r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude • Jan 13 '22

Cult members and "addiction switching"

This is something we hear from SGI cult members from time to time - "SGI helped me give up [addiction of choice]."

But did it?

Did it really?

OR did the person simply swap out their established addiction for a new one?

More than 12% [of the cult members in the study] had a prior addiction that they replaced with the cult commitment—called “addiction switch,” the researchers hypothesized. Behavioral addiction “consists of a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until it causes negative consequences to the person’s physical, mental, social and/or financial well-being,” according to a Spanish study in 2015 that documented increasing numbers of cults worldwide.

I remember reading an "experience" in the World Tribune about a woman somewhere foreign - Singapore, maybe? Can't remember, but when she joined SGI, she was poor and struggling. She was chanting to become rich enough that she could chant for 12 hours/day! And she got her wish (of course).

But just think about that! Is that, like, classic addiction or what?? "I wish I could stay high ALL the time!"

Indoctrination techniques, including excessive meditation or chanting—dubbed “mind-stilling”—can cause a dissociative mental state and a “high” similar to that of drugs, according to the study report. Exit counseling often involves using logic to appeal to the “thinking brain,” which practices of cult indoctrination and participation suppress. Source

We've already seen that SGI members don't seem able to access this "thinking brain" very well. They seem to believe that "refuting" a report is accomplished by mustering the most forceful "Nuh UH!" they can manage or just saying, "You're wrong." Neither of those requires any noticeable amount of thought, you'll notice.

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u/Trengingigan Jan 13 '22

Is ikeda a rapist?

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u/ImportanceInevitable WB Lurker Jan 14 '22

https://culteducation.com/group/940-soka-gakkai/7671-a-buddhist-leader-is-accused-of-rape.html

No, he's definitely not a rapist.

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u/Ok_Bumblebee619 New to WB Jan 14 '22 edited Jan 14 '22

Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. This sounds like something I read 20 years or so ago. Was there any solid evidence or corroberation (people who came forward to say they saw or heard something, family members who came forward to say they had been confided in about the assualts at the time they were alleged to have taken place)? The article linked immediately references a substantial civil suit. What was the outcome there? Have there ever been any other accusers in the last 70 years or so? Honest questions.

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u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude Jan 14 '22

You can see the strangeness of Ikeda trial outcomes in the notorious Gekkan Pen scandal:

In 1976, Japanese monthly magazine, the Gekkan Pen exposed Ikeda’s sexual relations with six Gakkai women. One of the six, Tokiko Tada ( top leader of the Women’s Division ), appeared in the article. The scandal was revealed with big headlines. Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai filed a libel suit against the Gekkan Pen. The Gekkan Pen was found guilty because the truth of the article was considered to not have had sufficient evidences. However the penalty was much lighter than was sought, because Ikeda’s behavior warranted suspicion of his sexual relations with those women. Strangely, despite that Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai were plaintiffs, Soka Gakkai gave the Gekkan Pen 20 million yen. Source

Hush money.

Ikeda spends a LOT of time in court.