tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53309992275129322682024-03-28T17:57:34.088-07:00Life In The Source FamilyI created this blog in order to write about my own personal experiences from being in The Source Family from 1970 until 1976, in an effort to dispel many of the exaggerated claims about what life was like living in this particular cult. For me, life in The Source Family started out as a fun and exciting experience, but as happens in most cults, it soon became an extremely stressful and unhealthy situation with the loss of personal autonomy and decision-making.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-32992045369209185412023-04-11T18:36:00.003-07:002023-06-03T05:53:38.315-07:00Stretching the Truth<p>I recently listened to a podcast by two young women about Jim Baker and The Source Family, and to the credit of one of the young women she had made an effort to find newspaper articles in search of factual information about Baker, and she talked about finding this article in the San Bernardino Sun from 1955 <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6134211/1955-nov-6-zimm-judo/">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6134211/1955-nov-6-zimm-judo/</a> about the time that Jim Baker judo chopped and killed his neighbor in a dispute about the way that Baker took care of the guy's dog, while the guy was in jail, and she also referenced the article saying how Baker had claimed to the reporter that he had won 'the 1948 World Judo Championship with Wild Bill Zim of Argentina' fueling my interest to find out if that was a valid claim made by Baker. Here's another newspaper clipping from 1955 where Jim Baker made the same claim.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJH4fChmFtl9sxh0wJKnXdTw8CxtnsJlZH6ZxIEvgodTi-BT6jMGX5iRRcW9Zn475uT3TB90003Ov9bZdRIJlvfJGUskwfZsO6oL5OYBhodotqwxlBzRkO7M2Ws3Uk5S571IL59XxkH2Jhy7S_ThwYdkrUu8L6kQByhYVESw48ltQkNYEt_Id_Ccwwlw/s833/Baker%20Newspaper%20clipping.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="833" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJH4fChmFtl9sxh0wJKnXdTw8CxtnsJlZH6ZxIEvgodTi-BT6jMGX5iRRcW9Zn475uT3TB90003Ov9bZdRIJlvfJGUskwfZsO6oL5OYBhodotqwxlBzRkO7M2Ws3Uk5S571IL59XxkH2Jhy7S_ThwYdkrUu8L6kQByhYVESw48ltQkNYEt_Id_Ccwwlw/s320/Baker%20Newspaper%20clipping.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">With a simple google search I found a website about Wild Bill Zim, a wrestler from New York (not Argentina) who did participate in a judo exhibition with Baker in 1948 and quickly lost to Baker, for obvious reasons such as Wild Bill was a wrestler and did not practice judo and wasn't proficient at it, as was Jim Baker. So, the exhibition wasn't a World Judo Championship by any means which makes you wonder why Jim Baker would make such a claim. I don't recall Jim Baker ever talking about any of his past exploits and if he did, I was not present and only learned about them years after The Source Family had disbanded and one person took it upon herself to try and resurrect the whole thing. I had never heard of Jim Baker being called 'the world's strongest boy', as my old friend, Robert aka Omne stated in the 2012 film. But, considering Jim Baker's younger days growing up during the Great Depression in Cincinatti at a time when people would often claim being 'the strongest' of this or that; it came as no surprise that Baker may have elaborated about himself. Here is an interesting link about 'the world's strongest men</span><span style="text-align: left;"> from around the time when Jim Baker was growing up <a href="https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/early-strongmen-photographs/#:~:text=21-year-old%20Swansea%20tailor%20Harry%20Pelta%2C%20winner%20of%20the,supports%20a%20200-pound%20motorcycle%20and%20its%20rider.%201932.">https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/early-strongmen-photographs/#:~:text=21-year-old%20Swansea%20tailor%20Harry%20Pelta%2C%20winner%20of%20the,supports%20a%20200-pound%20motorcycle%20and%20its%20rider.%201932.</a>. Baker was trying to make a name for himself, and so I can understand why he might have embellished his past accomplishments in order to appear as the strongest or a world champion of something.</span></div><p></p><p>Wild Bill Zim's son found several newspaper articles in the Cincinatti Times from 1946 through 1949 about Jim Baker and sent them to me and I've included links to those articles. I found contradictions about Baker's father, where in the San Bernardino Sun article Baker told the reporter that his father was a Chicago detective killed by gangsters, and in another article it states that Baker's father was a professional wrestler and that Jim lived with him in Vallejo, California in 1938. It was my understanding that Jim Baker's father left him and his mother in Ohio when Baker was very young, and that was what the majority of former members like me understood to be true. In Charlene Peter's book about the Source Family she wrote that Baker's father was a firefighter. </p><p>There is also the claim that Jim Baker earned a Silver Star at Guadalcanal during World War II for shooting down 13 Japanese bombers, although some have searched the Army database for Marines awarded a Silver Star and could not find a citation for James Edward Baker. Although, an article about weightlifting in Strength and Health magazine from 1945 about Jim Baker mentions him 'sporting a decoration for conspicuous gallantry'. Here is that article: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM67_p208EEfcuCOhviQgE3lOz_MeKhqZDGYlYFByTb-VOmyfqj2g41wWtIi1cakXJXzTyjH9VxnKUvWJNq7Qm36ZUsPJK5G4VDOvzDTZ3mNuIUG37zEnFeHNlWUeaHELi4YjW1GriwpG46Cid47J68ynpnqnTzNGk49hBjE_s_TV5ciUO51cjgotCEg/s707/pg%201%20Gord%20V%20article.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM67_p208EEfcuCOhviQgE3lOz_MeKhqZDGYlYFByTb-VOmyfqj2g41wWtIi1cakXJXzTyjH9VxnKUvWJNq7Qm36ZUsPJK5G4VDOvzDTZ3mNuIUG37zEnFeHNlWUeaHELi4YjW1GriwpG46Cid47J68ynpnqnTzNGk49hBjE_s_TV5ciUO51cjgotCEg/s320/pg%201%20Gord%20V%20article.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9fEVXQ6icwZYwQLsMvnhVXEe7_Zch6vaU1ZBtPLX9Pb5snhkhW_wR2fZpSR7Wr5sJXMmmKz--zpLbdyVc9qycp8K2ABkWejz4hjJe4JgJimWrMnkMuiBMkih625STLeHKz6cX3IuJrC0R0B4YFH6PokNvCN2axRi9Ncu2_IlCPAOGXQFS8ABIsLvSw/s723/2%20pg%20Gord%20V%20article.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="568" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9fEVXQ6icwZYwQLsMvnhVXEe7_Zch6vaU1ZBtPLX9Pb5snhkhW_wR2fZpSR7Wr5sJXMmmKz--zpLbdyVc9qycp8K2ABkWejz4hjJe4JgJimWrMnkMuiBMkih625STLeHKz6cX3IuJrC0R0B4YFH6PokNvCN2axRi9Ncu2_IlCPAOGXQFS8ABIsLvSw/s320/2%20pg%20Gord%20V%20article.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> Another version was that Baker had punched his commanding officer while on the USS Chicago and was being taken to the brig when the Japanese began to attack the ship, and that he didn't actually receive a Silver Star citation, due to him assaulting an officer. <p></p><p>At least these newspaper articles from 1940's Cincinatti gave me more insight into the kind of young man that Jim Baker was and how in one article he was described as being 'a hustler in capital letters' <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20267738/1949-jan-26-jim-baker-judo-champ-muscle/?fbclid=IwAR1FFOz-e31eieBuMePXS0eI1IeasoyB-ibf6838FSO5uNpjXgNhusHThU8">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20267738/1949-jan-26-jim-baker-judo-champ-muscle/?fbclid=IwAR1FFOz-e31eieBuMePXS0eI1IeasoyB-ibf6838FSO5uNpjXgNhusHThU8</a>---a young man into weightlifting and physical fitness who taught judo and joined the Marines who may have stretched the truth about his accomplishments and titles. It's easy to see how stretching the truth served Jim Baker's purpose again when he gathered a group of much younger, adoring followers around him convincing them that he was their 'earthly spiritual father' and then deciding to have multiple 'spiritual wives' in addition to his only legal wife at the time, Robin Baker to have them all wait on him and pamper him in obedience and supplication. </p><p>Here are more articles that mention Jim Baker from The Cincinatti Times.</p><p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120347408/1946-oct-21-baker-teaches-co-eds/?fbclid=IwAR10dbiWcRojF1eAHkyrtJqm4Z6HuqSek_Z8gY1NzmTvt_vV8fA_EHyHXCw">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120347408/1946-oct-21-baker-teaches-co-eds/?fbclid=IwAR10dbiWcRojF1eAHkyrtJqm4Z6HuqSek_Z8gY1NzmTvt_vV8fA_EHyHXCw</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349123/1949-feb-8-jim-baker-vs-zim-judo/">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349123/1949-feb-8-jim-baker-vs-zim-judo/</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349333/1949-feb-9-baker-vs-zim-judo/">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349333/1949-feb-9-baker-vs-zim-judo/</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349444/1949-feb-11-baker-vs-zim-judo/">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349444/1949-feb-11-baker-vs-zim-judo/</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349605/1949-feb-12-judo-jim-beat-zim-quickly/">https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349605/1949-feb-12-judo-jim-beat-zim-quickly/</a><br /></p><p>I found this website with historical photos taken at Venice Beach from 1949 when bodybuilding and weightlifting were hugely popular which shows the health and fitness culture that Jim Baker had become a part of when he was in Los Angeles. <a href="https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/original-muscle-beach-1949/?fbclid=IwAR26MEWky-LZic1A7CaH_pMiChiYFYdK_-jcATxxrORb2XG_akM_qFE3XuM">https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/original-muscle-beach-1949/?fbclid=IwAR26MEWky-LZic1A7CaH_pMiChiYFYdK_-jcATxxrORb2XG_akM_qFE3XuM</a></p><p>Anyway, I believe in giving credit where credit is due to Jim Baker for whatever he did accomplish in his life. It's just that I cannot give him credit for being 'an earthly spiritual father' or a 'wise and enlightened spiritual teacher' when he repeatedly transgressed the personal and sexual boundaries of many of the women, after he formed The Brotherhood of The Source; especially young women who were 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old. Whether or not it was the early seventies when 'free love' and 'sexual liberation' abounded as part of the counterculture; it doesn't excuse the fact that Jim Baker, the father of a daughter should have known better.