Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 147
ways, Aum encompassed the most destructive forces of the century just
passing.
Asahara developed a hierarchical, totalistic community with the members‘ being clones of
himself. Therefore they were preoccupied with the End time and with the weapons which
could bring about that end. The founder had an abiding interest in Nostradamus and in the
Book of Revelation with its warnings of Armageddon. Lifton describes him as ―profligate with
his borrowings.‖ Added to his intellectual stew there was Buddhism with its expectation of
reincarnation. At some point his anticipation of Armageddon developed into a determination
to bring it about.
As in all cults demanding blind obedience the result is the surrender of one‘s own freedom
and the subjection to the mind of the master. ―Aum violence was made possible by the
extreme of its guruism,‖ Lifton concludes.
In the disturbing chapter, ―Killing to Heal,‖ Lifton reports the strange attraction that Aum
Shrinrikyo had for doctors: ―The more I studied Aum‘s medical behavior the more I was
reminded of the experience of the Nazi doctors and of the more general potential of doctors
to replace healing with killing in the service of a movement or cause.‖
Reading this book one comes to feel that this nation of seventy million people is still
suffering from something of a ―fall out‖ from the atomic explosions in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. A gigantic effort in World War II ended in a sudden cataclysmic defeat. But for
the Japanese, an even more radical shock must have occurred when the Emperor
proclaimed that he was not divine. Until then, all of the nation‘s existence had been
organized around the conviction that he was a descendant of the gods. What followed has
been called ―the rush hour of the gods‖ with a proliferation of new religions.
To label a book as ―important‖ is a reviewer‘s cliché. Perhaps we can be excused if we say it
even more forcefully: this is a very important book with many implications for the religious
community.
The tragedies at Jonestown, Waco, San Diego, Tokyo and the apparently suicidal Solar
Temple are clear signals that there are many people willing to become the disciples of a
guru who hates the world and is enamored with death. Daily the news verifies Lifton‘s
conclusion that there is a worldwide subculture of violence, a realm of destruction.
Death is the heart of the matter. At issue are the connections between individual death and
the death of everything, between death and killing, between death and eternal survival. The
proliferation of ―new religious movements‖ heralding an approaching Armageddon must be
seen as a challenge to authentic religion. The anxieties of contemporary mankind are
certainly heightened by the atmosphere of change.
Psychologists and sociologists are in agreement that change characterizes the modern world
and that the pace of change will only accelerate. In the face of this situation we find that
there are many who will surrender their critical faculities to the nearest guru. Sincere and
often well-educated men and women submit to a master who discourages independent
thinking with the axiom, ―your brain is your enemy!‖ If the group has a Christian bent, the
leader will invariably use the Bible for leverage in controlling the group and the Scriptures
will be interpreted in a narrow, fundamentalistic way.
The flight to fundamentalism is an escape from personal responsibility in the direction of a
childhood more easily managed by the cult leader. As Jurgen Moltmann once said, ―The
escape form freedom makes possible dictatorships of religious welfare and disseminates the
fundamentalist ―certainties‖ of a religious kindergarten mentality.‖ In a lust for certitude the
fundamentalist surrenders the precious gift of imagination which will be ever more needed
in the world ahead.
ways, Aum encompassed the most destructive forces of the century just
passing.
Asahara developed a hierarchical, totalistic community with the members‘ being clones of
himself. Therefore they were preoccupied with the End time and with the weapons which
could bring about that end. The founder had an abiding interest in Nostradamus and in the
Book of Revelation with its warnings of Armageddon. Lifton describes him as ―profligate with
his borrowings.‖ Added to his intellectual stew there was Buddhism with its expectation of
reincarnation. At some point his anticipation of Armageddon developed into a determination
to bring it about.
As in all cults demanding blind obedience the result is the surrender of one‘s own freedom
and the subjection to the mind of the master. ―Aum violence was made possible by the
extreme of its guruism,‖ Lifton concludes.
In the disturbing chapter, ―Killing to Heal,‖ Lifton reports the strange attraction that Aum
Shrinrikyo had for doctors: ―The more I studied Aum‘s medical behavior the more I was
reminded of the experience of the Nazi doctors and of the more general potential of doctors
to replace healing with killing in the service of a movement or cause.‖
Reading this book one comes to feel that this nation of seventy million people is still
suffering from something of a ―fall out‖ from the atomic explosions in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. A gigantic effort in World War II ended in a sudden cataclysmic defeat. But for
the Japanese, an even more radical shock must have occurred when the Emperor
proclaimed that he was not divine. Until then, all of the nation‘s existence had been
organized around the conviction that he was a descendant of the gods. What followed has
been called ―the rush hour of the gods‖ with a proliferation of new religions.
To label a book as ―important‖ is a reviewer‘s cliché. Perhaps we can be excused if we say it
even more forcefully: this is a very important book with many implications for the religious
community.
The tragedies at Jonestown, Waco, San Diego, Tokyo and the apparently suicidal Solar
Temple are clear signals that there are many people willing to become the disciples of a
guru who hates the world and is enamored with death. Daily the news verifies Lifton‘s
conclusion that there is a worldwide subculture of violence, a realm of destruction.
Death is the heart of the matter. At issue are the connections between individual death and
the death of everything, between death and killing, between death and eternal survival. The
proliferation of ―new religious movements‖ heralding an approaching Armageddon must be
seen as a challenge to authentic religion. The anxieties of contemporary mankind are
certainly heightened by the atmosphere of change.
Psychologists and sociologists are in agreement that change characterizes the modern world
and that the pace of change will only accelerate. In the face of this situation we find that
there are many who will surrender their critical faculities to the nearest guru. Sincere and
often well-educated men and women submit to a master who discourages independent
thinking with the axiom, ―your brain is your enemy!‖ If the group has a Christian bent, the
leader will invariably use the Bible for leverage in controlling the group and the Scriptures
will be interpreted in a narrow, fundamentalistic way.
The flight to fundamentalism is an escape from personal responsibility in the direction of a
childhood more easily managed by the cult leader. As Jurgen Moltmann once said, ―The
escape form freedom makes possible dictatorships of religious welfare and disseminates the
fundamentalist ―certainties‖ of a religious kindergarten mentality.‖ In a lust for certitude the
fundamentalist surrenders the precious gift of imagination which will be ever more needed
in the world ahead.
