Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 5
dispensing of existence is taken literally in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and elsewhere,
people were put to death for alleged doctrinal shortcomings. In the People‟s Temple mass
suicide-murder in Guyana, a cult leader presided over the literal dispensing of existence by
means of a suicidal mystique he himself had made a central theme in the group‟s ideology.
The totalistic impulse to draw a sharp line between those who have the right to live and
those who do not is especially dangerous in the nuclear age.
Historical Context
Totalism should always be considered within a specific historical context. A significant
feature of contemporary life is the historical (or psychohistorical) dislocation resulting from
a loss of the symbolic structures that organize ritual transitions in the life cycle, and a decay
of belief systems concerning religion, authority, marriage, family, and death. One function
of cults is to provide a group initiation rite for the transition to early adult life, and the
formation of an adult identity outside the family. Cult members have good reasons for
seeing attempts by the larger culture to make such provisions as hypocritical or confused.
In providing substitute symbols for young people, cults are both radical and reactionary.
They are radical because they suggest rude questions about middle-class family life and
American political and religious values in general. They are reactionary because they revive
pre-modern structures of authority and sometimes establish fascist patterns of internal
organization. Furthermore, in their assault on autonomy and self-definition, some cults
reject a liberating historical process that has evolved with great struggle and pain in the
West since the Renaissance. (Cults must be considered individually in making such
judgments.) Historical dislocation is one source of what I call the “protean style.” This
involves a continuous psychological experimentation with the self, a capacity for endorsing
contradictory ideas at the same time, and a tendency to change one‟s ideas, companions,
and way of life with relative ease. Cults embody a contrary “restricted style,” a flight from
experimentation and the confusion of a protean world. These contraries are related groups
and individuals can embrace a protean and a restricted style in turn. For instance, the so-
called hippie ethos of the 1960s and 1970s has been replaced by the present so-called
Yuppie preoccupation with safe jobs and comfortable incomes. For some people,
experimentation with a cult is part of the protean search.
The imagery of extinction derived from the contemporary threat of nuclear war influences
patterns of totalism and fundamentalism throughout the world. Nuclear war threatens
human continuity itself and impairs the symbols of immortality. Cults seize upon this threat
to provide immortalizing principles of their own. The cult environment supplies a continuous
opportunity for the experience of transcendence --a mode of symbolic immortality generally
suppressed in advanced industrial society.
Role of Psychology
Cults raise serious psychological concerns, and there is a place for psychologists and
psychiatrists in understanding and treating cult members. But our powers as mental health
professionals are limited, so we should exercise restraint. When helping a young person
confused about a cult situation, it is important to maintain a personal therapeutic contract
so that one is not working for the cult or for the parents. Totalism begets totalism. What is
called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to
physical coercion and kidnapping, with thought-reform-like techniques, on the other. My
own position, which I have repeatedly conveyed to parents and others who consult me, is to
oppose coercion at either end of the cult process. Cults are primarily a social and cultural
rather than a psychiatric or legal problem. But psychological professionals can make
important contributions to the public education crucial for dealing with the problem. With
greater knowledge about them, people are less susceptible to deception, and for that reason
some cults have been finding it more difficult to recruit members.
dispensing of existence is taken literally in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and elsewhere,
people were put to death for alleged doctrinal shortcomings. In the People‟s Temple mass
suicide-murder in Guyana, a cult leader presided over the literal dispensing of existence by
means of a suicidal mystique he himself had made a central theme in the group‟s ideology.
The totalistic impulse to draw a sharp line between those who have the right to live and
those who do not is especially dangerous in the nuclear age.
Historical Context
Totalism should always be considered within a specific historical context. A significant
feature of contemporary life is the historical (or psychohistorical) dislocation resulting from
a loss of the symbolic structures that organize ritual transitions in the life cycle, and a decay
of belief systems concerning religion, authority, marriage, family, and death. One function
of cults is to provide a group initiation rite for the transition to early adult life, and the
formation of an adult identity outside the family. Cult members have good reasons for
seeing attempts by the larger culture to make such provisions as hypocritical or confused.
In providing substitute symbols for young people, cults are both radical and reactionary.
They are radical because they suggest rude questions about middle-class family life and
American political and religious values in general. They are reactionary because they revive
pre-modern structures of authority and sometimes establish fascist patterns of internal
organization. Furthermore, in their assault on autonomy and self-definition, some cults
reject a liberating historical process that has evolved with great struggle and pain in the
West since the Renaissance. (Cults must be considered individually in making such
judgments.) Historical dislocation is one source of what I call the “protean style.” This
involves a continuous psychological experimentation with the self, a capacity for endorsing
contradictory ideas at the same time, and a tendency to change one‟s ideas, companions,
and way of life with relative ease. Cults embody a contrary “restricted style,” a flight from
experimentation and the confusion of a protean world. These contraries are related groups
and individuals can embrace a protean and a restricted style in turn. For instance, the so-
called hippie ethos of the 1960s and 1970s has been replaced by the present so-called
Yuppie preoccupation with safe jobs and comfortable incomes. For some people,
experimentation with a cult is part of the protean search.
The imagery of extinction derived from the contemporary threat of nuclear war influences
patterns of totalism and fundamentalism throughout the world. Nuclear war threatens
human continuity itself and impairs the symbols of immortality. Cults seize upon this threat
to provide immortalizing principles of their own. The cult environment supplies a continuous
opportunity for the experience of transcendence --a mode of symbolic immortality generally
suppressed in advanced industrial society.
Role of Psychology
Cults raise serious psychological concerns, and there is a place for psychologists and
psychiatrists in understanding and treating cult members. But our powers as mental health
professionals are limited, so we should exercise restraint. When helping a young person
confused about a cult situation, it is important to maintain a personal therapeutic contract
so that one is not working for the cult or for the parents. Totalism begets totalism. What is
called deprogramming includes a continuum from intense dialogue on the one hand to
physical coercion and kidnapping, with thought-reform-like techniques, on the other. My
own position, which I have repeatedly conveyed to parents and others who consult me, is to
oppose coercion at either end of the cult process. Cults are primarily a social and cultural
rather than a psychiatric or legal problem. But psychological professionals can make
important contributions to the public education crucial for dealing with the problem. With
greater knowledge about them, people are less susceptible to deception, and for that reason
some cults have been finding it more difficult to recruit members.