</p>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-14037518540067951562023-02-23T12:52:00.003-08:002023-02-26T09:11:32.812-08:00Rewriting History<p>The definition of rewrite history is the following: <span face="Roboto, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 14px;"><i>select or interpret events from the past in a way that suits one's own particular purposes</i>. So, if</span> Charlene Peters aka Isis Aquarian who claims to be the record-keeper and historian of The Source Family along with her other self-appointed titles such as High Priestess and Temple Keeper could be accused of anything; it's the fact that she has rewritten the history of The Source Family to suit her own sanitized, whitewashed and embellished storyline leaving out any mention of the sexual ritual called qudosh, along with her efforts to minimize or underscore the fact that babies died at The Father House in Los Angeles and were buried on the hillside. Babies who might have survived had they been given medical treatment of any kind. But, dead babies is a subject which Charlene has tried to underplay, as if those infant deaths had been unpreventable and 'just happened'; when the truth and reality is the fact that no one dared go against Jim Baker's tenet that no one seek or use outside medical help of any kind. But, Charlene knows the public would not look kindly upon a cult leader who allowed infants to suffer and die, under his watch. Which is exactly why Charlene went to extremes to obliterate any mention of qudosh when she had the person copying the cassette tapes labeled 'meditation tapes' remove any parts of the tapes where Jim Baker talked about qudosh. </p><p>Covering up and hiding the truth about something that became the most important of Jim Baker's so-called 'aquarian teachings' became very important to Charlene Peters for two reasons: 1) because she wanted to promote herself 2) because Jim Baker warned that anyone who revealed the practice of qudosh would face a lifetime of regret. Charlene was banking on the fact that no one who was in The Source Family who was either ordered by Jim Baker to perform qudosh or who participated in any way; would never publicly talk about such a thing or admit to having performed. She was counting on the silence of former members not to reveal the practice of qudosh.</p><p>Charlene has a book signing coming up at UC Santa Barbara for her most recent Source Family scrapbook, but I can't help but wonder how the UCSB library would feel about sponsoring and helping promote Charlene's sanitized, whitewashed and embellished version of the history of The Source Family, if they learned that a sexual ritual where a man ingested a woman's menstrual blood was the central most important 'teaching' of Jim Baker's. Charlene has managed to get UCSB to have an ongoing exhibit titled Lifting the Veil which is so ironic considering she would never want the veil to be lifted enough to reveal the practice of qudosh! </p><p>Concealing the truth about what really went on within The Source Family is unethical in my view, because isn't truth a cornerstone of ethics? Charlene should have just told the truth about the practice of qudosh, instead of continuing to hide the fact, or using the lame excuse how it was not to be revealed, because of it being some kind of sacred teaching not meant for anyone outside of The Source Family. </p><p>I was sent a copy of the unedited film from 2012 shortly after it premiered at SXSW in Austin, and there was an interview segment with former member, Zinaru who talked about how things changed 'with the introduction of blood', but Charlene had that part of his interview edited out from the final version of the film. Another example of Charlene's machinations to remove any mention of the practice of qudosh.</p><p>The practice of qudosh has left the majority of former Source Family members like myself with feelings of shame, regret and remorse for allowing ourselves to follow Jim Baker's misuse of his power over all of us and performing something that nobody wants to ever talk about. I know what it's like to admit to having performed qudosh and the embarrassment that goes along with that, but I also feel anger towards Jim Baker for ordering and subjecting me to perform that sexual ritual. I would rather my adult son not ever learn about or know about qudosh, but it's the truth. Leaving out the sexual ritual of qudosh from the story allows Charlene to continue promoting herself and her sanitized narrative. Which is also why I made the decision to speak out and tell the truth about the practice of qudosh, because I feel the public have the right to know. I understand wanting to present The Source Family as being some New Age benign, harmless rock and roll communal group from the early seventies, but that is simply not the whole truth. The truth is The Source Family became a cult around the personality of Jim Baker where we all obediently followed and obeyed his orders and directives. When Jim Baker ordered anyone in The Source Family to perform qudosh with whomever he chose; you did what was expected of you.</p>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-18392290397707536962022-12-18T13:56:00.001-08:002022-12-19T08:03:45.517-08:00Retrospective<p>One of the most telling tracks recorded of Jim Baker's cacophonous singing (mostly yelling and wailing) was a track titled A Kind of Depression. Because Jim Baker could only draw on his own feelings, emotions and past life experiences; the words he spoke, yelled and wailed throughout this track were very telling. Here are Jim Baker's painful and remorseful words on that track:</p><div style="text-align: justify;">This love of mine goes on and on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Life's been so empty since you have gone. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">You're always on my mind though out of sight. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's lonely through the day and all the night. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I've cried my heart out it's goin to break. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">What does it matter let it break. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I walk---I walk alone til I walk with you what else can I do. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'll talk---I'll talk to none without you what else can I do. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tears of pain and tears of remorse. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oh, baby come back put me on course. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I've a very strange feeling I ain't felt before. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's tearing my heart out. I ain't me anymore. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's grinding it's an upside shot. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Give me some compassion. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now my heart it's acting strangely it felt rather sore. At least it gave me that impression. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Without you I don't want no more. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yeah, I fell in love with some girl. She put my heart in a whirl now badly by some girl. Got me in a knot don't know what's what.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, I'm in a kind of depression.</div><p>I reached out to Chris Johnson aka Octavius for his input/feedback about this track and specifically about Jim Baker's tortured lyrics and singing. Here is what he wrote back.</p><p><span style="color: #351c75;">Definitely about a woman before Robin. Seems to be an opposite message from the norm. I will share what I noticed even then while mastering the selections I dissected from the chaos that now are hailed as the genius of Jim Baker the musician artist. He had no natural talent other than being willing to throw himself off the cliff into the unknown and BS his way in real time. He was good at that. Example: becoming a judo instructor from a book. Health club gym owner when there were none. Sandalmaker when there were none. Health food restaurant when there were none. White male western guru figuring out what he believed on the fly. Frontman for a spontaneous band. Could not play an instrument so he got the biggest drum to beat. Could not keep time. Singer of whatever came to mind. Was NOT a singer. But, he could whistle better than most....I guess? So, to your question: (I asked Chris about the tortured, wailing yelling words on the track) He could only draw from the experiences he had. Like we all do. His melodies, whistling, and constructs were all bits and pieces of music from the 40's. I would think to myself, "Where have I heard that before?" Lil kitties, gonna take you home, the whistling, and some of his lyrics were all drawn from things in his past. Shipmates stand together??? So, my best guess is he was singing about his girlfriend (forgot her name) who helped him build The Source. Just his expression and body language testifies to his happiness. Before Robin. I don't know if he was a happy soul. He once said something to the effect of, "What a mess I've created." Yup, he did. I think he was probably happier before the 'family'. He actually was a young soul trying to figure out what had more value: The Material or Spiritual. So, he was a prisoner to his own habit pattern. Becoming bored with where he found himself and abandoning it in the end. Restaurants, marriages, children, lifestyles, friends, beliefs, and life in general. This is why he did what he did. Pushing and testing limits and norms. This is the same burden our generation suffers. Single parent homes. No examples. Guess this is why he needed to be the 'Father' he never had. This is why we all do the things we do. My opinion for what it's worth. With every myth comes the point where 'the rubber meets the road'. Outside of all the machismo, he could have been a friend. But, it still remains the biggest lesson in post graduate Sociology one could not imagine. The masculine Father image for better and for worse. And I am grateful to the universe for it. His ego had never felt so much pump. He fell for the temporary, lost sight of the eternal. It happens.</span></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/xgA0GEuzchs">https://youtu.be/xgA0GEuzchs</a><br /></p><p>Thanks to the input from former members like Chris and the others whose voices I've included on this blog, it helps give the viewing public a more honest and authentic view of Jim Baker, as opposed to the embellished and exaggerated (and often erroneous) narrative that's continually being put forth. There are a few former members who are not afraid to share their memories and experiences of Jim Baker that portray the man as being flawed and human.