Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 6
50). Many former members and SGAs speak of various stretches of time during which such
a process could take place, while always also noting that having to meet the leader‘s
agenda, not to mention the constant fear of interruption or redirection, at best compromised
the experience.
A Note About the Cults and Creativity Survey
The survey results are drawn from a qualitative survey of a sample of roughly 175 ex-
members and mental health professionals who, though not representative of the broader
population of cultists, have considerable expertise or experience with cultic environments.
These two subject populations—ex-members/SGAs and mental health professionals—
approach the subject from the perspective of personal experience in the former and multiple
clinical observations in the latter. Despite the methodological limitations of the survey and
the sample, the agreement of the two populations does lend some support to the hypothesis
that cult environments tend to suppress creativity. Analyses of the variations within the
subject sample (e.g., some saw creativity as enhanced) and of subjects‘ narrative responses
help to illuminate various aspects of the topic. My psychodynamic analysis of cultic
environments suggests that one would expect creativity to be suppressed. The responses of
my subjects were consistent with this analysis. Because there is little or no empirical work
in this area, ours hopefully will inspire further study.
Overview
This introduction to the special issue of CSR assumes that creativity is critical not only for
personal well-being but also for the enhancement of society. It questions the individual and
global cost when creativity is a prime target of manipulation and control in cults. May
(1975/1994) cogently states, ―Creativity is ...involved in our every experience as we try to
make meaning in our self-world relationship‖ (p. 134) further, ―Creative courage is the
discovering of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which society can be built,‖ and
―in creating new symbols the creative person ‗lives out of their imaginations‘‖ (pp. 21, 22).
The antithesis of this is found in cults, as per Robert J. Lifton (1961) who, in his seminal
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, states, ―In cults, the leader systematically
causes the member‘s imagination to become dissociated from actual life experiences,‖ and it
―may even tend to atrophy from disuse‖ (p. 430). I suggest that the concept ―atrophying of
imagination‖ might contribute to our understanding of other concepts regarding the impact
of cults namely, a) the symbolic death and rebirth of self in relation to totalist conversion
processes (Stein, 2007, p. 40) b) ―the dedicated adherent becom[ing] a ‗a true believer‘ in
the sense of being a deployable agent for the group or leader‖ (Lalich, 2004b, p. 228) and
c) ―enter[ing] a social psychological state of being that [Lalich] calls the bounded choice: in
essence, life outside the cult has become impossible to imagine‖ (p. 228).
For many former members and SGAs, there is a ―last draw‖—a moment or perhaps many,
conscious and unconscious, whereby fear of the cult leader and the abuse, shunning, and
expelling of the member from cult by the leader‘s surrogates leads to self-renunciation of
self-expression as part of the bounded choice. Alex Stein describes cultic experience as ―a
pattern … of praise/punishment, leniency and assault build up your ego, then break it down
in front of a group of people‖ (Stein, 2002, p. 304). It is possible to imagine that, during the
honeymoon stages of the emotional roller coaster ride Stein describes, creativity might be
enhanced or at least experienced as such. Haas in the issue states that technique alone can
make a commodity, while true creation requires an intuitive leap into the unknown. It is
interesting to consider the moments of possible enhancement of creativity that involve
solely development of technique rather than true creation.
A moment of great revelation occurred during post-cult recovery treatment when a pre-cult
award-winning artist with whom I work stated, after some years, that she was making
things in the cult, not in her own creative process. Was the revelation that she was making
50). Many former members and SGAs speak of various stretches of time during which such
a process could take place, while always also noting that having to meet the leader‘s
agenda, not to mention the constant fear of interruption or redirection, at best compromised
the experience.
A Note About the Cults and Creativity Survey
The survey results are drawn from a qualitative survey of a sample of roughly 175 ex-
members and mental health professionals who, though not representative of the broader
population of cultists, have considerable expertise or experience with cultic environments.
These two subject populations—ex-members/SGAs and mental health professionals—
approach the subject from the perspective of personal experience in the former and multiple
clinical observations in the latter. Despite the methodological limitations of the survey and
the sample, the agreement of the two populations does lend some support to the hypothesis
that cult environments tend to suppress creativity. Analyses of the variations within the
subject sample (e.g., some saw creativity as enhanced) and of subjects‘ narrative responses
help to illuminate various aspects of the topic. My psychodynamic analysis of cultic
environments suggests that one would expect creativity to be suppressed. The responses of
my subjects were consistent with this analysis. Because there is little or no empirical work
in this area, ours hopefully will inspire further study.
Overview
This introduction to the special issue of CSR assumes that creativity is critical not only for
personal well-being but also for the enhancement of society. It questions the individual and
global cost when creativity is a prime target of manipulation and control in cults. May
(1975/1994) cogently states, ―Creativity is ...involved in our every experience as we try to
make meaning in our self-world relationship‖ (p. 134) further, ―Creative courage is the
discovering of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which society can be built,‖ and
―in creating new symbols the creative person ‗lives out of their imaginations‘‖ (pp. 21, 22).
The antithesis of this is found in cults, as per Robert J. Lifton (1961) who, in his seminal
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, states, ―In cults, the leader systematically
causes the member‘s imagination to become dissociated from actual life experiences,‖ and it
―may even tend to atrophy from disuse‖ (p. 430). I suggest that the concept ―atrophying of
imagination‖ might contribute to our understanding of other concepts regarding the impact
of cults namely, a) the symbolic death and rebirth of self in relation to totalist conversion
processes (Stein, 2007, p. 40) b) ―the dedicated adherent becom[ing] a ‗a true believer‘ in
the sense of being a deployable agent for the group or leader‖ (Lalich, 2004b, p. 228) and
c) ―enter[ing] a social psychological state of being that [Lalich] calls the bounded choice: in
essence, life outside the cult has become impossible to imagine‖ (p. 228).
For many former members and SGAs, there is a ―last draw‖—a moment or perhaps many,
conscious and unconscious, whereby fear of the cult leader and the abuse, shunning, and
expelling of the member from cult by the leader‘s surrogates leads to self-renunciation of
self-expression as part of the bounded choice. Alex Stein describes cultic experience as ―a
pattern … of praise/punishment, leniency and assault build up your ego, then break it down
in front of a group of people‖ (Stein, 2002, p. 304). It is possible to imagine that, during the
honeymoon stages of the emotional roller coaster ride Stein describes, creativity might be
enhanced or at least experienced as such. Haas in the issue states that technique alone can
make a commodity, while true creation requires an intuitive leap into the unknown. It is
interesting to consider the moments of possible enhancement of creativity that involve
solely development of technique rather than true creation.
A moment of great revelation occurred during post-cult recovery treatment when a pre-cult
award-winning artist with whom I work stated, after some years, that she was making
things in the cult, not in her own creative process. Was the revelation that she was making
