The Way Onion

[skyrider]

In twi, the "way tree" analogy was/is unscriptural and incongruous with common-sense......after all, don't most leaves [please sing along......I am a LEAF on a mighty tree] fall off as winter approaches?? And, what kind of tree was it anyways? Not a pine tree, or a palm......but an oak tree, right? Nuts .... for sure.

Really, it wasn't all that significant for wierwille to settle on a tree analogy.......from a farming-upbringing, he sure as heck didn't want to select something like corn. Imagine........The Way Corn.

Didn't some Korean guy set up his organization with small units as "cells?" I can't recall his name, but read about it some 20 years ago. More in line with a living, breathing organism......a moving body.

Of course, scripturally.......the One Body, with members in particular with Christ as the Head is the holy writ truth of the matter. For obvious reasons, wierwille didn't hold to scripture.......cause then the focus would be more fixed on the Head, Christ, where all true direction is initiated. Wierwille selected a tree.......even had a mural of it painted on the OSC for lasting significance to all visitors, followers.

But I still like the analogy of an onion......and again, it popped up on another thread from JK.

The TM Movement, like many similar toxic groups, is structured like an onion. Most people paid their money, got their mantra, and have only good, incense-drenched memories of their brush with TM. Others took advanced courses. Others went on to become teachers. Some went on staff full-time for the movement. And a very few others went on to enter the inner circle of the Maharishi himself.

At every level, there were new secrets to be held, new lies to be told, and the chance for ever greater damage. The fact that most people had no bad side-effects has little to do with the problems that people at deeper levels experienced. The severity of symptoms seems to vary by intensity of involvement, its duration, and whatever personal vulnerabilities a person had before entering TM.

[Watered Garden]

Cells - was it Sun Yung Moon, as in "the Moonies?"

[waysider]

"The severity of symptoms seems to vary by intensity of involvement, its duration, and whatever personal vulnerabilities a person had before entering TM."-----JK

Maybe this is off-topic. I don't know. You decide.

I think one big factor that sometimes gets overlooked or, at the least, obscured, is that often times people came into TWI, as they do in any cult, with pre-existing problems. Then, because of the doctrines and dogmas that typify cult thinking, not only were the problems left untreated, they often times were buried deep in the layers of the person's individual "onion". So then, upon exiting the group, the person must not only deal with the problems caused directly by the group, but, also with the problems that pre-existed. Sometimes ironically, hope of conquering these problems may have been what initially attracted the participant in the first place. Some people brought lots of problems with them while others brought relatively few or none. Someone who came into TWI with lots of unresolved problems may need individual help in dealing with those problems in addition to the universal sorts of problems we all face. That's why some benefit most from a forum such as GSC while others benefit most from one on one counseling. Others find they need a customized blend of both. But, as always, that's only my opinion.

[skyrider]

Cells - was it Sun Yung Moon, as in "the Moonies?"

Yeah, WG.....I think that's right.

Even back THEN......I thought how eerily familiar that movement was to twi's. And, now in hindsight......my common sense was trying to break thru and tell me that wierwille's stuff was just one of many out there.

How many layers does an onion have before reaching its core?................15? 22? 33? If going to "twig" is one layer and taking the class is layer #2.........what layer is way corps? clergy? president's cabinet? trustee? top mog? Aren't there supposedly 33 degrees in the Masonic setup?

If The Way is an Onion..............GSC is a sharp knife.

[Tzaia]

Interesting topic.

I do have some questions.

Could you merely attend twig without ever taking the class?

Could you go WoW with nothing more than the foundational class?

Was there ever a time you could enter corp with only the foundational class?

[waysider]

Interesting topic.

I do have some questions.

Could you merely attend twig without ever taking the class?

No, not for long. The real purpose for twig, though it may have been obscured to us at the time, was to sell the class and generate ABS.

(There are those who will disagree, of course.)

Could you go WoW with nothing more than the foundational class?

Yes.

Again, the whole purpose of the WOW program was to enroll people in the class.

The foundational class and an eagerness to sell it to others was all that was required.

Was there ever a time you could enter corp with only the foundational class?

Someone else will have to answer that.

However, when I entered Fellow Laborers in 1975, it was supposed to be required that participants be advanced class grads and have some leadership experience. That requirement was waived in many cases.

(In order to take the advanced class----I took it in 1973----- you were supposed to have taken the intermediate (TIP), several other TWI classes, show completion of the home study series and have a recommendation from local leadership.)

[JeffSjo]

Yeah, WG.....I think that's right.

Even back THEN......I thought how eerily familiar that movement was to twi's. And, now in hindsight......my common sense was trying to break thru and tell me that wierwille's stuff was just one of many out there.

How many layers does an onion have before reaching its core?................15? 22? 33? If going to "twig" is one layer and taking the class is layer #2.........what layer is way corps? clergy? president's cabinet? trustee? top mog? Aren't there supposedly 33 degrees in the Masonic setup?

One of the things that seemed to commonly happen was that if a person was a pretty young lady it was often a one way ticket strait to the most toxic core in order to be victimized.

And also, as with Martindale it seems that if a man was charismatic and had a similar potential as Wierwille in terms of ability to be an abuser it was a short ride to the most rank, stinky, and damnable core.

If The Way is an Onion..............GSC is a sharp knife.

Hhhmm, let me see..... cleaver or chainsaw.....

[Oakspear]

Was there ever a time you could enter corp with only the foundational class?