</p><p><br /></p>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-77166812670728302962022-06-13T15:47:00.001-07:002022-06-15T15:45:51.108-07:00Lovely To Look At But Not Heard<p>Jim Baker continually spoke about Jesus and even sang "you are Jesus, are you ready for that" on a Ya Ho Wha 13 track. His daily morning meditations or class would often contain references to biblical parables, and his favorite film was The Ten Commandments. There was a distinct Christian theme or reference to almost every aspect of Jim Baker's so-called 'teachings', and yet when Lovely Previn was interviewed for the 2012 film about The Source Family; her interview was cut and not used, because she talked about her strong Christian faith. </p><p>Per Lovely, she spoke about how much she enjoyed joining The Source Family and finding a family, and a father-figure in Jim Baker---two things that had been lacking in her own life. Lovely also talked about how the things that Jim Baker was teaching weren't getting her to the place that she knew she was going; which was the life of a devout Christian. I saw firsthand how Lovely was shunned and ridiculed by some former Source Family members, because of her strong Christian views which they felt did not align with whatever they believed Jim Baker's 'aquarian teachings" to be. What hypocrites!</p><p>I only just recently learned from Lovely that she had been interviewed for the film, and how when she found out that her interview wasn't included in the film; she instinctively knew why. Jim Trattner aka Magus had been interviewed extensively and his interview segments were used in the film, and yet he left The Source Family early at the Mother House. Whereas, Lovely had been in The Source Family much longer and had felt very close to Jim Baker because he supported her music and inspired her to improvise musically. Lovely was a very accomplished violinist and vocalist who played and sang on many of the albums released. Also, she was present on the day that Jim Baker died recording everything he said after he crash-landed on the beach. I would have thought that Lovely would have been the perfect former member to interview! But, it was only because Lovely expressed her strong Christian views and values that her interview segment was not used in the film, because whomever was controlling the direction of the film didn't like what Lovely had to say.</p><p>Here is what Lovely had to say in her own words:</p><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">I got a message from Isis asking if I’d like to do an interview for the upcoming Source family documentary. I arranged a time for Jodi and her two-man crew to come over to my house. They rearranged my dining room area as the best place to film and made it look nice, then Jodi began the interview. I don’t remember the questioning exactly but asking me about my time in the Source family and what I thought of it now is probably a general guideline. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">I can say at that time in my life as a young teenager probably age 15 I felt a very strong need for a family. I experienced my classmates’ homes and spent many happy overnight stays with their families. I came from a divorced family; my parents were already divorced when my mother was three months pregnant with me, so there was the lack of father and lack of warm togetherness living with my mother and my older sister. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">The Source offered me a big family, father-type figure and spiritual teachings I longed for as I searched for God. I was taken away after the first year to go and finish high school in the countryside of England. I had no choice because I was not 18 yet. Once I had graduated I came home to Los Angeles to get a job a car and be normal but soon felt the pull of family and went back. Many were in Hawaii and the restaurant was being sold so I helped the manager train the new owners and workers and was eventually able to join everyone over in the islands. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">Fast forward to Jim Baker taking the hang-gliding adventure that eventually caused him to pass away. I felt very close to him because he was an older man well educated, a great businessman, knowledgeable about so many things and I too had my good British education. He also encouraged me with my music which my parents never did; he told me to go out on the deck in Lanikai and just play my violin however my heart led me to play which is how I began improvising. That was very crucial for me to have that support. The day of the hang gliding I was the one carrying the tape recorder recording everything he said from when he took off on the cliff down on the beach, as we drove him home and during those eight hours until he passed away I was right next to him recording every word. Then when we laid him out in his bed there was a 24-hour vigil so I played my violin next to his bed in the wee hours of the morning.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;"><br clear="none" /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">This is probably the story I told the day I was interviewed for the documentary which brings me to my faith and belief system I spoke about in the next portion of the interview.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">After believing in the teachings I learned from the family for 25 years I felt spiritually bankrupt. I wasn’t sure with the methods I’d been given whether I would reach liberation or whatever was the goal where my soul and spirit would end up. I spoke about being in a band that was a Christian band and travelling around every weekend sometimes to 2 or three different churches, praying with everyone before we went out and presented special music to the congregation. I was able to ask lots of questions about some of these lesser gods and teachings I’d been believing. Finally I said to the band leader look, I know that I am a Christian, but what have you done to become a Christian you’ve done something what is it? The leader wouldn’t really answer me and then one day we performed the special music at a Calvary Chapel church. After over a year none of the churches had ever given an “altar call” asking if anyone wanted to receive Christ, but this Pastor did and I had the realization that to become a Christian I needed to raise my hand publicly and declare my love and desire to follow Christ for what he did for me. Everyone in the church was crying and rejoicing and I ended up playing in that worship team for five years. I read the Bible 9 times and grew in grace and understanding of what I had now become. I even took most of the books that I had followed all those years before and threw them away because I did not need them anymore.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;"><br clear="none" /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">Jim Baker had us all use Bibles and marked certain red letter words that Jesus spoke. I learned that my interview was not going to be used in the Source documentary. My guess is it happened because I didn’t support the old teachings and source ways. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: verdana;">When I eventually saw the documentary I was so overjoyed to hear something Jim said that I never knew he said, which was that he had given all that he could to all of us, there was nothing left he could give and now he was placing his whole life into the hands of God and that he was surrendering everything. That gave me a lot of hope that I will see him again someday. I believe in his heart he was trying to help a lot of very lost people and he eventually went into wrong directions and led some people astray but I believe that he meant well and that statement is a form of repentance remorse and feeling sorry for what he did. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>The censure and exclusion of former Source Family members is the kind of thing that I cannot stand about the continuing promotion of Father Yod and The Source Family by one person who has tried to control the entire narrative, and how if something or someone doesn't conform to some fabricated 'Source Family values' then they are dismissed and excluded in the same way that Lovely was dismissed and excluded in having her story told and her voice heard in the 2012 film.</div><p>Jim Baker is heard saying the following in the 2012 film, "I am completely dependent upon the God of all to take care of me" and one of the very last things he said after he crash-landed on the beach was, "I thought that I was going to fly the kite. I guess it was God's last lesson he had to teach me." Jim Baker was a deep believer in God, and yet there are former Source Family members who mock Lovely for having the same deep belief in God. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk_7pZ1xytMoMDEjdlsBC8lM94qdjrZVoo22C05I2wo6mANhuZ1E-Uvpfrtno9dgZwctNUZMsbryHZykeRXFBC2Pn4LFwSZVI-cqi-nxO70W-fJEbWQukbD4Qvdn4lROYRn8tVnDxpaPraONLbZCGmi1lty2IX_ijUNjfucCv04j6DvLq6lWRCFZmCQ/s281/Lovely%20group%20snip.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="208" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk_7pZ1xytMoMDEjdlsBC8lM94qdjrZVoo22C05I2wo6mANhuZ1E-Uvpfrtno9dgZwctNUZMsbryHZykeRXFBC2Pn4LFwSZVI-cqi-nxO70W-fJEbWQukbD4Qvdn4lROYRn8tVnDxpaPraONLbZCGmi1lty2IX_ijUNjfucCv04j6DvLq6lWRCFZmCQ/s1600/Lovely%20group%20snip.png" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5bsQm1YvbN9Iq0RQp4BLuk3Z3aIBDMoXWlkg4YNT5QpPTWMvMbrbzDyIrOZaShojnIAW9WKmgOdxeFOKisNRPWZqGu9QvmTlP0A3OSGrUkLdRj7QMsBrcq0wiNpzcAAUyfZX3usSggfKAXPBscUVE4os2u7wdHksTiElp2mgQzHpdkAXyxrogg0_dQ/s510/Lovely%20walking2%20snip.