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Originally Posted by nightdiamond  It can be the same with L.O.A ... the idea is nice, and shows potential, but a lot of people are doing the same thing that religious cults and extremists are doing- projecting extreme views of L.O.A . |
IMO, the comparison of LOA with religious cults is terribly and fundamentally flawed. There are too many differences, but I'd just mention the one which is the biggest to me:
Cults brainwash you into a certain fixed set of beliefs. So for instance a cult member may be brainwashed to believe that the earth will certainly end on a particular date; or that Reverend Moon is the saviour of the univers; or that you must eat this or must not eat that or must have sex or mustn't have sex or must wear certain types of clothes or must pray in certain ways or whatever; or you must be subservient to the cult leader etc etc.
LOA is the complete opposite. LOA frees you to consciously explore and re-examine every single one of your beliefs. It doesn't tell you what to believe - instead it suggests that you are potentially free to believe or disbelieve whatever you want. Thus it
encourages you to examine and explore all your thoughts and beliefs - from "big" things like life, death, religion, society, science, physics, medicine ..... down to "mundane", personal stuff like your thoughts and beliefs about your own relationships, health, wealth, career, personal fears, hopes etc. And after that, it is entirely up to you to try to accept, reject, change or develop ANY of those beliefs, as you please.
The linkage of LOA with cults is therefore, IMO, completely mistaken.