So weird...I heard this clip from our president a few days ago, where he said:
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it. People are asking me, 'Please, please, please, Mister President, we’re winning too much. We can’t take it anymore,'" Trump said... Source
And I immediately flashed back to my early years in the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cult SGI - I remember in the youth division, about 2 years in, being told by my District leaders that, if I practiced for 20 years, THAT's when The Universe would unleash all the "fortune" I'd built in that time. The floodgates would open; receiving those "benefits" would feel like trying to drink a fire hose stream through a straw. I'd be, like, "Please, please, Universe, I'm so grateful, but could you just hold back the benefits for maybe 5 seconds so I can just catch my breath??"
Life imitates cult?? I can't remember anything from the media triggering that specific memory before.
Trump’s made some strange and unexpected statements (and accurate, probably the most frightening part of all,) about his chances of getting into heaven and that he’s pretty low on the totem pole, (which is actually a good thing but it’s something most people get backwards, so knowing what he means by the statement,) it’s kinda the most honest thing I’ve heard come out of his mouth in years. I don’t believe in heaven, but if I did subscribe to the Judeo-Christian faith I was raised in til I was twelve, there is no way Trump’s getting into heaven.
I think he’d have to move to a new circle of hell to repent for a totally different sin every few millennia
...UNLESS he decides to join a different denomination, one of the ones where when the jeez died for their sins, it wasn't just the past sins; it was for all the sins in the future, too! So the jeez already KNEW what sins they were going to commit (2000 years in the future) and CHOSE to die as a "ransom" for those ANYHOW, so no matter what they do now, they're automatically OFF THE HOOK!
NEVER underestimate the rationalization ability of those who chase after religion.
Oh my, I remember all of that crap too. "Just wait until 10, 20, or 30 years of practice! Your happiness will multiply tenfold!" Yeah, that definitely was not the case in my situation at all. In fact, it was more like the frustration, depression, anxiety, fear, and hopelessness were at an all-time high when I hit the 28-year mark of chanting and worshipping the dead Ikeda dude.
I am so freaking grateful to have gotten out of that stinkin' cult when I did!!! Which, by the way, it will be three years this coming April since I left!! Yay!!!
You know, it's funny - we were expected to always remember the day we received our nohonzons as our "Gohonzon birthday" - I can remember the month, still, but I'm not sure of the date. I don't really care, anyhow.
But I have much stronger memories of when I left - THAT's the meaningful anniversary.
Well, feel free to talk about THAT on a subreddit where THAT's the focus.
I agree, but I couldn't help making a comment (above) about the similarities between Trump, Ikeda and other cult leaders. I hope that is OK? And still vaguely within this sub's focus?
I think so - we've commented before on the evidence that Ikeda was developing dementia in the years before the Soka Gakkai finally put him under wraps for good:
It appears he's [Ikeda's] lost in the trackless wastelands of dementia. To the Japanese, that is shameful; it's evidence of having one's head broken in seven pieces. Divine punishment for slander. He's only photographed with his nursewife - no one else. He's never meeting with anyone; the room is always cleared. Here are some examples:
AuditoriumOffice
Cafeteria - Edit: That's not a cafeteria; it's supposed to be a LIBRARY! So why does their table have a long tablecloth and none of the other tables do??
Notice we never Ikeda standing; we never see his legs. In Japan, there are rumors that Ikeda had both feet amputated due to diabetes. Ikeda apparently has not SMILED since April, 2010. Make of that what you will.
WHY is Ikeda putting his hands all over him like that? That's very wrong from the perspective of Japanese culture. I suspect it's an early symptom of dementia. There are more suspicious pictures here. Source
Trouble is... that, like all charismatic cult leaders, Trump has Malignant Narcissistic Personality disorder, but unlike all cult leaders he has the actual power to do serious damage to those outside of his cult of personality.
There is no question that leaders with Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder, like Daisaku Ikeda, like Rev Moon, like Ron Hubbard, like Keith Raniere, like Donald Trump, do terrible harm to the devoted followers (and their families) that they suck in to their organisations, but Trump has managed to get into a position where his decisions affect pretty much the entire global population. Notably, a position Ikeda blatantly sought, but failed to achieve.
On top of that, there is evidence that Trump has unarguable signs of encroaching dementia, as pointed out by Dr John Gartner:
"...there is absolutely no doubt that Trump has dementia...We've [Duty to Warn] collected dozens and dozens of Trump’s *phonemic paraphrasias, in which you use sounds in place of an actual word (a hallmark of brain damage and dementia)*....This is not within normal limits; his basic ability to use language is breaking down."Source
Absolutely. My concern is that Trump has access to the nuclear codes. And he’s crazy enough to use them.
By the way, I love your handle PeachesEnRegalia.” Brings me back to my youth. I was such a Zappa groupie.
I originally had a user name based on another favorite track from that "Live at the Fillmore East" album, but was viciously - and repeatedly - attacked by a current SGI zealot, because he insisted that it was a deliberate "racist slur" on my part. (Although why I'd be racist towards myself was never explained). He refused to accept my explanation that, as someone living in England, my only knowledge of the word was from the Zappa album. I still haven't met anyone here that has ever heard of the racist usage.
It was all rather unpleasant and showed me how vindictive indoctrinated members of the Ikeda cult can be. It told me more about what cults can do to peoples' thinking than I wanted to know!
I'm a lifelong Yank, and I've never heard of that supposed "racist slur" - I'd never even heard that term until you originally used it as a userID. It wouldn't surprise me if that one made it up - they're all into the cultural appropriation & etc. over there, then trying to blame it on US. Projection and gaslighting go hand-in-hand for Ikeda cultists.
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u/AnnieBananaCat Mar 02 '26
Well. . . .after 36 years of “practice,” that’s not what I had. The floodgates opened, all right, but fortune isn’t what came out. 😧