--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seekliberation" <seekliberation@...> wrote: > > ahhh, the whole sterling men's group cult that started back in the 90's. I > remember that whole thing (I think it's still going). I ended up going to > the 'weekend seminar' that is the basis of the whole group. It's actually > valuable if you've been raised like a modern american male (irresponsible, > immature, unable to transition from boyhood to manhood, etc...). The whole > weekend is about a lot of things, but primarily what I got out of it is a > view of how weak and pathetic men are becoming decade after decade in > America. It was a kind of eye-opening experience for me, and i'm thankful > for it. Othwerwise, I do believe I would've continued in life with a lot of > perpetual abandonment of responsibility and growth that is often justified by > modern American males to avoid altogether. > > However, the whole sterling men's group turned into a 'cult within a cult'. > Not only were the men from Fairfield mostly meditators, but now they're a > part of another new 'paradigm-shifting' group. I found that a lot of the men > in that group were doing a lot of superficial things that were just NOT a > part of their character. It was usually to display some masculinity or > manliness. There were so many of them that would all of a sudden try acting > tough, though they never were tough their entire life. The intensity of > their recruiting efforts was borderline psychotic. I honestly believe that > only a sociopath could remain in that group without any serious conflict with > others. Many men who were part of it eventually drifted away due to the same > perceptions that I had of it. However, we all agreed it (the weekend > seminar) changed our lives for the better. > > The funny part about it is that eventually the Head Honcho of all nationwide > Sterling groups (Justin Sterling) made an executive decision to disband the > group from Fairfield from being an official representation of the 'Sterling > Men's Group'. I'm not sure why, but I think that the leader of the whole gig > felt that something was seriously wrong with the men's group from Fairfield > in comparison to other groups in the rest of the nation. He was probably > right. A lot of these men were fanatics about TM, or some other form of > spirituality or new-agism. And if you take someone like that and latch them > onto another belief system, it's like the fanatacism goes through the roof. > > All that being said, I do agree that the weekend has changed some people's > lives, but I would strongly recommend avoiding the group activities that come > afterward (unless you really enjoy it). It was a major pain in the ass when > I announced to the group that I didn't want anything to do with them anymore. > It's worse than trying to tell a military recruiter that you changed your > mindÂ…..literally. > > seekliberation >
Dear Seek, Thanks, good post chronicling historic late 20th Century Fairfield sociology. Good insight. Yeah, Richard in an earlier post had a good observation about this. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams" wrote: According to Lifton, cults are a form of 'totalism' and coercive 'thought reform'. evidently it still is alive in Fairfield. > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seventhray27" <steve.sundur@> wrote: > > > > > > I am guessing that this is carry over from the "Mens" movement thing > > from some time ago. Was it Sterling, or something? I guess I could > > look it up. But I remember someone from Fairfield, put one of my good > > friends from here in St. Louis to recruit me, or invite me to > > participate or something. It was awkward for him, and it was awkward > > for me. But the Fairfield guy employed all the high pressure tactics > > you use to sell something. My friend and I were at my house and the FF > > guy was doing his thing on the phone. But then, as now, I didn't care > > to get recruited to a new group. > > > > And truthfully, I still have resentment for that guy for his blatant > > manipulation. He just wouldn't take no for an answer. > > > > Who knows, maybe I could have benefited from it. > > >