| Author | Message | ||
     faron (faron) New member Username: faron Post Number: 3 Registered: 5-2005 Posted From: 66.57.99.88 |
FKA University for Human Goodness/Human Service Alliance is just a re-hash of the negative fundamentalist, only now it's packaged in New Age terms as "Service to the World". They tout themselves as a spiritual bootcamp. Having had some experience in that regard, I can say that unlike a military bootcamp where the recruits are conditioned and trained to serve their country at large, the aim of camp CPL is to keep a few good souls confined to their quarters in service to a small band of synchophants following a self-ordained guru. TRUE SEEKERS BEWARE See other riffs on this place in earlier threads and use your mind to decide for yourself. (Message edited by faron on July 07, 2005) | ||
| susan_b_baggett (susan_b_baggett) New member Username: susan_b_baggett Post Number: 2 Registered: 5-2005 Posted From: 24.172.11.38 |
There is an old adage stating "there are two sides to every coin." The posting on this site present a lot of untruth and distortion. For interested people who would like to hear what successful graduates have to say (rather than those who were not successful and are intent on cultivating rumors and gossip), or learn more about what is really being offered at the Center for Purposeful Living, you are invited to contact me directly at my CPA office 336-777-8811. You may also come to one of the Center for Purposeful Living's regularly scheduled open houses (Come and See weekend) where you can meet students and faculty or come at any time for a visit and tour. You may also go to (please copy the url and paste into your browser if the link is not active): http://ufhg.org/data/publications/html/master/SUP-2005_7_2_112920.shtml This program is not easy and it is purposely designed to challenge students. Many succeed. Some don’t. Susan Baggett, President of the organization (Message edited by susan_b_baggett on July 05, 2005) | ||
| euphrates (euphrates) New member Username: euphrates Post Number: 1 Registered: 7-2005 Posted From: 68.4.185.4 |
While it could be endlessly debated whether Center for Purposeful Living (aka, Human Service Alliance, aka, University for the Study of Human Goodness) is a cult or not, one could certainly conclude that it is based on the great lengths they are taking to deny that they are with the rhetoric recently posted on their own website on the topic, as well as the personal experiences posted on this discussion board. Using the five “cult” criteria they themselves outline, I have the following comments to be considered by anyone considering joining this group: 1) “Family members, parents and friends of students are encouraged to visit the campus both before and during the student’s attendance”: CPL goes to great lengths to distance/disassociate students from their families. Knowing that requiring student to sever all family ties would result in an even higher departure rate than they already experience, they manipulate students into believing that associating with their families doesn’t serve their souls, and slows their progress. See OAF357’s initial post (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/4/3466.html?1120188861) to gain another perspective as to whether CPL fosters family relations. Also, anyone who has spent anytime there knows that nearly all the BOD/BD members have severed relations with most family members who are not part of the cult. To preserve its membership, CPL will not hesitate to break up marriages and families. Another tactic used by the cult to distance students from their families is placing extreme pressure on the students to work at the restaurant on all family holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and Mothers Day, making it extremely difficult for students to leave and see family members, knowing that most family members would question the group and its motives. 2) “Teachers/mentors at Center for Purposeful Living (CPL) do not seek to control participants/students”: Teachers and The Mentor are highly skilled manipulators who use their authority to wear down students with pschological badgering and rigorous, physically demanding schedules that leave them tired and vulnerable. The Center for Purposeful Living (CPL) website states, “They (teachers and The Mentor) do, however, know what it takes to maintain the environment created at CPL and what will inevitably weaken that environment”. What would weaken the environment is to allow students time to have friends and experiences outside of the cult. This would weaken the environment because more students would see Center for Purposeful Living for what it really is and leave (often in the middle of the night). 3) “CPL does not seek to “hold on” to people. Indeed, the hope is that graduates will go out into the world and lead lives of service”: CPL makes every effort possible to hold on to those students whom they find meet their needs, whether it be physical labor on the grounds, working long hours at the restaurant, attracting new students or providing other needed services to the cult. One should challenge CPL to list references of students, (with their contact information) who have graduated the program and “gone out in the world to lead lives of service”. Their website lists a few, but anyone who knows these people can see how distorted the list of graduates is (e.g., a student working in one of the teaching group’s medical office). 4) “Leadership is diffused at CPL, not centralized around a single individual”: This is the most ludicrous of all the claims they make. Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time at CPL knows DL (The Mentor) is the unequivocal leader of the cult, no matter how much they will try to convince you he is not. I suspect that some of the members have said this (“there is no leader”) so many times that they actually believe it, despite how much they are manipulated to think he is not. They are clearly his puppets, and fear his wrath should they disobey. 