TBI Recommended: A Transcendental Meditation Survivor Story
There are a variety of podcasts about cults out there, but in our opinion, none is better than Rachel Bernstein’s Indoctrination. This is in part due to Bernstein being something of an expert in the field who isn’t all that interested in the sensational nature of a cult stories. Instead, the host is after the true nature and psychology behind what makes a group destructive, often offering historical asides to her interviews to emphasize the commonalities between seemingly disparate cultic organizations.
In one episode, Bernstein explains the power of belief with an anecdote about members of Heaven’s Gate returning a telescope to a hobby store shortly before they took their lives. It’s a story that makes a group that seems so difficult to relate to an example of something much more universal. This skill of Indoctrination’s host is perhaps at its sharpest when she explores components of more common relationships and applies them to the cult rubric. Bernstein illustrates the undue influence in everyday life and makes cults less fantastic and more of a symptom of humanity. It’s compassion and an encyclopedic understanding of various groups that give her show an edge above the rest.
The episode we’ve chosen to highlight for newcomers is a survivor story from a movement that’s squarely in the TBI wheelhouse: Transcendental Meditation. TM is something that many people have light contact with in a way that’s generally harmless, and can even be helpful to those who might listen to a guided meditation every once in a while. However, in one of the more “fish out of water” stories you’ll find in Cultland, many people who’ve gotten close to the ideology and group setting version of TM have experienced something far more sinister than the enlightenment they were promised upon entering.
In this episode of Indoctrination, a survivor tells a story of giving himself over to TM and finding himself in a kind of slavery to the program. It’s a fascinating look at a movement and a personal journey that ends spectacularly when the subject realizes that flying with TM is impossible in the literal sense. Listen below.
