Choose one of the above cult leaders or another of your choice – such as David Koresh (Branch Davidians), Ron L. Hubbard (Church of Scientology), Michel (Buddha Field), Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh (The Rajneeshies). Show how these leaders and their followers represent some aspect of the zeitgeist of their era. Begin by explaining what you see as the zeitgeist of the period in which the cult leader rose to prominence. Explain how the cult leader and his followers developed a version of that social ideal or dream. Then explain how that positive dream went wrong and why. Conclude by showing that cults are not the stereotype of a wild eyed guru and brainwashed followers. Cults always offer a new and positive way of life in the beginning. If they didn’t, no-one would join them! Cult leaders are often brilliant and even visionary leaders whose ideal world is undermined and destroyed by their own dark side — their narcissism, Machiavellianism and sociopathy. People who join cults are NOT gullible fools. They are often very intelligent, highly idealistic people who see no place to flourish in the models and institutions that their society offers. Lastly – every cult member looks back on their early experiences of cult life as the “best days” of their life. Even the members of the People’s Temple who lost family members in Guyana, have positive memories of the early days of the Temple.ILS4190: End of Term Paper: Cult Leaders and Followers: Dark Reflections of the Zeitgeist?
Due Date: Tuesday January 18th in class
Required length: 4-5 Pages (Typed/Double Spaced with Works Cited Page in MLA Format)
Choose ONE of the 3 options.
Topic
Each recognizable cultural era has its own dreams and fantasies. These specific fantasies or
ideals become part of the shared consciousness of people in the society during that era.
Cult leaders tend to reflect the dreams of the era in which they appear. Their appeal to their
followers is that they seem to offer some fulfillment of dreams and fantasies that the followers
have already absorbed from the culture. These dreams are powerful because they emanate
from the “zeitgeist” (spirit of the time) of the society as a whole. The cult leader taps into the
energy of this collective fantasy and creates his own version of it. Jim Jones and Charles
Manson tapped into different dreams that were unique to 1960’s America. At first they seemed
to represent the positive potential of those dreams, but as the cult played out, they are
remembered as the negative shadow or dark side of those dreams.
1. Jim Jones’ People’s Temple seemed to be part of the positive dream of racial integration
and equality that emerged and grew in 1950’s and 1960’s America. This dream was
spread by the striving of black people after WWII and it turned into a national
movement, led by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Jim Jones created a church – the
People’s Temple – that seemed to offer the revolutionary freedom and equality that
MLK and Malcolm X talked about. Jones started out as an evangelical Christian, but his
idea of Christ was always tinged with revolutionary socialism. Jones saw Christ as the
first communist. Jones imagined a church (and a world) where all wealth would be
shared, all people would have equal rights, equal value and an equal share. Yet behind
his vision of equality and integration, lay a power-mad, death-obsessed, paranoid sexual
predator who would build his own fantasy world in Guyana.
2. Charles Manson’s “Family” reflected a different but equally powerful dream of the
1960’s: the fantasy of a new, psychedelic youth culture that would transform the old
conservative, materialistic, war-mongering American dream of the parental generation,
into an enlightened paradise. LSD was the transformative substance that fueled the
musical and cultural revolution of 60’s “counter culture”. The music of The Doors,
Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Beatles embodied the wild, unlimited
imaginative potential of LSD. These musical innovators all gained “cult-like” status.
Musicians like Bob Dylan and The Beatles were no longer seen as popular entertainers,
but as cultural leaders, visionaries and prophets. The Beatles were the first global
superstars and the first rock band. When they told interviewers they had “seen God” on
LSD the line between rock band and religious cult got blurred. The same cult-like status
surrounded bands like the Grateful Dead, with “Captain Trips” Jerry Garcia at the
controls and a huge crowd of tie-dyed “Dead Head” followers.
3. Manson got out of prison in 1966 and headed for San Francisco. He found many young
middle-class runaways who had come to California looking for free love, drugs and
enlightenment. Manson soon became a pimp and “father-figure” to the teen girls he
picked up. Manson had become aware of the Beatles in prison, but now listening to
psychedelic Beatles’ albums like The White Album on LSD, Manson developed a
prophetic fantasy. The Beatles were the Locusts mentioned in the Book of Revelations.
They were also the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Their albums were Biblical
revelations and Manson was the prop[het they were talking to. Manson interpreted
songs like Black Bird, Piggies, Helter Skelter and Revolution #9 to be predictions of a
coming black revolution that would destroy American society. Then Manson would
appear out of the desert, like Jesus, to lead the New Age. At the same time, Manson had
a more ordinary fantasy – he wanted to be a rock star – bigger than the Beatles. The
combination of these fantasies brought about the Manson murders, but Manson got his
dream: he became at least as famous an avatar of the 60’s as the Beatles.
Assignment:
Choose one of the above cult leaders or another of your choice – such as David Koresh
(Branch Davidians), Ron L. Hubbard (Church of Scientology), Michel (Buddha Field), Bhagwan
Sri Rajneesh (The Rajneeshies). Show how these leaders and their followers represent some
aspect of the zeitgeist of their era.
Begin by explaining what you see as the zeitgeist of the period in which the cult leader rose to
prominence.
Explain how the cult leader and his followers developed a version of that social ideal or
dream.
Then explain how that positive dream went wrong and why.
Conclude by showing that cults are not the stereotype of a wild eyed guru and brainwashed
followers. Cults always offer a new and positive way of life in the beginning. If they didn’t,
no-one would join them! Cult leaders are often brilliant and even visionary leaders whose
ideal world is undermined and destroyed by their own dark side — their narcissism,
Machiavellianism and sociopathy.
People who join cults are NOT gullible fools. They are often very intelligent, highly idealistic
people who see no place to flourish in the models and institutions that their society offers.
Lastly – every cult member looks back on their early experiences of cult life as the “best days”
of their life. Even the members of the People’s Temple who lost family members in Guyana,
have positive memories of the early days of the Temple.
What does this tell us about the powerful attraction of cults?
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