5) “No member of the board or participant in the program receives any money except for a few salaries at the restaurant”: While this is probably the most factual claim made of the 5, it is also deceptive. The Center for Purposeful Living (CPL) is ALL ABOUT MONEY AND POWER. All students are required to work at the restaurant, no matter how ill they may be. The BOD/BD comprises the remaining “volunteers”, but reality is that most of the profits go to the Center for Purposeful Living favorite charity, CPL. Don’t believe it? Contact the charities listed at CFB to see how much money they have donated to their organization. Then do some simple arithmetic of how much money they collect nightly at CFB with 300-400 customers per night. This is one of the reasons why they “hold on” to students as they provide “free labor”, without which the restaurant would not survive. I think it should also be noted how the Center for Purposeful Living (CPL) appears to be getting a lot of “negative feedback” on other threads on this board (http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/4/3466.html?1120188861) and other places on the Internet, to the point where they recently updated their website with a entire page (referenced above) dedicated to why they are not a cult. One could suggest that that all these negative comments, which CPL will discount as coming from “drop-outs” may be *their* karma, resulting from years of extreme manipulation and abuse of power. When students do leave, The Mentor sends a litany of “teaching e-mails” out to everyone, naming the negative qualities of the departed members, often scathingly so, and poses it as a “teaching lesson” to observe and learn from and not as criticism. Obviously, the cult would deteriorate if anyone who left were portrayed as having any positive qualities or having made the “right choice” as others would then question their situation there. All negative actions from CPL teachers and The Mentor are justified as spiritual, soulful, etc., and yet any decisions by others that aren’t in alignment with their thoughts are deemed as “personality” (their version of the devil). In summary, the crux of the issue is not whether they are a cult or not (although they meet every criteria that defines a modern-day cult), rather whether this is an organization that misrepresents itself and its motives. I don’t think one would ever find a cult that claims to be one, but many who protest not to be. Euphrates499@yahoo.com | ||
| koru (koru) New member Username: koru Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2005 Posted From: 63.164.145.85 |
I just received a typed letter mailed and signed by "The BOD of HSA/CPL/UFHG/and any future name" that describes the people who post on this Factnet site as "vindictive" and "losers and whiners". They claim that the messages which attest to CPL being a cult are "destructive and critical". They go on to say that, "While you might want to think you are helping or salvaging poor victims, surely you do not see that as a role mandated to you by your soul." The Powers that Be at CPL warn of the dire karmic consequences of "degrading" another's work (in this case for revealing truth). The arrogant tone, the condescension toward ex-members, and the use of fear mongering references to karma are classic trademarks of a cultic order whose agenda is ever to control others. After 17 years of deep involvement with this group as a founding board member serving in virtually every area of key responsibility, I resigned from the CPL because I finally came to see what they were all about whenthey tried their damnedest to alienate me from my wife and two young children. I was counseled by the leadership in person and via numerous e-mails to begin covert transfer of money to a secret bank account, to jettison my wife and children,because they determined she was in "deep denial" (in not accepting their authority) and that she and the children were dispensable: anyone who chooses other than the CPL dogma is deemed as lacking in "soulfulness". Thank God, I had the presence of mind to perceive their twisted manipulations and act in accord with my own conscience. While I have no desire to bring down anyone's work, I have no qualms about sharing the facts of my experience. Coleman Alderson koru@safe-mail.net | ||
| koru (koru) New member Username: koru Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2005 Posted From: 65.190.27.159 |
From the Thread "Human Service Alliance/University for Human Goodness": Posted on Monday, December 12, 2005 - 2:32 am: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the record, I encourage anyone that comes in contact with this group to be VERY VERY VERY careful. If you think this is a good place for your child to "study", please reconsider. Human Service Alliance / University of Human Goodness / Center for Purposeful Living IS a cult and I know first hand, I was there Day One in Boomer, NC. Everyday of my life I am thankful that I left the group and I am so very happy to read that Chris, Coleman, LeAura and others have also "awoken" and have taken their precious lives back! There is something to be said for being able to think for yourself, it might be one of the most beautiful things about being alive. My family and I just wish we could have our father back. I still love him, I know that he is just in a really deep sleep right now. It's my understanding that he isn't "allowed" to talk to us. We have all but given up on him. Word to the wise... steer clear of this organization. I am not interested in getting into a dialogue about this matter, I just wanted to get on record against this group in hopes of saving another family. Sincere regards, Nathan Burazer e-mail: burazer@hotmail.com (Message edited by nburazer on December 13, 2005) |