Some of the refugees from the early Way Corps could probably answer that definitively, but I think that the first one or two groups did not have to jump through the hoops that later groups did. I seem to recall Martindale (2nd Corps) talking about taking the Advanced Class after entering WC training. (Early on there was no separate "Intermediate" class. What was later expanded into the Intermediate class was a segment called T.I.P. (Tongues, Interpretation and Prophecy)

[leafytwiglet]

Some of the refugees from the early Way Corps could probably answer that definitively, but I think that the first one or two groups did not have to jump through the hoops that later groups did. I seem to recall Martindale (2nd Corps) talking about taking the Advanced Class after entering WC training. (Early on there was no separate "Intermediate" class. What was later expanded into the Intermediate class was a segment called T.I.P. (Tongues, Interpretation and Prophecy)

I guess I am fielding this one.

I am a spouse of a ninth corps and have only had PFAL.. they did not have the intermediate class when I was in twi from spring of 79 until spring of 83.

I went WOW with just the class under my belt.

There were no advance classes offered in the areas I was in while I was there or I probably would have been in one.

I believe at the time i was in twi you could join the corps with out the advanced class but you had to take it shortly after getting into Corps.

But my memory could be wrong on this, in fact I am thinking it was only offered to Corps or those entering Corps then. and it seems like you had to have gone through the PFAL Class at least twice before you could take it.

[waysider]

Some of the refugees from the early Way Corps could probably answer that definitively, but I think that the first one or two groups did not have to jump through the hoops that later groups did. I seem to recall Martindale (2nd Corps) talking about taking the Advanced Class after entering WC training. (Early on there was no separate "Intermediate" class. What was later expanded into the Intermediate class was a segment called T.I.P. (Tongues, Interpretation and Prophecy)

Yeah, when I took PLAF (The Wonder Class), TIP was like the hidden track on a CD. There wasn't any indication it was there until session #12 was in the can. I sat through it at a different location the weekend after I finished PLAF (TWC). Then, not long after that, (1972?) the Intermediate came out and we had to pay $45 more to take that if we wanted to be eligible for the AC. TIP was really the same basic material but in condensed form. There were lots of "excellor sessions", too. I guess that explains why it took three days to cover what they used to cover in one fairly short session. At the time, it seemed like kind of a rip to me because I already did tongues with interpretation and prophesy before I even took the foundational. But, being an obedient sort of wayfer dude, I coughed up the extra change. When was the first AC? That might hold the key to the answer.

Edited December 13, 2008 by waysider

[RumRunner]

I would give you that in many cases but I think there is another issue that has nothing to do with pre-existing problems. During the late 60's-70's we were just a bunch of hippies looking for "new" things. Moody Blues and Yes were singing songs about great kingdoms in the sky, Gracie Slick (Jefferson Airplane/Starship) sang songs about your children "on the deck of a star ship." With no personal issues we were all still ripe for the picking. I sure am not sticking up for the drunk women abusing Vicster - we were just ripe for something "new." The promise of "the more than abundant life", peace and harmony, yada yada - all sounds like he coulda picked those phrases from almost any hippie commune of the day - whether cultic or just doing the Timothy Leary thing.

I am not refuting you - just suggesting it may not be, in all cases, related to previous problems/issues. Some of those problems were instilled into us regardless of the existence/non-existence of past problems.

From a purely cold perspective it was a darn near perfectly pulled of scam...

"The severity of symptoms seems to vary by intensity of involvement, its duration, and whatever personal vulnerabilities a person had before entering TM."-----JK

"The severity of symptoms seems to vary by intensity of involvement, its duration, and whatever personal vulnerabilities a person had before entering TM."-----JK

Maybe this is off-topic. I don't know. You decide.

I think one big factor that sometimes gets overlooked or, at the least, obscured, is that often times people came into TWI, as they do in any cult, with pre-existing problems. Then, because of the doctrines and dogmas that typify cult thinking, not only were the problems left untreated, they often times were buried deep in the layers of the person's individual "onion". So then, upon exiting the group, the person must not only deal with the problems caused directly by the group, but, also with the problems that pre-existed. Sometimes ironically, hope of conquering these problems may have been what initially attracted the participant in the first place. Some people brought lots of problems with them while others brought relatively few or none. Someone who came into TWI with lots of unresolved problems may need individual help in dealing with those problems in addition to the universal sorts of problems we all face. That's why some benefit most from a forum such as GSC while others benefit most from one on one counseling. Others find they need a customized blend of both. But, as always, that's only my opinion.

[Keith]

Didn't some Korean guy set up his organization with small units as "cells?" I can't recall his name, but read about it some 20 years ago. More in line with a living, breathing organism......a moving body.

It was Watchman Nee, (may be spelled Knee), before TWI and it was very, very successfull. However the amount of control Watchman imposed on his groups was much less the TWI imposed and as I remember reading about it, the cells were pretty much stand alone.

One reason why Nee set up his system this way is that it was needed in Korea. Churches were frowned upon at the time.

I've read quite a bit by Watchman Nee and while I disagree with some of what he writes; I do have quite a bit of respect for him.

[GrouchoMarxJr]

From a purely cold perspective it was a darn near perfectly pulled off scam...

Listening to NPR this morning as they discuss the latest Ponzi scheme...and it occurred to me that the difference between a Ponzi scheme and what Wierwille did is that Wierwille never had to pay us back from our investment.

Thus, he walked away clean with all the money...lying in God's name every step of the "way".

The Way Onion?...sounds like a pretty good analogy to me. What twi called "feeding the babes with milk and then meat for the more mature believers"...was, in reality, duping the new people with kindness and then, once the hook was in, brow beating them into compliance with fear and guilt...the level of corruption intensified the further up the ladder you climbed...