International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019 87
611). This is an important observation. The Love
Family’s membership was self-selected, in that
people chose to join because the Family offered
something they wanted. They knew they would
have to change and were willing to do so, or at
least give it a try. Self-selection continued after
members joined because turnover was high
among the Hebrew names. At the same time,
selection by the Family also occurred because
not everyone who wanted to join was allowed to.
The community effectively screened out free
riders and people unlikely to adapt to the
Family’s culture.
The result of these selection processes was a
membership ready and willing to go with the
program, and Ms. Israel’s book is peppered with
examples of how Family beliefs and practices
then facilitated the process. The core belief was
“We are One,” and there was enormous pressure
to be One, to not have personal opinions or
independent ideas. Individual thoughts were
from Satan. Any negative comment would result
in gentle admonishments to stay “positive” (p.
88), “take it up” (p. 89), or “brighten up” (p. 91)
and members would be reminded that “thoughts
create” (p. 88). If you continued to hold to an
independent viewpoint, you would be labeled
“dark” (p. 91) and subjected to gossip and
ostracism. Given the rewards of membership—
meaning, purpose, security, and a community of
friends—the cost of leaving was simply too
high. The result was constant self-monitoring
and the suppression of contrary thoughts and
feelings, which, in turn created an illusion of
Oneness in the community. For those like Ms.
Israel, who still harbored “separate thoughts” (p.
91), the appearance of unanimity fostered guilt:
Why am I the only one who doesn’t get it?
Marijuana and, in particular, psychedelic drugs
were used to reinforce the Family’s belief
system. They were regarded as “sacraments”—
marijuana because it brought people together,
and psychedelics because they produced visions.
Visions were common and always discussed in
meetings, where they were recounted in ways
that confirmed Family beliefs, Love Israel’s
authority, or both. Of course, some people made
up visions because there was such great pressure
to have them, and those who didn’t wondered
why they didn’t get it.
Ms. Israel and several of her peers were
introduced to LSD when they were just 12 or 13
years of age. The occasion was an informal rite
of passage, approved by Love and conducted by
an elder acting as guide. The purpose of the LSD
was to help the kids experience Love Israel’s
vision of the Oneness of all things. And Ms.
Israel did have such a vision. Afterward, the idea
of being One “no longer was just something I
was being told it was something I had
experienced, something I had felt, that was very
real, a way of thinking that was now part of my
awareness” (p. 213).
Nonetheless, Ms. Israel struggled with
questions. She wondered how everything could
exist in the present and was confused about
being eternal, especially after she learned about
babies who had died in the community. (These
deaths were never reported to authorities outside
the Family.) But she quickly accepted Family
beliefs, and she describes the blissful feeling of
merging with the collective mind during Family
gatherings. She felt safe and protected by a
loving community. Yet at other times she found
Family life to be “oppressive” (p. 146). For an
escape, she liked to befriend new members who
didn’t know the rules yet because they would
talk about the past and life in the outside world.
“I craved my own mind,” she says, adding that
she would sneak off by herself “just to be alone”
(p. 147). Her diary was perhaps her most
significant way of maintaining her individuality.
So secret was it that she wrote in a code that she
had invented in case someone found it.
If I have given the impression that Ms. Israel’s
book dwells on the matter of commitment, it is
only because the subject is of great interest to
me. In fact, she addresses a wide range of issues
pertaining to communal survival. These include
health and medicine, sexual relationships,
parenting, education, the acquisition and
allocation of resources, relationships with
government agencies and other communities,
and the roots of the discontent that ignited the
breakup in 1983. Here I will touch on a few of
these.
The chapter on medicine (Chapter 8) reveals the
perils of trying to live without it. Since members
were considered eternal, illness was an illusion,
611). This is an important observation. The Love
Family’s membership was self-selected, in that
people chose to join because the Family offered
something they wanted. They knew they would
have to change and were willing to do so, or at
least give it a try. Self-selection continued after
members joined because turnover was high
among the Hebrew names. At the same time,
selection by the Family also occurred because
not everyone who wanted to join was allowed to.
The community effectively screened out free
riders and people unlikely to adapt to the
Family’s culture.
The result of these selection processes was a
membership ready and willing to go with the
program, and Ms. Israel’s book is peppered with
examples of how Family beliefs and practices
then facilitated the process. The core belief was
“We are One,” and there was enormous pressure
to be One, to not have personal opinions or
independent ideas. Individual thoughts were
from Satan. Any negative comment would result
in gentle admonishments to stay “positive” (p.
88), “take it up” (p. 89), or “brighten up” (p. 91)
and members would be reminded that “thoughts
create” (p. 88). If you continued to hold to an
independent viewpoint, you would be labeled
“dark” (p. 91) and subjected to gossip and
ostracism. Given the rewards of membership—
meaning, purpose, security, and a community of
friends—the cost of leaving was simply too
high. The result was constant self-monitoring
and the suppression of contrary thoughts and
feelings, which, in turn created an illusion of
Oneness in the community. For those like Ms.
Israel, who still harbored “separate thoughts” (p.
91), the appearance of unanimity fostered guilt:
Why am I the only one who doesn’t get it?
Marijuana and, in particular, psychedelic drugs
were used to reinforce the Family’s belief
system. They were regarded as “sacraments”—
marijuana because it brought people together,
and psychedelics because they produced visions.
Visions were common and always discussed in
meetings, where they were recounted in ways
that confirmed Family beliefs, Love Israel’s
authority, or both. Of course, some people made
up visions because there was such great pressure
to have them, and those who didn’t wondered
why they didn’t get it.
Ms. Israel and several of her peers were
introduced to LSD when they were just 12 or 13
years of age. The occasion was an informal rite
of passage, approved by Love and conducted by
an elder acting as guide. The purpose of the LSD
was to help the kids experience Love Israel’s
vision of the Oneness of all things. And Ms.
Israel did have such a vision. Afterward, the idea
of being One “no longer was just something I
was being told it was something I had
experienced, something I had felt, that was very
real, a way of thinking that was now part of my
awareness” (p. 213).
Nonetheless, Ms. Israel struggled with
questions. She wondered how everything could
exist in the present and was confused about
being eternal, especially after she learned about
babies who had died in the community. (These
deaths were never reported to authorities outside
the Family.) But she quickly accepted Family
beliefs, and she describes the blissful feeling of
merging with the collective mind during Family
gatherings. She felt safe and protected by a
loving community. Yet at other times she found
Family life to be “oppressive” (p. 146). For an
escape, she liked to befriend new members who
didn’t know the rules yet because they would
talk about the past and life in the outside world.
“I craved my own mind,” she says, adding that
she would sneak off by herself “just to be alone”
(p. 147). Her diary was perhaps her most
significant way of maintaining her individuality.
So secret was it that she wrote in a code that she
had invented in case someone found it.
If I have given the impression that Ms. Israel’s
book dwells on the matter of commitment, it is
only because the subject is of great interest to
me. In fact, she addresses a wide range of issues
pertaining to communal survival. These include
health and medicine, sexual relationships,
parenting, education, the acquisition and
allocation of resources, relationships with
government agencies and other communities,
and the roots of the discontent that ignited the
breakup in 1983. Here I will touch on a few of
these.
The chapter on medicine (Chapter 8) reveals the
perils of trying to live without it. Since members
were considered eternal, illness was an illusion,