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="346" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5bsQm1YvbN9Iq0RQp4BLuk3Z3aIBDMoXWlkg4YNT5QpPTWMvMbrbzDyIrOZaShojnIAW9WKmgOdxeFOKisNRPWZqGu9QvmTlP0A3OSGrUkLdRj7QMsBrcq0wiNpzcAAUyfZX3usSggfKAXPBscUVE4os2u7wdHksTiElp2mgQzHpdkAXyxrogg0_dQ/s320/Lovely%20walking2%20snip.png" width="217" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqWC8Gm7GlXjDkPz_TH086lzk3Tda56tZ-rIFQddBqZRFpIG6bZyanVLsY5Wfb4vQSEj3B-k-bq9tLWrynH8mKaCL9N7UmG3E0tTUCmxDRD9mGWtFtlsmR4j7oY6ICqwbxnuXxjeaOWseMoEyNyiUagy9DZjnLvEU2xKIfJpdG4Xr1P07emShn_ORDw/s475/Lovely%20with%20Breath%20snip1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="239" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqWC8Gm7GlXjDkPz_TH086lzk3Tda56tZ-rIFQddBqZRFpIG6bZyanVLsY5Wfb4vQSEj3B-k-bq9tLWrynH8mKaCL9N7UmG3E0tTUCmxDRD9mGWtFtlsmR4j7oY6ICqwbxnuXxjeaOWseMoEyNyiUagy9DZjnLvEU2xKIfJpdG4Xr1P07emShn_ORDw/s320/Lovely%20with%20Breath%20snip1.png" width="161" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBs75FKwb2ImnGEAbD8d_QxWiUxFH8FBxibxJhXaH4FqGO5XqPDv873b8V2vOtbSZtfmfvUXTyu8RzqrW-XteBTvwxjr644sUR0-PyFyFDYOOlYibfD_9HoXbHAynjAm7ni35mqzblqdQq7sVbwRKAs5FPNYEo0PzXanQZNUaM0QAAVtDeR9yy9U5L5A/s514/Lovely%20with%20Breath%20snip2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBs75FKwb2ImnGEAbD8d_QxWiUxFH8FBxibxJhXaH4FqGO5XqPDv873b8V2vOtbSZtfmfvUXTyu8RzqrW-XteBTvwxjr644sUR0-PyFyFDYOOlYibfD_9HoXbHAynjAm7ni35mqzblqdQq7sVbwRKAs5FPNYEo0PzXanQZNUaM0QAAVtDeR9yy9U5L5A/s320/Lovely%20with%20Breath%20snip2.png" width="143" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-18219031725924157022021-11-27T08:55:00.009-08:002023-04-02T09:00:01.539-07:00Life Comes FirstOne of the most detrimental beliefs of Jim Baker's so-called ''teachings' was the one where he spoke against anyone in his Source Family seeking or using medical help, especially against anyone undergoing a blood transfusion. Jim Baker adopted a belief that blood platelets contained a person's memories or what he called 'the river of life' that would supposedly playback at the moment of death, in order for that person to learn from their mistakes made in life, before being reincarnated into another body. That was the belief that Jim Baker adopted taken from something he had read, and became a fundamental part of Baker's 'aquarian teachings'---that his followers abstain from seeking or using medical help and modern medicine, but most importantly at all cost to not allow a person's blood to be removed from their body upon death, but allow the body to remain undisturbed for three days to allow that person to view their 'river of life' and learn their life lessons, before being reincarnated. It was that belief system adopted by Jim Baker which prevented infants from receiving medical treatment, and why Baker was persuaded from having medical treatment himself, after crash landing on a beach and being reminded of his own 'teaching'.<br />
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I recently learned about the rabbinic principle <i>pikuach nefesh</i> in an article that challenged the belief of Jehovah's Witnesses against blood transfusions. It is essentially the argument that Jesus was to have used with the pharaohs that the preservation of life clearly has to come first, before all other considerations. A principle that seemed to have been lost on Jim Baker. Here is a definition of that principle: <a href="https://www.gotquestions.org/pikuach-nefesh.html">https://www.gotquestions.org/pikuach-nefesh.html</a>. It basically says that 'life comes first' and everything should be done to preserve life, beyond any religious belief of any kind. Who knows, perhaps Jim Baker never knew or read about the principle of <i>pikuach nefesh,</i> because it was certainly not applied after Jim Baker crash-landed on the beach and asked the women around him, if he should go to the hospital. That principle was also not in play when infants born in The Source Family at The Father House did not receive any medical help and subsequently died, because seeking or using medical help would have been going against one of the fundamental 'teachings' or beliefs put into place by our 'spiritual' leader, teacher and ersatz father figure, Jim Baker. So, two infants and Jim Baker himself died being held to the flawed 'teachings' put into place within The Source Family, by the man. Historically, you don't have to look back very far to see how many people have died following and obeying the harmful beliefs of zealous religious and cult leaders, which is what happened in The Source Family.<br />
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Jim Baker incorporated The Essene Teachings of Jesus Christ into his 'aquarian teachings', and consistently would preach/talk about and even sang, "You are Jesus, are you ready for that'; he even composed his own 'ten commandments for the aquarian age' to resemble Mose's Ten Commandments. A large portion of Jim Baker's 'teachings' either resembled or were founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and he ardently embraced the Jewish term for god---Yod Hey Vav Hey, and yet nowhere in any of it did Jim Baker ever utter the principle of <i>pikuach nefesh;</i> otherwise a couple of infants might have lived and grown up to have happy, fulfilling lives, and even Jim Baker would most likely have survived his injuries and lived to see his own children grow up. Life should come first, before any so-called spiritual or religious beliefs.<br />
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After reading about the Jehovah's Witness parents who allowed their 11-year-old son to die, rather than allowing him to receive a blood transfusion; it reminded me of the same, misguided and deleterious beliefs that Jim Baker had adopted about not having a blood transfusion, based on a belief that a person's blood platelets contained their entire life story to be viewed at the moment of death. Jim Baker would simply attach the word 'aquarian' and incorporated stuff he'd read to be part of his so-called 'teachings', and who, upon crashing-landing on the beach and sustaining life-threatening injuries was surrounded by his fervent, loyal followers who reminded him of his own 'teaching' not to seek medical help, and who made sure his body was allowed to remain undisturbed for three days, in order for Jim Baker to view his own 'river of life'. Then, blinded by her own religious, zealous beliefs; one of the more aggressive, controlling women surrounding Jim Baker would not allow Jim Baker's adult son to speak to his father for one last time, while Jim Baker lay dying and his adult son called the Glass House in Lanikai wanting to speak to his Dad for one last time, but was told, "No, you're Father doesn't want to speak to you,"----something which I find to have been a cruel thing for someone to do! How could anyone deny a son the chance to speak to his own dying father for one last time, because of the fear that real family member might emotionally influence their parent and convince them to seek medical help----it's the kind of extremism that being in a spiritual or religious cult like The Source Family created and fomented. When the 2012 film about The Source Family came out; there was an effort to attach the catchphrase "Just Be Kind' to Jim Baker. What a mockery the catchphrase "Just Be Kind" is when babies were denied medical treatment of any kind and allowed to suffer and die.<br />
<br />It is often a tragic outcome for people who adhere to extreme religious or spiritual beliefs which deny life-saving procedures and treatments; especially when parents impose their extreme religious beliefs on infants and children who lack the experience and understanding to make that kind of choice---the same way that Jim Baker imposed his beliefs and directives on helpless infants and little children; especially two infants at The Father House in Los Angeles who should have received medical treatment and been given a chance to grow up. Misguided, religious zealots who impose their harmful and detrimental beliefs on helpless and innocent children is the most tragic outcome of many cults, and is what happened in The Source Family.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-66364688338309946032021-08-19T07:19:00.003-07:002023-04-15T11:41:21.175-07:00Cinderella Sings<p>In this post, I want to give credit to a woman who was all but overlooked for having sung on many of the songs recorded, during the flurry of recording at The Father House in Los Angeles, and who could belt out a song with so much force and power with the most distinctive voice of all the other female singers. Yet, she wasn't given any credit. It's Cinderella's distinctive singing voice heard on How Long In Time and she sings the lead vocals on songs like Do Me and Sea Like Me. Because the music that was made was marketed and sold as being The Source Family music; it made it that much easier for people to enter into licensing and distribution deals with record labels without having any kind of signed agreements in place with the individuals who actually wrote or performed on the songs. That was the case with the box set that included every single album that was made and produced at The Father House when two former members of The Source Family negotiated a record deal with a Japanese record label without any agreements or even approval in place by any of the songwriters or musicians, and so those two individuals were paid thousands of dollars for that box set! Ostensibly, the creation of The Source Foundation by two other former members was to supposedly protect the rights of the individual songwriters and musicians, but in reality ended up being just two people who also felt a sense of entitlement to take and use the music made at The Father House however they wanted and who entered into record deals. So, because Stacie Altman, otherwise called Cinderella and later renamed Quintessence refused to sign any kind of agreement or release for any of the songs that featured her; she has never received any kind of recompense, and there were others. The songs that I've included in this post were from an album released by Drag City titled Children of The Sixth Root Race specifically How Long In Time, Do Me and Sea Like Me on which you can hear Stacie's distinctive voice. Also unbelievably; the guy who put the album together neglected to include a photo of Stacie among the photos of those who performed on the album! Below is the Source Foundation agreement that Stacie was advised by her lawyer not to sign.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PD_b1sD3-UM/YRvIObIBWHI/AAAAAAAABCI/l_F15V9CKmwj7H7n1AG6V5BNIiJgdrZoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1028/Second%2BSource%2BFoundation%2BAgreement%2Binked%2Bout.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1028" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PD_b1sD3-UM/YRvIObIBWHI/AAAAAAAABCI/l_F15V9CKmwj7H7n1AG6V5BNIiJgdrZoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Second%2BSource%2BFoundation%2BAgreement%2Binked%2Bout.png" width="320" /></a></div>Stacie, had she signed would have signed away all of her music rights for perpetuity ie forever to the two former members who had set up their own foundation, and so any of the musicians and singer/songwriters who didn't sign one of those foundation agreements were not compensated from any album sales which are still going on today. As I've stated before in other posts; it was a friendly form of piracy by two people who simply took every recorded song from the early days of The Source Family recorded in the studio garage at The Father House and entered into marketing and distribution deals with record labels whether or not any of the singers/songwriters or musicians signed anything! <p></p><p>But, enough about how the songwriters, singers and musicians who happened to be in The Source Family have been ripped off, because more than anything I wanted to finally give some recognition and credit to the woman called Cinderella, who sang her heart out with an intensity and vocal projection that few have and could easily sing with a rock band without even using a microphone.