Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 28
correspondence between word and meaning. (as cited in Sim and Van Loon,
p. 89)
In viewing language and the creation of meaning through this lens, the cult leader‘s attempt
to halt that slippage of meaning by allowing only loaded language can be conceptualized as
the leader filling the gap within the cult member‘s psyche—the gap so essential for feeling,
thinking, symbol formation, and, thus, creativity.
Critical theory represents an approach to cultural criticism that is characterized by beliefs in
multiple interpretation as well as in the illusory nature of totality without gap. This
philosophical stance, with its emphasis on uncertainty and the unknown, has much to offer
cultic studies, and in particular to recovery from the harmful effects of the totalism of cults.
Drawing on this thinking as well as Lalich‘s concept of ―transcendent belief,‖ I see the cult
as declaring a grand narrative, in Jean-Francois Lyotard‘s words (as cited in Belsey, 2002,
p. 99), while marginalizing the creative expression of ―little‖ narratives. A wonderful
introduction to poststructuralism by Catherine Belsey (2002) asks ―how far we should let
the existing language impose limits on what it is possible to think‖ (p. 4). She references
Lewis Carroll‘s ―Humpty Dumpty‖ and the question of meaning. Says Humpty Dumpty to
Alice, ―When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less‖
(Belsey, p. 1). Loaded language by definition imposes what it is possible to think and who is
to be in control.
7. Denial of Loss, Filling of Gap, and Vulnerability to Impairment of Symbolic
Functioning in Cults
In psychodynamic thinking, symbols are thought to arise out of recognition of absence,
based on the notion that the mind needs to imagine only that which is not present. For
instance, the child‘s earliest utterances help regulate her anxiety of absence by symbolically
representing the mother whom the child cannot see as ―mama.‖ Throughout life,
symbolizing loss is considered an important aspect of mourning. Thought and feeling
stopping in cults might be a conscious or unconscious response to indoctrination that
coercively imposes denial of loss. Former members often agonize about having complied
with the leader‘s command to not be present during family medical crises or a parent‘s
funeral. They come to question how it was possible that their sense of loss was replaced by
recommitment to the leader and to the ―work.‖ Such denial of loss might emerge as either a
defense again fear of cult leader rejection if pre-cult life is in any way valued, and/or as an
indication that the cult member is a ―true believer.‖ The net effect is that members to some
degree dissociate their own feelings and thoughts about loss.
Denial of loss and related suppression of symbol formation are psychodynamic concepts that
assume two levels of reality: unconscious and conscious. People sometimes ask what
psychodynamics or psychoanalysis mean. This approach to understanding the human
psyche is steeped in and primarily about how we unconsciously create symbols to
communicate. In the cult, the leader‘s message is that there is nothing before the cult.
There are no parents, no family, no people going through crises, dying, having strokes. In
turn, there is to be no mourning of loss by the cult member. Within psychodynamic
thinking, which centers on that part of human processing that creates and uses symbols,
symbol formation arises out of acknowledgement or mourning of absence or loss. When one
physically has something, the mind has no need to evoke an image of it. By not imaging
that which is absent, by not symbolizing the parents and other loved ones who are outside
of the cult, the member or SGA more successfully achieves full compliance and devotion. It
is extremely significant that loss, both pre-cult and while one is in the cult, is denied in
compliance with the indoctrination process. Because symbol formation and use are primary
aspects of creativity, it follows that if symbol formation is vulnerable to impairment in cults
as a result of ―thought and feeling stopping‖ about loss, creativity, in turn, is likely to be
correspondence between word and meaning. (as cited in Sim and Van Loon,
p. 89)
In viewing language and the creation of meaning through this lens, the cult leader‘s attempt
to halt that slippage of meaning by allowing only loaded language can be conceptualized as
the leader filling the gap within the cult member‘s psyche—the gap so essential for feeling,
thinking, symbol formation, and, thus, creativity.
Critical theory represents an approach to cultural criticism that is characterized by beliefs in
multiple interpretation as well as in the illusory nature of totality without gap. This
philosophical stance, with its emphasis on uncertainty and the unknown, has much to offer
cultic studies, and in particular to recovery from the harmful effects of the totalism of cults.
Drawing on this thinking as well as Lalich‘s concept of ―transcendent belief,‖ I see the cult
as declaring a grand narrative, in Jean-Francois Lyotard‘s words (as cited in Belsey, 2002,
p. 99), while marginalizing the creative expression of ―little‖ narratives. A wonderful
introduction to poststructuralism by Catherine Belsey (2002) asks ―how far we should let
the existing language impose limits on what it is possible to think‖ (p. 4). She references
Lewis Carroll‘s ―Humpty Dumpty‖ and the question of meaning. Says Humpty Dumpty to
Alice, ―When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less‖
(Belsey, p. 1). Loaded language by definition imposes what it is possible to think and who is
to be in control.
7. Denial of Loss, Filling of Gap, and Vulnerability to Impairment of Symbolic
Functioning in Cults
In psychodynamic thinking, symbols are thought to arise out of recognition of absence,
based on the notion that the mind needs to imagine only that which is not present. For
instance, the child‘s earliest utterances help regulate her anxiety of absence by symbolically
representing the mother whom the child cannot see as ―mama.‖ Throughout life,
symbolizing loss is considered an important aspect of mourning. Thought and feeling
stopping in cults might be a conscious or unconscious response to indoctrination that
coercively imposes denial of loss. Former members often agonize about having complied
with the leader‘s command to not be present during family medical crises or a parent‘s
funeral. They come to question how it was possible that their sense of loss was replaced by
recommitment to the leader and to the ―work.‖ Such denial of loss might emerge as either a
defense again fear of cult leader rejection if pre-cult life is in any way valued, and/or as an
indication that the cult member is a ―true believer.‖ The net effect is that members to some
degree dissociate their own feelings and thoughts about loss.
Denial of loss and related suppression of symbol formation are psychodynamic concepts that
assume two levels of reality: unconscious and conscious. People sometimes ask what
psychodynamics or psychoanalysis mean. This approach to understanding the human
psyche is steeped in and primarily about how we unconsciously create symbols to
communicate. In the cult, the leader‘s message is that there is nothing before the cult.
There are no parents, no family, no people going through crises, dying, having strokes. In
turn, there is to be no mourning of loss by the cult member. Within psychodynamic
thinking, which centers on that part of human processing that creates and uses symbols,
symbol formation arises out of acknowledgement or mourning of absence or loss. When one
physically has something, the mind has no need to evoke an image of it. By not imaging
that which is absent, by not symbolizing the parents and other loved ones who are outside
of the cult, the member or SGA more successfully achieves full compliance and devotion. It
is extremely significant that loss, both pre-cult and while one is in the cult, is denied in
compliance with the indoctrination process. Because symbol formation and use are primary
aspects of creativity, it follows that if symbol formation is vulnerable to impairment in cults
as a result of ―thought and feeling stopping‖ about loss, creativity, in turn, is likely to be
