Some of his teaching sessions ran all night, keeping us all rapt in attention. Several times I found myself spending whole weekends there with little sleep just to be around the "energy". He was amazing to watch. I'd never seen anyone like him before.
He positioned himself as your friend, father, brother, counseler. That's what hooked me in. There was an amzaing amount of commitment and deep, hearfelt effort put into promoting the good news that we had to deliver to the world. We would stay up all night sometimes helping out building web sites, doing construction labor, writing articles for the newspaper, speaking on the podcast, or just being there.
They tell you that one hour of trancing their way equals eight hours of sleep. So, you really don't need to sleep much. And the best psychic work is done after midnight. Every night, there is a "spirit patrol" where a group of people "clean" the energy at SRF and work on various projects such as cleaning the facilities, writing, recording hypnosis or trance materials and getting rid of bad energy from people like me. This spirit patrol begins at about 11:00 at night and carries on until 3AM.
I've met several good people during my time there and keep in touch with as many as I can. Those people are the ones who are out of the "energy" - they have all left the clutches of SRF. The ones I know who stayed aren't interested in staying in touch. Besides, they have to stay up all night cleaning up the psychic mess I am leaving behind through this blog.
Thanks to a bit of awakening and some good fortune, I was able to see the place for what it really is: a psychic pyramid scheme. In order to get more money, they needed more people to give them free labor and a regular income. Now that Bill is dead (he passed in 2001), that charismatic figure is gone and the same old motley crew is living out the same old scripts that keep them on a treadmill to nowhere.
There is more. I'll post as often as I can.
It's a simple answer and a really complex explanation: everyone need to feel like they have something to hold on to and everyone needs to feel like they belong to someone or something. Despite all the great things we all have in life, there's always something deep inside that haves you looking for more. That's what groups like the Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) looks for.
With crushing job stress and my fair share of failed relationships under my belt I was looking to fill a huge hole in my life. SRF, as it turned out, was on the hunt for a person with an ample bank account and knowledge of PC's. They got me the first time I walked in. How they figured I would fit the bill for them is beyond me. But they were friendly, in their own way. Guess that is how I got sucked in.
I will detail more about the cult as well as my experiences with it in later posts. This time, I'll just lay out some foundation (no pun intended). I will also say that events related here, while correct to my recollection and understanding, may have minor differences to actual events. Still, I would hope that what I describe here will convey the spirit of actual events.
The Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) is a non-profit religious organization formed some 25 years ago by former students of the Berkeley Psychic Institute. Two of those founders have been treated for severe mental illness prior to founding SRF. One of those founders, Pastor Willam Duby (known as Reverend Bill), often raved that he received government disability benefits for being "legally insane" and that he "rescued" a fellow founder from "the crazy house" - which is believed to be a psychiatric hospital. The exact nature of his and the other founding member's illness have not been disclosed, but speculation is that schizophrenia, with paranoia or acute psychosis were likely diagnoses.
SRF has been strongly against the practice of Psychology and especially Psychiatry. With the knowledge of the founder's experiences with Psychiatry, there should be no wonder why. This mistrust of the behavioral sciences is so strong, that students and staff of SRF are required to sign a contract that prohibits the use of counseling or psychiatric treatment.
It's no secret that many schizophrenics and psychotics have religious delusions. It's also no secret that paranoids mistrust the behavioral sciences more than any other element in their lives. The teaching at SRF instilled fear and distrust of psychology, saying that psychologists just "get into your head" and provide no worthwhile treatment.
Psychiatrists fare even worse in the eyes of SRF: psychiatric medicines were said to "freeze" those who are so un-enlightened to use them at the state of mind that exists when treatment begins. So in SRF dogma, anyone swallowing a Prozac will be depressive forever. Even in the afterlife.
Now considering that two founders of SRF had some amount of time in the psych ward, did their experience with psychiatric medicines "freeze" them at their state of insanity? If they were, then how did they "un-freeze" to arise in enlightenment to found a spiritual foundation? And how come no one gets to learn about that?
I never asked. It just never occurred to me. I suppose that is what organizations like SRF bank on - that the members will be so caught up in the organization's propaganda that no one could question the people dealing it.
I drank the Kool-Aid.
Bill was an incredibly charismatic and interesting guy. Loquacious when he wanted to be, quiet when it suited him. Full of laughter and merriment on moment and consumed with rage the next. His talks and writings were engaging. Some of his teaching sessions ran all night, keeping us all rapt in attention. Several times I found myself spending whole weekends there with little sleep just to be around the "energy". He was amazing to watch. I'd never seen anyone like him before.
He positioned himself as your friend, father, brother, counseler. That's what hooked me in. There was an amzaing amount of commitment and deep, hearfelt effort put into promoting the good news that we had to deliver to the world. We would stay up all night sometimes helping out building web sites, doing construction labor, writing articles for the newspaper, speaking on the podcast, or just being there.
They tell you that one hour of trancing their way equals eight hours of sleep. So, you really don't need to sleep much. And the best psychic work is done after midnight. Every night, there is a "spirit patrol" where a group of people "clean" the energy at SRF and work on various projects such as cleaning the facilities, writing, recording hypnosis or trance materials and getting rid of bad energy from people like me. This spirit patrol begins at about 11:00 at night and carries on until 3AM.
I've met several good people during my time there and keep in touch with as many as I can. Those people are the ones who are out of the "energy" - they have all left the clutches of SRF. The ones I know who stayed aren't interested in staying in touch. Besides, they have to stay up all night cleaning up the psychic mess I am leaving behind through this blog.
Thanks to a bit of awakening and some good fortune, I was able to see the place for what it really is: a psychic pyramid scheme. In order to get more money, they needed more people to give them free labor and a regular income. Now that Bill is dead (he passed in 2001), that charismatic figure is gone and the same old motley crew is living out the same old scripts that keep them on a treadmill to nowhere.
There is more. I'll post as often as I can.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Silence = Death
This post (and many of the comments) has been moved to:
http://leavingsrf.blogspot.com/2010/01/stop-silence.html
Try the home page for the latest and greatest:
http://leavingsrf.blogspot.com
But the original Spiritual Rights Foundation response to this blog is below as a comment.
I offered them a link on every damn page of this blog but they turned it down.
They also insisted the response be displayed for two years. That means they guaranteed this blog will continue for at least two years. Why would I turn THAT down?
Do take a look at that "response". It's a laugher.
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