</p><p>Everyone who joined The Source Family had their own story to tell, but Stacie Altman had a particularly unique and interesting one. Being the daughter of Hollywood actor and tv personality, Dick York thrust a very young girl into a wild and fast life like many kids of Hollywood actors. Being young, beautiful and blond also made it that much easier for a young woman living in the Hollywood Hills to be thrust into a lifestyle that few other young people experienced in their early teens. Stacie ended up joining The Brotherhood of The Source, after the handsome young man she had fallen in love with decided to join, and so in 1972 wanting to be with him; Stacie followed her future husband into The Brotherhood of The Source. So, when female singers; primarily female backup singers were needed; Stacie's singing voice stood out more than any others, like on the song How Long In Time heard here. </p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/yyGUNOVsFls">https://youtu.be/yyGUNOVsFls</a><br /></p><p>But, because of the male dominated environment created by Jim Baker within his group/cult; the guy who wrote the songs that Stacie sang on wanted full credit and so her performances were merely seen as being supportive of the the main performers----the men in the group. Things weren't much different in the supposedly new age/aquarian tribe of Jim Baker's than from how things were in the real world of recording where female backup singers were often overlooked. But, even equally disheartening was when two music indie people involved with the production of Hair came to The Father House to hear the band dubbed The Spirit of '76 and were very interested in working with the band, and they were especially interested in Stacie, after hearing her sing. But, Jim Baker told the two men that unless they proclaimed him to be their Earthly Spiritual Father; that he would not agree to anything. The two men's response was no, and so Stacie along with the other band members missed out on what might have been a lucrative recording contract. The same thing happened later to the band Breath, when Jim Baker refused a recording contract with A&M Records, because they were not willing to make it a Source Family contract giving him complete control over the money.</p><p>Here was Stacie singing a song titled Sea Like Me. <a href="https://youtu.be/LOBZaXx_RFI">https://youtu.be/LOBZaXx_RFI</a></p><p>Here Stacie is belting out a song titled Do Me (although album credit was incorrectly given to Robin Baker). <a href="https://youtu.be/tqHefc06lMM">https://youtu.be/tqHefc06lMM</a></p><p>Here is Stacie knocking it out of the ballpark with her powerful vocals on Lost Dead But Hoping. <a href="https://youtu.be/voR0iroxKEQ">https://youtu.be/voR0iroxKEQ</a></p><p>Stacie was the dominate female voice heard on the song Godmen, although the woman hitting the high notes at the end were made by Michelle Scovern aka Aquariana. <a href="https://youtu.be/bUu9sFYOD44">https://youtu.be/bUu9sFYOD44</a></p><p>Below is a photo of Stacie nursing her infant son, while singing alongside Les Adam aka Rhythm at the piano. Reminds me of how Cyd Charisse was credited with not only able to dance as well as Fred Astaire, but backwards and in high heels. Cinderella was able to nurse her infant son and take care of him, all while still singing in the band.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkAV7UgpW8w/YRky40sOx-I/AAAAAAAABBQ/R4PQPELK9uk7v9LeVSoKzsmwsgBK06iAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Stacie%2Bsinging%2Bwith%2BRhythm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="717" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkAV7UgpW8w/YRky40sOx-I/AAAAAAAABBQ/R4PQPELK9uk7v9LeVSoKzsmwsgBK06iAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%2Bsinging%2Bwith%2BRhythm.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Photo below of Stacie named Cinderella by Jim Baker, a name which I find to be very fitting for the woman! I wanted to add this Wikipedia definition of the name Cinderella: <span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"><i>The word Cinderella has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized: one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. </i></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLOpJSKVk9M/YRkzcf7vYEI/AAAAAAAABBY/2HQaR3_enq0BuXGUKDWDNanSMWKlqwAPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Cinderella.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="691" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLOpJSKVk9M/YRkzcf7vYEI/AAAAAAAABBY/2HQaR3_enq0BuXGUKDWDNanSMWKlqwAPgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Cinderella.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">In 1991 Demi Moore posed nude and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair; and here was Stacie posing nude and pregnant back in 1973 outside the teepee located at The Father House; a brave trendsetter in her own right. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3O-ALWOUWgk/YRl3QAzQohI/AAAAAAAABBw/2tfNtxKgsDA-vXtIFr5W2LUYB0Stj8PzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/InkedStacie%2Boutside%2Bteepee_LI.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3O-ALWOUWgk/YRl3QAzQohI/AAAAAAAABBw/2tfNtxKgsDA-vXtIFr5W2LUYB0Stj8PzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/InkedStacie%2Boutside%2Bteepee_LI.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Photo below of Stacie in Paia, Hawaii 1974 holding her infant son with his father, Alex seen behind.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_N9xlNVw-pM/YRk2Ay8gXlI/AAAAAAAABBo/rWWfWrsFcRgJpAoSdB3LJGssTBsHb6TfwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Stacie%252C%2BAlex%2B%2526%2BMichael.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="685" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_N9xlNVw-pM/YRk2Ay8gXlI/AAAAAAAABBo/rWWfWrsFcRgJpAoSdB3LJGssTBsHb6TfwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%252C%2BAlex%2B%2526%2BMichael.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Photo below taken on Maui 1975</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-olWknLjtoMU/YSvRDlglP3I/AAAAAAAABCY/UAUBinlZLAUiCaml-dFa7JVgJdTM1wAHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Stacie%2Band%2BYa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="717" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-olWknLjtoMU/YSvRDlglP3I/AAAAAAAABCY/UAUBinlZLAUiCaml-dFa7JVgJdTM1wAHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%2Band%2BYa.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Early family photos of Stacie seen looking sleepy to the left of her Mom in the one below.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-83JHIJJzVak/YRk1h_jpLkI/AAAAAAAABBg/xe6RO_nWZqgalBD0YC2qjiH_SgrVTHDFACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-83JHIJJzVak/YRk1h_jpLkI/AAAAAAAABBg/xe6RO_nWZqgalBD0YC2qjiH_SgrVTHDFACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r_gxRcJY64U/YRpsVdNBayI/AAAAAAAABB4/_7yDCZ_CAt8JHzXS3jmfJ9L7N3kzdlKpACLcBGAsYHQ/s1572/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1297" data-original-width="1572" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r_gxRcJY64U/YRpsVdNBayI/AAAAAAAABB4/_7yDCZ_CAt8JHzXS3jmfJ9L7N3kzdlKpACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J8R83o1Y1Ms/YRpsXTwGn1I/AAAAAAAABB8/K9oBbVlh_Rcy7G1EP_5ixlmYtgscvzbKACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J8R83o1Y1Ms/YRpsXTwGn1I/AAAAAAAABB8/K9oBbVlh_Rcy7G1EP_5ixlmYtgscvzbKACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Stacie%2Bearly%2Bfamily%2Bphoto2.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>Stacie ended up marrying the film director Robert Altman's oldest son, Michael perhaps because they both had famous parents and had experienced growing up in the Hollywood Hills, and so having that shared experience; they fell in love and were married for over twenty years having two extremely talented children together.</div><div> </div><div>Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the musical contributions made by Stacie aka Cinderella aka Quintessence while she was in The Source Family and also give her some personal recognition.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFfvoQslo41pEenMkSbo65mn-G-_SufrK6rupyGGdQhFrCIzjP4nMx_Pj0NkCVvONs7yg3vZCErliZnw-6WMf2SU8ksBcIaDqhsgzTHzcFuMdxvbYGr4C8gsMOTt03XaV61xADTkQU7kkVlFseEF1IMhSx4lPgSMpqMq26xSa-w27PTBEn9rczs6b1A/s959/Stacie%20and%20Mandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="959" data-original-width="958" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFfvoQslo41pEenMkSbo65mn-G-_SufrK6rupyGGdQhFrCIzjP4nMx_Pj0NkCVvONs7yg3vZCErliZnw-6WMf2SU8ksBcIaDqhsgzTHzcFuMdxvbYGr4C8gsMOTt03XaV61xADTkQU7kkVlFseEF1IMhSx4lPgSMpqMq26xSa-w27PTBEn9rczs6b1A/s320/Stacie%20and%20Mandy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">In memory of Stacie's sister Mandy aka White Cloud</div>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-31748110147342214962021-07-09T07:05:00.003-07:002022-07-14T12:39:14.168-07:00An Uncomfortable Truth<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wsBwZR-N_Bg/YOTBlZxaNGI/AAAAAAAABAU/hLrSmpCIlvA0i3VxHQwHa3vapNBlj83_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s482/The%2BLovers%2BTarot.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="288" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wsBwZR-N_Bg/YOTBlZxaNGI/AAAAAAAABAU/hLrSmpCIlvA0i3VxHQwHa3vapNBlj83_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/The%2BLovers%2BTarot.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The photo above was one that was to be part of what was to comprise Jim Baker's 'Aquarian Tarot' card deck for The Lovers card. It was taken at The Father House in Los Angeles, during the flurry of Yahowha 13 recording sessions. </span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ZPrYCDUDg0/YOTA1efTO7I/AAAAAAAABAI/f0fM_f0VZb8jyYBu4_lDrcfEWt5MakLWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s470/I%2527m%2BGonna%2BTake%2BYou%2BHome%2Bphoto.