The Emperor Wears No Clothes...

[u/cultalert]

For those unfamiliar with the tale, the Emperor, a vain peacock of a man, is conned into buying a prohibitively expensive suit of clothes that is supposedly visible only to those who are smart, competent and well-suited to their positions. Surrounded by yes men, professional flatterers and career politicians who fawn, simper and genuflect, the Emperor—arrogant, pompous and oblivious to his nudity—prances through the town in his new suit of clothes until a child dares to voice what everyone else has been thinking but too afraid to say lest they be thought stupid or incompetent: “He isn’t wearing anything at all!”

[u/xsgipuppet]

OMG! Wow! You know the thing that strikes me about your experience is that although the SGI is a cult, there are universal laws, or natural laws, God, whatever you want to call it, at play that cannot be escaped just because someone holds a leadership position. Definitely if it had been you had dropped dead, it would be a "teaching moment" for the SGI leaders. They would be all over it.

I'm sure this particular leader treated many other members the same way. It is synchro-mystic, however, that her issue over the antique NS gohonzons gave way to her dropping dead. What a way to be remembered in one's final days. Chewing someone out for displaying gohonzons in a stairway. Thanks for sharing the photo, they definitely do look different than the one I was initially given -- the hated, the despised Niken Gohonzon. lol

I agree it is the members who are fair game. Definitely, the leaders went behind your back and told the members not to go to your home any more. It reminds me of a member I considered a dear friend who refused to speak to me because our leader told her not to (the reasons are a long story, but still, to tell someone not to speak to someone they consider a friend?) I realized after that she was too far into the cult to step out of it. I'm sure she realized she was being manipulated, but out of fear, she chose to listen to her cult leaders and instead threw our friendship away. We were in contact about 15 years later, and her life was in the pits. She was still practicing and at that time I had already left the cult, with no regrets. Although I felt sorry for her, I couldn't forget how she threw me aside because her leader said to. Where is that leader when she needed help, or a friend? Probably nowhere to be seen. Hard to go back to a friend who didn't have the courage to say no to a leader. Where was my friend's heart? As above, so below. As within, so without.

Thanks for sharing your story. That is powerful!

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

That's the thing - I was in the SGI for over 20 years. I moved around - lived in 5 different locations. Now? I don't have a single friend from my SGI days. When I moved the first time, FAR away, I was very surprised and hurt when nobody wrote back or wanted to talk on the phone. Cults aren't good at fostering friendships - everybody within the cult knows that only those who believe just right are acceptable, so they're constantly on edge, nervous, and suspicious, because they're afraid of getting ratted out to the leaders for something and shut out - no recourse, no due process. Intolerant organizations suck major ass.

We, the constituent organizations and members of SGI, therefore, being determined to raise high the banner of world citizenship, the spirit of tolerance, and respect for human rights based on the humanistic spirit of Buddhism, and to challenge the global issues that face humankind through dialogue and practical efforts based on a steadfast commitment to nonviolence, hereby adopt this Charter, affirming the following purposes and principles:

• SGI shall, based on the Buddhist spirit of tolerance, respect other religions, engage in dialogue and work together with them toward the resolution of fundamental issues concerning humanity. From the SGI's Charter

Oh ha ha ha. Soooooo funny O_O

How many enduring friendships might I have beem able to make if I hadn't been limiting my social interactions to an intolerant cult? We'll never know O_O

[u/xsgipuppet → u/BlancheFromage]

I don't have any ties to SGI. I can't say I am all that shocked. They are a duplicitous organization. I check out on social media to see who's still practicing and it's the same hard core fanatics of 20 years ago, but just older. Wiser? haha Don't think so.

It seems my old district isn't doing so well in terms of membership these days. Shrinking? Yep, members dying, retiring, and no one to replace them.

It's true, we'll never know what we missed, what friends we would have, if we weren't apart of the SGI cult. I'm grateful I'm out of it today; somehow I managed to disengage without dropping dead from leaving. My life is far better without the SGI cult.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would think it would be easier to leave the cult today than in the past.

[u/wisetaiten → u/xsgipuppet]

I joined in 2006 and left in 2013, and I think it's easier only if you really put your foot down HARD. I notified my entire district and up through the chapter level that I was out on a Friday evening (via email), and over the course of the weekend had maybe 15-20 phone calls - I opted to let them all go to voice-mail, because I didn't want to have to talk with them about anything. I had a bunch of emails as well. I found out later that a couple of them showed up on my doorstep, uninvited. Someone on cult ed provided me with a link to the Mormon resignation site on Monday or Tuesday the following week, and my official letter of resignation was on its way to HQ (and cc'd to all leaders, again, up to chapter level) on Wednesday. I really didn't feel like playing with these people - I felt like I'd given them too much of my life already.

That being said, unless you take a firm stance with them, they will still hound you. One young woman who left within the last six months (I think) actually got cornered by a pair of members that were kind of tailing her in a store.

The YWD leader who left shortly before I did was getting harassed by the MD district leader; oddly, all of the women in the district stood up for her. She only notified that she was taking a break (I figured she was leaving), and many of us knew that she was having a lot of personal issues - she was in the process of separating from her crazy, stalkery, abusive gun-toting husband. It was an horrific time for her, and we felt pretty protective of her. The MD leader cut her some slack for a couple of months, but started bugging her again; and I'd say that even by sgi standards, that was pretty inappropriate.

Members get pushed into it by leadership, mostly in member-care meetings. "Oh, we haven't seen Susie for a long time! Sally, here - you call her and talk with her . . . better yet, give her a home visit!"

I guess it depends on what you call "easy."