Thoughts and Musings

Like many animals that evolved by surviving in groups, humans have strong social instincts. Photo by Tati Halabi People who have never been in a cultic group frequently ask, “Why would someone subject themselves to that level of control and abuse?” While the answer is far too complicated to be attributed to just one reason, a large portion of it relates to the collective instincts with which we’re all born. As social beings, we’re wired for belonging to and participating in

When someone you care about joins a cult, shifts in their behavior, beliefs, or social circle can feel alarming and disorienting. The person you once knew may suddenly seem gone, replaced by someone you barely recognize. The natural impulse is to give them a wake-up call—to argue, to intervene, to rescue. But here’s the difficult truth: those action urges, however well-intentioned, can actually backfire. Rather than breaking your loved one away from the group, a confrontation