Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 101
search for more isolation, the leader and his followers may come to view hostile land or
regions with extreme climate as safe environments.
Often a complete segregation of the sexes will be the guiding principle ordering the spatial
organization within the community. To ensure the most complete protection from the
impurities of society and avoid contamination philosophy of purity groups will value self-
sufficiency highly.
Social Organization
Members place high value on two principles that often come into conflict in their social
organization. On the one hand, egalitarianism through uniformity is actively sought, and on
the other, autarky is highly valued. Some individuals, however, become indispensable to the
group owing to their greater capacity at ensuring self-sufficiency for the community. This
entails a conflict of value within the group since, according to the first principle, no
individual qualities should be identifiable, but according to the second, the community must
depend on itself to ensure its isolation from the rest of the world.
This paradox places constant strain on the entire social organization and puts able
individuals in a difficult position because even if their capabilities are much needed,
recognition is denied and pride is frowned upon. One way of reducing this moral conflict is to
favor group work. By favoring small working units the abilities, and limits of individual
members become indistinguishable. Thus, work is accomplished by a working unit of
unindividualized members who are, nonetheless, of varying levels of competence. Such
discrepancy may often be the source of much guilt-provoking frustration for members.
Another strategy for adapting the social organization to a philosophy of purity is to view
individual competency as a demonstration of the purity of one‘s soul. The rationale for this
representation of talent is that it is considered possible to work in an optimal fashion when
one has control over distraction, emotional or bodily needs, and physical limitations. In this
way, the more able individuals can be recognized as such since their ability is associated
with their being purer than fellow members. Although such discrimination often awakens
jealousy and envy, these emotions may not be expressed or even acknowledged within
oneself without evoking a despairing feeling of failure. To ward off such personal grief,
group purification rituals are used. Nonetheless, by publicly accusing oneself of this type of
emotional sin, the offending member appears impure. Consequently, an informal hierarchy
progressively forms in which individuals are viewed as more competent and purer, if they
are of an unemotional character type while individuals who are of a more emotional
character type will be seen as the least talented and the least pure. Furthermore, since
confrontation, competitiveness, aggressiveness, or even assertiveness are associated with
human nature, and thus with impurity, an outward atmosphere of harmony is sought at all
times. Although tensions between members inevitably exist, perfect control of one‘s
emotions is expected of all members. This expectation adds impetus to the ritualization of
relationships between members.
Philosophy of Survival
Groups that share a philosophy of survival can be said to exemplify the following aphorism:
if you‟re not with us, you‟re against us. In these groups, projection of maliciousness outside
the group makes the world appear dangerous to members. Thus, such groups adopt an
extreme version of a philosophy of separation by which they not only differentiate between
us and them, but also project upon them all that is seen as bad. Since all that is associated
with maliciousness is intolerable, all that can be interpreted as representing evil is
systematically attributed to the world outside the group. One consequence of such a
philosophy is that by continuously attributing evil to the outside world, members come to
view as potential enemies everyone who is not part of the group. Leaders and members of

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 102
such groups thus feel in danger of being victimized by political leaders, public institutions,
the police, and anyone who has some level of institutionalized authority. Feeling constantly
threatened, they strongly believe they must protect themselves against outside attack.
Leadership
Usually, the leader rules as a plenipotentiary master who exercises power in a solitary
fashion, although he may choose a select few to assist him in his work. In extreme cases,
the leader will have total control over the group as well as over all aspects of each
individual‘s life. But even in less extreme cases, the authority of the leader is never
contested since the members often regard him as an earthly god. As a result of this
attribution of godlike wisdom and authority to the leader, he is usually the focus of the
group‘s life.
The leader usually makes all decisions, from the most important to the most banal.
However, when this is not feasible because of the large size of the community, decisions
made by others are provisional, as the leader can overturn each for whatever reason. As he
exercises power in a totalitarian fashion, he usually wants to be informed of all that goes on
among the members. Moreover, he may tend to establish a coercive mode of relating to his
followers, sometimes to the extent of being tyrannical and frequently resorting to the use of
sanctions or even harsh physical punishment.
Also, the imagery surrounding the leader will often present him not only as the spiritual
father of all, but as their biological father as well. This idealized vision of the leader gives
rise to legends about his birth and exceptional childhood, legends that he encourages and
uses as tools to control or dominate his community.
Membership
Total submission to the leader‘s authority is expected from members in such groups. In this
sense, members fully accept to restrain their own will, surrendering themselves to their
leader‘s commands, whims, and wishes. Since the leader is viewed as an earthly god,
members often feel privileged to serve him. Loyalty to the leader is hence a most important
virtue for each individual member and is also viewed as the most important group value.
Although social status, wealth, or personal prestige of individual members may be important
in certain groups because they enhance the prestige of the leader and hence of the whole
group, often the total number of members is more important than the prestige or talents of
individual members. Also, since the size of the group is often seen as a symbol of the
leader‘s worth, recruitment of new members is often emphasized. Competent recruiters are
consequently usually highly valued members.
Children
Children in such groups must often meet high standards of conduct. Since immaturity is
sometimes interpreted as maliciousness, children are often scolded and publicly rebuked.
Moreover, the leader may feel jealous of the attention parents give to children, often
expecting that all attention be concentrated on him. When this happens, parents and
guardians may enforce very strict codes of conduct on young children for fear that their own
loyalty and devotion to the leader may be put in doubt. In such a context, children can be at
risk of severe maltreatment aimed at repressing their infantile traits. Furthermore,
interpreting infantile traits and immaturity as something bad can make the leader and even
members at large view a particular child as an evil incarnate, rendering that particular child
very vulnerable to being severely maltreated and neglected by many if not most members
of the community.
In order to ward off fear that children could potentially disrupt the group‘s functioning and,
more importantly, weaken their parents‘ loyalty to the leader, some groups test the