But I don't really see the tenants of Eckenkar as radically different from the tenants of The Monroe Institute, for example. Both groups are non-profit. Both make implicit promises about where their practices lead you. One group styles itself as a "religion" and the other group styles itself as secular.
F, you're playing devil's advocate, and advise against black-and-white thinking, and that's cool.
I also tend to think a lot of Eckenkar folk are probably lovely people without an agenda. But, as some people have already alluded to, just a little cursory research online into Eck does reveal a dark side about this institution, à la Scientology. And doing that reveals that it's a cult that can't be compared in any way with The Monroe Institute, or most major established religions.
Yes, there is the subject of whether the philosophical-religious foundation is bullshit, a scam, a hoax, etc. That's obviously the case with Eck and that's one thing. But the other - much scarier and problematic - thing is those elements that go with the nature of a cult: mind control, suppression of doubt and dissent, manipulation, etc. And this is the aspect that Robert Mays seems to be unaware of. (See here for a characteristics of what makes a cult:
http://www.icsahome.com/articles/characteristics )
K9 posted earlier this eye-opening experience of mind-control through Eck in the Cultic Studies Review:
Perhaps "mildly dangerous" refers to the kind of traumatic mind-control reportedly employed by Eckankar as related in this article from the Cultic Studies Review:
http://www.colleenrussellmft.com/To...genicBeliefsThroughTheProcessofActing.en.html[/MEDIA]
Here are just a few more revealing links about Eck, that at the very least should cause the raising of eyebrows:
http://caic.org.au/eastern/eck/subtle.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/eckankarsurvivors/eckankartruth.html
http://worldcultwatch.org/eckankar-a-scientology-clone/
One forum member here revealed something that happened recently that in itself is just a little detail but to me is a potential marker for deception in the name of recruitment. The podcast mentioned Linda Anderson as another NDEr who is an Eckankar clergy member who has participated in IANDS events.
In a recent episode of the IANDS-sponsored
NDE Radio podcast with Lee Witting, Linda Anderson was interviewed. The topic was "Animals and the Afterlife", as Linda has written books about the spiritual life of animals. At the end of the interview, Lee Witting asks her where people can go to find out more. Given the topic of the interview, and Witting's specific question, you would expect her to send people to her personal website (
www.angelanimals.net), which lists and describes nine such books written by her. But instead she gives the URL of Eckankar - and the site doesn't even actually list any of her animal books!
The podcast in question
http://www.talkzone.com/episodes/204/NDE083115.html
The transcript for this part of the interview (starts at 29:38)
Lee: Linda, we're unfortunately out of time. How can listeners find out more about your books and research into the spiritual life of animals?
Linda: Well, one of the best places to go, especially for people who have had near-death experiences or out-of-body experiences -- if you're looking for validation of your spiritual experiences -- is eckankar.org [then she spells it out]. And you can click on the book section, if you want to, and look at all the different books that are available, and just kinda browse through the website, and just kinda get an idea about, you know, some of the things that are out there, that maybe are a bit beyond what you've seen before, but there may be bits and pieces of it that just fit perfectly for you and really give you a lot of comfort and a lot of hope.
Lee: And I imagine your books are there as well.
Linda: Uh, 35 Golden Keys to Who You Are & Why You're Here is there, yes.