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="470" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ZPrYCDUDg0/YOTA1efTO7I/AAAAAAAABAI/f0fM_f0VZb8jyYBu4_lDrcfEWt5MakLWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/I%2527m%2BGonna%2BTake%2BYou%2BHome%2Bphoto.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The photo above of a naked Makushla lying prone, while Jim Baker holds a chalice to her mouth was to signify them having performed the sexual ritual called qudosh that Baker initiated into the daily practice of The Source Family and became THE most predominate of his supposed 'new age' teachings. Qudosh was something that Baker adopted, after reading books by Aleister Crowley and The Golden Dawn. The practice of qudosh has been the most secretive aspect of The Source Family that the majority of former members have tried to keep hidden from public view and is also the main reason that many former members have disassociated themselves from having been in The Source Family. It's my belief, that Jim Baker became consumed by sex and his acquisition of multiple 'spiritual wives', primarily to outdo Yogi Bhajan to show how 'aquarian' Baker was for openly having sex with multiple women, as opposed to the clandestine sexual relationships that Bhajan had with women in his group.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Makushla/Susan, if you happen to see or read this post; I apologize for causing you any more embarrassment, but these two photos are already found online, and so I feel that some kind of explanation should be given so the viewing public can understand how Jim Baker abused his position of power as the spiritual leader and father figure of The Source Family, by expecting everyone especially the women to perform a sexual ritual that honestly few wanted to perform! But, so-called spiritual leaders, gurus and new age teachers constantly and consistently abused their positions of power and often subjected their loyal and devoted followers to awful practices, including having sex with the spiritual leader, guru or new age teacher. Jim Baker subjected all of the women (and men) to engage in a sexual ritual which nobody signed up for initially, but we had already become good, little obedient followers of Jim Baker and so most everyone acquiesced and did what he told us to do. That is the uncomfortable truth of it all.</span></div><p>In a desperate desire by those still promoting Father Yod and The Source Family, a couple of people wanted to publish a Source Family 'Aquarian' Tarot Card deck to hopefully make additional money for themselves, along with all of the other Source Family merch they have for sale. This was all to take place in 2012, until a mortified Makushla (Susan) set off an email campaign where former members were asked to show their support for her to block the publication of the naked photos of her posing with Jim Baker. After all, Susan aka Makushla had moved on with her life and was in a new relationship and saw the publication of those naked photos of herself from forty years ago an embarrassing, awful prospect. I was one of those former members who wrote an email expressing support for Makushla to prevail upon those who were intent on publishing photos of her---basically just pleading with them not to print/publish those embarrassing naked photos of Makushla to be sold in a deck of tarot cards. The two people most hell-bent on keeping the mythos of Jim Baker alive finally agreed not to publish the naked photos of Susan and Jim Baker, at least until she had passed away; in another display of a humongous sense of entitlement by two former members who have essentially taken and used whatever they have wanted from the Source Family days. Susan was given a deference that no other former Source Family member has been given, because she was seen as being Father Yod's 'Mother Angel' to be treated in an honorific and reverential way, in contrast to Robin Baker: Jim Baker's only legal wife who chose to remain with Baker in The Source Family and witnessed and experienced her husband shift his focus and attention to Susan, along with Baker's ongoing and continual sexual acts with the majority of other women within the group in what to me seemed to be his obsessive desire or need to engage in sex with as many of the women in The Source Family, as he possibly could. </p><p>Around the same time that Baker summoned me to have sex with him at The Father House, I also recall a beautiful, young blond woman joining and Jim Baker couldn't help himself and of course initiated having sex with the young woman; when word quickly spread that during the sexual conquest of the young woman; Baker 'lost his seed' ie ejaculated; even though his designated practice called 'dhyanism' was specifically about a man not ejaculating. Clearly, Jim Baker's lust for the young woman got the better of him that day. No relationship was respected or sacrosanct to Jim Baker, if his desire was to have sex with another man's wife or partner and it was all presented as being very 'aquarian' and how women were supposedly just naturally attracted to him, because he was 'the most powerful' of men (Jim Baker was much older than most of us who joined and he had a big stomach and flaccid arms and was certainly not as virile and physically fit as most of the younger men in the group and I never found him physically attractive), and how he was supposedly elevating the act of sex beyond the carnal, lustful act of sex outside the confines of The Source Family. Yet, another uncomfortable truth is that Jim Baker was 'a dirty old man on a lust trip', as described by Robin Baker in the 2012 film about The Source Family. </p><p>The above photos also reflect the male dominated environment of The Source Family where Makushla is seen posed vulnerable and naked upside down in a compromised, sexual position with Jim Baker seen as being the masculine dominant male above her. Jim Baker was born in 1922 at a time when women had barely won the right to vote in a very male dominated society, and so he grew up seeing women as being subservient and compliant to men more than anything else; the weaker sex who could not withstand the vicissitudes of life which was the reason/excuse he used for keeping the women in The Source Family sequestered away and protected from having to deal with the big, bad outside world. I recall Jim Baker saying that women were not emotionally equipped to deal with 'the outside world' and therefore should be protected within the confines of the group. Which was why a woman's role in The Source Family was all about bearing and raising children, cleaning, making meals, doing laundry and attending to the 'earth trip' of their designated "God man" which was how Jim Baker described his 'sons' or the men surrounding him. So, a woman's role within The Source Family was created by Jim Baker according to how he saw a woman's role in life, which was subservient, obedient and compliant to a man. I distinctly recall Jim Baker saying that women didn't even need to meditate or attain 'spiritual enlightenment', because their path was different and that it was a man's role to 'contemplate spirit' and attain a higher consciousness or God-consciousness. That was the belief system which Jim Baker put into place within the supposedly new age 'aquarian tribe' of people whom he surrounded himself.</p>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-84946979132789517452019-10-12T09:00:00.004-07:002022-10-02T07:39:59.376-07:00A Personal StoryThe photo below of a green basket topped with an I Ching coin and tasseled jade piece is significant to me, because it was the first 'nice' thing or possession that Tim bought for me, after we had been temporarily kicked out of The Source Family (that happened to several people) and told to leave the encampment on Maui in 1974. Getting this basket was a luxury item for me at what was a lot of money for us back then $55.00, after having spent six long years in The Source Family with virtually nothing, but the few items of clothing that I had and a couple of books. Otherwise, I had nothing and never got anything new. But, I joined The Brotherhood of The Source with nothing, and I left with nothing. There were no niceties or luxury items available to the majority of Source Family members like myself, who did not have access to money, transportation or the benefits or largesse of Jim Baker that he bestowed upon some of his 'women' and 'sons'----some of whom were able to buy nice dresses and whatever else they desired. That was part of the disparity of being in a cult like The Source Family. Nobody had much of anything, except for whatever handouts were allowed or allotted, because; nobody had any money or income. Although, it turned out there were some people who continued to maintain their own bank accounts. But, the majority of people just got by with what little they had which only got worse as the years dragged on. So, I was very happy when Tim and I were temporarily kicked out and got to return to some kind of normalcy in life where you could spend time looking around art galleries and perhaps buying yourself something nice---a luxury that only a chosen few were allowed to do throughout the entire duration of The Source Family. So, every time that I look at this basket; it reminds me of how important it was to Tim, for me to have something that I never would have been allowed to have while in The Source Family having neither the funds/money or means to acquire it. I remember feeling such a sense of freedom being away from the claustrophobic and controlling dictates of Jim Baker and the controlling men and women who surrounded him.<br />
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It was during this time that I was almost ready to give birth. Tim had flown over from Los Angeles to the encampment at Makawao, Maui to check on me, and thankfully either said or did something that pissed off whomever was trying to control the contingent of 'family members', and so Tim and I left the encampment and flew to Oahu where Tim went out and found work playing in clubs and bars. We were living at The Pagoda Hotel in downtown Honolulu in a room with a kitchenette. It was in that hotel room that I gave birth to our son. We had hoped to have found a house or a rental of some kind, before I gave birth, but that did not happen. Tim delivered our son in a hotel room at The Pagoda Hotel, and like retelling an old war story; he would retell the story of how he delivered our son to everyone around him for the rest of his life, because he was extremely proud of himself.<br />
