Hi and welcome back to My Dog Ate My Blog! Today I will be doing something a little bit different than what I usually do here on my learning portfolio, so let me explain. For the past six weeks or so, my PLP Humanities class has been studying topics under four different big ideas: Turning Points, Music, Terrorism, and cults or new religious movements. I rushed to my iPad on this beautiful day to write and share with you specifically what I have learned in the past week (as well as researched on my own) about new religious movements or NRMs. You are probably asking yourself, “Sure, cults are interesting, but why are you learning about them Jordyn and why are you here telling us about them?” Don’t you worry my readers, I will explain everything. 

New Religious movements usually form in times of cross roads, when people are looking for new ways to understand their world and a place to find community. We, as humans and as a humanities 11/12 class, study them because by looking through the eyes of the members, we can understand just what was happening in our world at the time, where the turmoil was. A lot of us believe that it is only a certain type of person that could join a NRM but really, it could happen to anyone. Through out the rest of this blog post, I will be using the New Religious Movement called NXIVM (pronounced nexium) as a case study to answer a couple questions:

What makes a group a new religious movement?

Why are people attracted to these groups?

What is NXIVM?

First, I thought I would tell you a little bit about NXIVM as an organization. NXIVM operated as a “self-help program” for heiresses, actors, and CEO’s for almost two decades. What it really turned out to be was a multi level marketing scheme that turned into something much worse, resulting in the Keith Raniere’s (the man above), the leader’s, sentencing of 120 years in prison. Executive Success Programs we’re marketed as personal and professional development programs; These were how many people entered the group. Raniere, or “Vanguard” as he was called by NXIVM members, created this organization to “overcome limiting beliefs, fears, and anxieties, therefore realizing [your] full potential in life.” That is really just an overview, I will get more in to depth when I start analyzing and explaining what makes this group a NRM. The reason I specifically chose to research NXIVM is because this is a religious movement that is recent, it didn’t take place in the 60’s and 70’s like many others that we study. It also wasn’t based on religion, it was based on business so, between these two factors, I was really curious as to what was happening in the world to make people want join a group like this?

If you want more information on NXIVM, here is a quick video:

What makes a group a New Religious Movement? 

Based on the “Cults, Explained” episode on Netflix, there are three main characteristics that most New Religious Movements share.

#1- The Charismatic Leader

#2 – An Indoctrination Program

#3 – Exploitation

Now based on these characteristics, let’s see what makes NXIVM, specifically, a cult.

✅  A charismatic leader

Keith Raniere took the position of NXIVM’s charismatic leader without question. From the beginning, Raniere had cultivated a myth of his own brilliance. “He has a 240 IQ…. triple major graduate from RPI, pianist, cyclist, East Coast Judo champion. And he wants to save the world”, said Rusty, who was telling his wife how Keith Raniere was “one of the most intelligent men in the world”. His presentations were enthusiastic and inspiring, enough to lure famous TV actors such as Smallville actor, Allison Mack.

✅ An indoctrination program

NXIVM has several stages in indoctrinating it’s members. It starts with ESPs or Executive Success programs which just seem like self help courses. At the end of this course, you have a one on one meeting with the teacher in front of the class where you talk about your deepest fear. This ultimately breaks you, making you believe that the only way you can get over this fear is to sign up for the next class and spend the thousands of dollars that it will cost. These classes are followed by others, including a women empowerment one called Jness. Each class or program slowly gets more and more intensive until all of your time has been consumed by NXIVM.

✅ Exploitation

NXIVM exploits members financially, sexually, emotionally, and for recognition. Each course is very very expensive and members are coerced into enrolling in one after the other, it eventually becomes a pyramid scheme. They exploit your emotions, they manipulate them to make you feel like the only way that you can be successful is with NXIVM, they create the problem and introduce themselves as the only way to solve it. Keith Raniere exploited famous actors for marketing and recognition. Finally, they exploit members sexually in secret women’s society called DOS within NXIVM. The women are branded and assigned to have sex with Raniere. The organization uses all of these things to trap members, to make them feel guilty for wanting leave, so they don’t.

Why do people join NXIVM?

It is hard for us to understand why people join cults, why would someone do that to themselves? The problem is, they don’t know they are part of a cult. They are brainwashed and stuck in a circular logic. When it comes to Ana’s,tsing why someone would join a cult like NXIVM, it is important to look at the 7 key elements for indoctrination which are also found in Netflix’s “Cults, Explained”.

If you are more interested in the ins and outs of NXIVM and have Amazon Prime, I highly recommend “Seduced: Inside the NIXVM Cult”.

– The potential member is going through a transition: These women could be entrepreneurs starting a new career or business women waiting for a promotion. Most commonly, it is a group of women look for a place to belong and are kind of in between stages in their lives, looking for a purpose in life.

– The Soft Sell: The ESPs!! Everyone wants executive success, it doesn’t sound odd or radical so why wouldn’t people sign up and go to the first meeting?

– A New Reality: New people, new beliefs, new solutions to all your problems and the world’s. Slowly, your worldview begins to change an your life becomes invested in something completely new.

– The Dear Leader: As I have already mentioned, this dear leader is known as Keith Raniere. He quickly replaces the importance of family in the members’ lives.

– The Enemy: NXIVM makes the world the enemy. Says you will be cast out for society if you leave, therefore you choose the cult over and over again. Even your own family becomes the enemy and support systems start to disappear as the groupthink sets in.

– Peer Pressure: The manipulation becomes so powerful. The leaders and other members begin using reverse psychology on you, saying things like “You don’t want to change.” You feel guilty and say you do, that you “want to be enlightened”, without even knowing what that means. The cult organizes events with he whole group so you are peer pressured to go. An example of this is Vanguard Week, a whole week dedicated to Keith’s birthday that is celebrated by organizing an “adult summer camp”.

– A Narcissistic Sociopath: Also Kieth Raniere. We see this most clearly in DOS, the secret women’s society within NXIVM.

It’s crazy to see how complex cults are, how many moving parts go into a New Religious Movement. It also just goes to show how easy it would be to be lured into something like this. It really could happen to anyone depending on what is happening in the world at the time which is really the whole purpose of why we are studying them. NXIVM is just one example of how current world beliefs can be taken to an extreme level, spread quickly, and become destructive to members as well as society which is when we see a New Religious Movement form.

– Jordyn