Religious Manipulation

by JCWilmore

There are extremists apart of every religion from The Westboro Baptist Church to a Muslim cult found in Russia holding followers underground.

The NPR article reports children, ages 1 to 17, were held underground in an elaborate complex with their families with no heat or ventilation for over then years.

Thank the gods police found these families and now they are receiving medical care and hopefully the families will seek counseling to help through this mental trauma.

by Kareesa Tofa

Desperate people listened to this cleric and are now confused about what exactly was wrong with their thinking.  Fear was a powerful tool used to manipulate these families and it makes me sick.  

Manipulation corrupted religions in the past and it was no different for Paganism.  One example was how John Friend used his yoga studio and spiritual practices to manipulate women into being a kind of sex slave.

Of course the media sometimes explodes these scandals and also uses fear to manipulate the public into an overly questioning state.  This can be beneficial, but the lingering effects can be damaging to a majority of worshipers who just want to practice without prejustice.

People need to protect themselves from too good to be true stories from anyone about spirituality.  How?  Ask questions, if you feel uncomfortable voice how you don't and refuse to preform, read everything and don't drink the cool-aid.

Dream: Escaping North Korea

by Gilad Rom

I watched many documentaries about North Korea and every time I found myself in a more depressed state.  Maybe this was what influenced my dream a few nights ago.


I remembered being in North Korea with my boyfriend and there was a rally where everyone nearby was distracted.  Hundreds of people decided to escape during the rally with the help of an underground railroad group.


We traveled through a run down building and there was a chain link fence in the way.  Some of us, including me and my boyfriend, tore down the fence.  After the fence was removed the underground group started to celebrate and I said, "Why don't we enjoy freedom after we go over the fence?"  Everyone looked at me, stunned at what I said, but I went over the fence.


There were some themes in this dream and I went onto Dream Moods to help me interpret them:
rebel: stand up for yourself, take action

by Ksd5

I certainly did by escaping and speaking my mind to the rest of the escapees.


escape: escaping from restriction, running away from restrictions
Sense I cut the fence and escaped I don't think I was running away from my problems, but confronting and dealing with them by cutting them out.


foreign land: change, how did the country make you feel
Obviously, I didn't feel very secure and happy because I was escaping from North Korea.


boyfriend: an expression of what I feel about my current boyfriend
We were both escaping together, working together and escaped together, I think this was rather positive.


fence: unable to express myself
Sense I cut the fence I maybe cutting away my creative barriers.


group: a merge between different aspects of yourself
I don't remember anyone else with us when my boyfriend and I escaped, so perhaps my aspects were faceless because they were my collective will towards a goal.

by David Eerdmans

ruins of a building (building): self image has taken a blow, need to change, perspective is wrong
I was escaping from the impoverished country of North Korea and cut through the building to leave, so perhaps I am changing.


I think these were the most significant signs in my dream and now I see a recurring theme.  I wanted to change and took action to do so and escape a former life of unhappiness and supression.


This could be a recent as how I finally changed my career to a nanny rather than persue a writing career or even how I finally broke up with my x-boyfriend Brian about two years ago.  I needed a change and this dreams showed me I'm on the right track.


Any weird dreams lately?