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Looking back, I am convinced that had I gone into labor while still at the encampment at Makawao, or back at the compound in Los Angeles surrounded by Source Family members; that my son would not have survived his breech birth. My son came out feet first, and had I been surrounded by the men and women in The Source Family at the time; they would have been unable to decide or know what to do, along with the reluctance and reticence never to go against our leader, Jim Baker's tenet not to call an ambulance or seek medical help. That was verboten, and nobody dared do something that would have been contrary to Baker's directives. I am convinced that anyone in attendance of my son's breach birth would have stood around and hemmed and hawed unsure of what to do, and my son and I would have been at the mercy of whomever happened to be around, but most definitely that my son would not have survived his birth. The only reason that my son survived was because Tim and I had left the group and were on our own; that and my own instinctive fear at the moment my son's two feet emerged that if Tim didn't get our baby out immediately neither our baby or myself would have survived---that was the thought that flashed into my mind, right before I literally yelled at Tim, "Pull him out!" Tim later said that he was pulling so hard; he thought he was going to break our son's neck. But, it took two strong pulls and out came our son, feet first. I like to say that he came out standing.<br />
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Of course, someone at the hotel heard my birth pains & yelling and had called the Health Department, so the front desk phoned the room to say that an inspector from the Health Department was on their way. Well, I was freaked out at the prospect of people from the Hawaii Health Department showing up, and so with a surge of adrenaline within minutes Tim had pulled the car that we had around to an exit at the back of the hotel and he unceremoniously gathered up all of the bedding that included the placenta and dumped it down the trash chute, before we left The Pagoda Hotel and went across the street and checked into another hotel where I spent the next week or so recovering and taking care of my perfect, little infant son. <br />
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Thankfully my son survived his birth and his Dad was given the unique opportunity to deliver his own child. I could not have been more proud of Tim's courage and unwavering resolve in delivering our son, and most of all for listening to me when I yelled at him to 'pull him out!" But, had I been surrounded by Source Family members whose ability to think and act were inhibited by the delusional and misguided beliefs implemented by our 'spiritual' leader never to call for medical help of any kind; I'm convinced there is no way that my son would have survived. Another woman had a breach birth, but her baby did not survive, because nobody around her knew what to do, and there was no medical help summoned for her. But, like her and myself, and all of the other women who became pregnant while in The Source Family; none of us ever had any prenatal care that would have seen if our babies were going to be breech. I guess that I was the lucky one.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9Bb9XmPs7Q/XaH2GJIUl3I/AAAAAAAAA4Q/YL70YSCLTTYJoixy1tozfb_0Au96wf9_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_1298.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9Bb9XmPs7Q/XaH2GJIUl3I/AAAAAAAAA4Q/YL70YSCLTTYJoixy1tozfb_0Au96wf9_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1298.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-34974877079480884212019-03-16T10:49:00.004-07:002022-03-26T10:45:24.683-07:00Confirmation By Us<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2c2d30; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.8px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">When I began to openly speak out to challenge and oppose the often effusively idealized, and sanitized narrative about Jim Baker and what it was like being in The Source Family; a few of the diehard believers or followers of Father Yod/Yahowha began to search online for anything that might reinforce or bolster their claims that everything that went on in The Source Family was magical, wondrous and divine where Jim Baker is portrayed as being an 'enlightened avatar' for the new age in a feverish effort to convince the public that all of the 'aquarian teachings' espoused by the man had been divinely inspired or channeled through him and were knowledge or wisdom that superseded the 'teachings' of all other gurus or spiritual teachers in a stellar confirmation bias or wishful thinking.</span><br />
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<i>"Confirmation bias occurs from the direct influence of desire on beliefs. When people would like a certain idea/concept to be true, they end up believing it to be true. They are motivated by wishful thinking. This error leads the individual to stop gathering information when the evidence gathered so far confirms the views (prejudices) one would like to be true.</i></div>
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<i>Once we have formed a view, we embrace information that confirms that view while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it. <a class="inline-links topic-link" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/motivated-reasoning" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(153, 153, 153); box-sizing: border-box; color: #2c2d30; font-family: &quot; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Confirmation bias">Confirmation bias</a> suggests that we don’t perceive circumstances objectively. We pick out those bits of data that make us feel good because they confirm our prejudices." </i> <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias</a>.</div>
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Whenever a former member of The Source Family has openly spoken out against Jim Baker or the practices that he imposed on his entire group of followers; they are immediately pounced upon and attacked/discredited by the more rabid and devoted followers of Father Yod/Yahowha, due to the depths of some follower's confirmation bias about the man, Jim Baker and the 'new age' utopian fairytale image of what it was like being in The Source Family that borders on pathological. </div>
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I wanted to share a First Degree podcast from January with Jim Trattner aka Magus where he talks about his own experiences and perceptions of Jim Baker when he joined The Brotherhood of The Source, in an interview that I see as a kind of 'confirmation by us' (a play on the term confirmation bias) in what I consider to be the more honest shared memories and experiences by those former Source Family members who refuse to follow or adhere to the scripted, prescribed and approved Source Family narrative, which only presents or portrays Jim Baker in a heightened and spiritually superior way, while hiding or ignoring the more disturbing aspects of the man and many of his 'aquarian teachings' or directives.</div>
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Jim Trattner was given the name, Magus, after he joined The Brotherhood of the Source early on where Jim Baker began to refer to Magus, as the 'elder brother' of the group, perhaps because he was the closest in age to Jim Baker. But, Jim Baker saw it as 'a feather in his cap', to have someone older and educated like Magus becoming one of his followers. But, with age and experience brings more questioning and discernment which is often lacking in younger and more inexperienced 'spiritual seekers', as was the case with myself and others who joined The Brotherhood. So, when Magus began to question Jim Baker's behavior and 'teachings'; especially when Baker began to have sex with more and more women among his following referring to them as 'his women', but mostly because Jim Baker was against any of the members seeking or using medical help outside of the confines of the Brotherhood----Father Yod called Magus a head tripper---someone who thought about things too much---was in their head too much. I witnessed first hand Jim Baker take it as an affront, when Magus decided to leave The Source Family where Baker spent quite a bit of time, during 'class' rebuking Magus for leaving the group. Here is a link to the wonderful The First Degree podcast featuring Jim Trattner's excellent interview. <a href="https://the-first-degree.simplecast.com/episodes/the-source-family-cult-ZWE_Y8UC">https://the-first-degree.simplecast.com/episodes/the-source-family-cult-ZWE_Y8UC</a></div>
Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-22282314441769910302019-02-26T09:46:00.003-08:002023-10-27T07:40:26.235-07:00Batshit Spirituality<i>"The key element of the total ideology is its focus on a single truth. This single truth, the sacred word, is the word of the leader, or sometimes, that of a deity to whom the leader is the only one to have a direct line. All knowledge comes from the leader. While the leader may change their mind as new “insights” appear, followers may never do so, although they must ever be on the alert to jump to the leader’s sudden ideological shifts."</i><br />
The above statement defines exactly the kind of total ideology that consumed every aspect of The Source Family where the sacred word, as prescribed by Jim Baker became all about the letters YHVH, and the single truth that Jim Baker was a direct line to 'all knowledge'; something which changed sometimes daily depending on whatever new 'insights' that Jim Baker had during 'meditation'. Everyone was expected to be focused on Jim Baker and his 'word' 24/7 ready to respond and act on whatever his new 'insights' were, in order to fulfill whatever it was that our spiritual leader and father figure wanted.<br />
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Here are a couple of more statements from the Aeon essay linked below that parallel precisely what Jim Baker created.<br />
<i>"Newman’s inner circle was composed of a set of women known as the ‘wives’ or the ‘harem’, who served as his most trusted lieutenants, as well as, at different times, his bedmates."</i><br />
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<i>"Different groups have different fear-arousing themes and methods: the oncoming apocalypse, fear of outsiders, fear of punishment, and exhaustion, among many other types of threatening strategies. But the leader is always the sole saviour, the one who will lead them away from (or through) the fear they are experiencing to a wonderful safety, to paradise, to a perfect, transformed world." </i><br />
