Given the amount of deception, manipulation and harm perpetrated by
Miracle of Love, one naturally has to ask the question, is Kalindi just
a terrible person? Some kind of evil dictator? What kind of person wants lord over others by proclaiming oneself the Voice of
God? There are all kinds of theories about what makes a successful charismatic cult-leader like Kalindi the person who she is and how a cult is able to get going in its infancy. As former members, all we feel like we know for sure about this issue is that it takes both leaders and followers to make a cult work. A charismatic person, no matter how benign or dangerous, is not a leader without her followers. Conversely, followers don’t come together without someone to lead them. It is a reciprocal relationship that has a snowball effect over time. You start with a regular person who develops a special opinion of herself and feels like she has something to give or teach others. She starts trying to find people to teach, but most of them are not interested. However, a few people, a few of the more vulnerable ones that come around, do listen to what she has to say. They tell her how amazing she is, which gives the leader confidence to teach others, and perhaps fulfills her deep psychological need for love and acceptance. She doesn’t find a lot of new followers, but a few more. But now there are that many more people that are telling her how incredible she is and her confidence builds even more. She starts to think that she is a very special teacher, gifted above all others. The cycle continues slow but steady until 10 - 15 years later, you have a full-blown cult led by the self-proclaimed Voice of God. Ultimately, the original responsibility does lie with Kalindi, but building a cult is always a group effort. All people who choose to stay involved in Miracle of Love share a role in the harm that the group causes others. For a powerful illustration of how this reciprocal relationship between leader and followers can develop, check out this video of "The Wave" Experiment (also called "The Third Wave") that took place in California in 1967. A note about this video: In our current politically-charged society, it has become unfortunately fashionable to compare leaders with whom one does not agree to Hitler. While this video does outline an experiment on tactics used in the Hitler youth movement, it is NOT our intention to insinuate that Kalindi or The Lady are "no better than Hitler." That is quite obviously not true. What this video does demonstrate is how a cohesive group with a strong leader can very quickly become more powerful than the leader or followers could ever have anticipated. It begs the question, "If Hitler had imagined himself as a peaceful leader of the German people and not embarked on campaigns of world domination or genocide, would his other control tactics been justified? Or is there something inherently dangerous and ultimately destructive about this kind of manipulation and control, no matter what the ultimate goal may be?" |