In the case of Jim Baker, he constantly and consistently warned all of us/his followers of the threat of man(kind) and the impending apocalypse where only those of us surrounding him would be safe and secure within the confines of The Source Family and where we would all then become the leaders of a 'new age' that would arise amid the chaos and destruction---a fear of everything outside of The Source Family, due to the animal nature of men and the insanity that might engulf anyone who left his 'family' was something that Jim Baker instilled in all of us/his followers, which resulted in many feeling fearful and conflicted whenever doubts arose about whether to remain in the group or leave. It was fear that compelled many of us to remain within the group for its entire duration. I wanted to leave The Source Family at various times, but the fear of what might happen compelled me to continue seeking some kind of safety and solace within the group; even after I had become disenchanted and disillusioned with Jim Baker and all of his antics and his non-stop, incessant preaching/teaching 'the word of God' that he was supposedly channeling.<br />
<i><br />"Once this fear-based control is in place, it is quite difficult to break: the follower’s dissociation and disorganised emotional attachment to the leader or group makes it extremely difficult to look clearly at what is happening. In fact, any attempt to do so only creates more fear, causing further disorganised bonding to the group to attempt to ease the stress." </i><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "academica book pro" , "times" , "georgia" , serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"The third element of totalism is the total ideology, or, as Newman called it: ‘A historical totality that has no beginning, middle or end’. The exclusive belief system is controlled entirely by the leader, empowering him or her through the creation of a fictional world of secrets and lies."</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "academica book pro" , "times" , "georgia" , serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"After a while, things that seemed preposterous seem normal."</i></span><br />
That was exactly what happened when Jim Baker imposed the practice of qudosh on the entire group expecting the women to perform with all of the men---that was a perfect example of something which seemed preposterous was made to seem normal within the closed and secretive confines of The Source Family binding everyone even more and more to a devotional secrecy around whatever Jim Baker ordered or expected to be done. I think that the practice of ingesting a woman's menstrual blood was the most preposterous of Jim Baker's 'aquarian teachings'.<br />
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IFC Documentary Now just came out with a parody based on the film Wild, Wild Country with a few Father Yod and The Source Family parodies thrown into the mix making for an extremely funny and entertaining show. I think it's healthy and good to be able to look back and laugh at something that many took very seriously when it was all happening. Humor is the best way to convey the truth about something, in this case the reality of 'spiritual' cults/groups like the Rajneesh and The Source Family cults. I thought the few parodies of Jim Baker as Paternius were spot on, but one segment was more tragic than funny like when Father Ra-Shawbard (Owen Wilson) cries out, "What was I thinking. Get me to a hospital!" after he's struck by a car---a scene taken directly from The Source Family film after Father Yod crash-landed on the beach surrounded by some of 'his women'. Something that was meant to be funny actually conveyed the reality of that situation that many former SF members share: that Jim Baker's death could have been prevented, and that even Jim Baker as he lay there after crashing on the beach asked the women around him, if he should go to the hospital (he asked twice, in fact), but was told by one of his 'spiritual wives' that he could go to the hospital to seek medical help, but that it would be going against his 'teachings/beliefs'. <br />
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Now, that was a batshit moment---adhering to some crazy and delusional belief in not using modern medicine, instead choosing to allow Jim Baker to suffer in pain and eventually die, by holding him to his own batshit 'teaching'. I've no doubt that had the women surrounding Jim Baker made the decision to rush him to the hospital that fateful day, that he would have capitulated and probably been extremely thankful, after the fact. Instead, Jim Baker was held to his own deluded and harmful batshit 'spiritual' belief that nobody in his 'family' should seek or use medical help and in a tragic irony died being held to his own misguided beliefs. <br />
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I thought the Batshit Valley parody captured really well the extremism and insane devotion and beliefs that many people exhibited who joined the various spiritual or religious groups that sprang up, during the late sixties and early seventies; some lasting into the eighties resulting in even more long term emotional or physical damage to people; especially the children who were raised in some of the more harmful cults. Anyone who obediently follows one man or woman who is elevated and revered in an adoring, worshipful and reverential way believing that person is imbued with magical powers or knowledge places themselves and their loved ones in potentially harmful and dangerous situations, especially if the 'religious' or 'spiritual' belief system becomes one of a totalism of belief that influences and controls everyone's speech and behavior---it's that kind of spiritual extremism that was parodied in Batshit Valley. <br />
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It's good that some of us can laugh about it now, though. But, some of the harm done to people who gave up their lives in order to follow, obey and worship men like Rajneesh and Father Yod suffered loss monetarily, emotionally and physically or even worse the loss of a child. Yet, for a few remaining devoted and diehard followers of Father Yod/Yahowha; the Documentary Now Batshit Valley parody is completely lost on them, because a few are still incapable of seeing the absurdity, ridiculousness, and harmfulness of it all. Instead, a few are choosing to see it all as something great and wonderful that made them part of history, and all of their continued profuse, exalted proclamations about Father Yod/Yahowha or the exclusive batshit beliefs that were unique to The Source Family created by Jim Baker has become a parody in itself.<br />
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<a href="https://aeon.co/essays/how-cult-leaders-brainwash-followers-for-total-control">https://aeon.co/essays/how-cult-leaders-brainwash-followers-for-total-control</a><br />
<br />Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-79104871901254005282018-10-19T09:19:00.002-07:002022-05-07T13:21:09.082-07:00Me Too....Just Not YouWhen Jim Baker began to approach and groom the women in The Source Family to have sex with him<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">,</span> which was something that he began to do early on, when the cult was still in its infancy stages; one of the young women he induced into having sex with him, in his elevated role as her 'earthly spiritual father' was soon propositioned that she have his baby claiming that his legal wife, Robin was perfectly ok with him wanting to inseminate other woman, because Robin had been incapable of getting pregnant, at the time. Jim Baker, in his newfound lofty role as 'earthly spiritual father' said that he had a vision that God wanted him to 'gather his own children' and 'father' the new age, and so Jim Baker felt justified and empowered, after claiming to have had that vision and began to make a concerted effort to have sex with and inseminate the women who began to join his cult called The Brotherhood of The Source. But, it turned out that Jim Baker wasn't telling the truth when he told the first young woman, who was underage; that Robin was perfectly ok with his efforts to inseminate other women within the cult. That young woman left not long after that, because she had joined the Brotherhood hoping to find 'wisdom' and 'knowledge'---not to become impregnated by the spiritual leader of the group, and so she left; although if she tried to tell her story now; she would be dismissed and maligned by devote former members for saying anything that portrayed Jim Baker in a less than perfect way.<br />
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But, Jim Baker continued his pursuit of the women who joined The Brotherhood into having sex with him, using his elevated role as their 'spiritual teacher' to convince them that sex with him was necessary for their spiritual growth and a necessary 'magical' component of any man/woman relationship. Many of the women that Jim Baker began to have sex with saw it as some kind of honor to have sex with a man, whom his devoted followers were exclaiming to be a powerful and wise man of God. Spiritual gurus, teachers and leaders have used their exalted positions to have sex with their female followers for a very long time; so why should Jim Baker be any different. But, I never saw it as some kind of honor to be summoned to Jim Baker's room to have sex with him.<br />
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In wanting to tell my story, though; I am being personally verbally attacked by those former Source Family members, who refuse to even consider that much of what Jim Baker did and imposed on the entire Source Family was an abuse of his power. A few cannot even accept the fact that we were all in a cult that formed around the personality of Jim Baker, and where fulfilling his every wish or desire became of paramount importance. A few zealous former members vociferously attack anyone (like me) who openly speaks out against Jim Baker or any of the practices that he imposed on the entire group. If any former member is not in complete compliance with the sanitized storyline and fairy tale narrative, unless they remain silent, is verbally attacked and denigrated by the more rabid remaining followers of 'Yahowha'. There is no room for any Me Too story when it comes to Jim Baker's sexual (mis)conduct during The Source Family among his remaining devoted followers.<br />
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Some of the women who were in The Source Family saw it an honor to have sex with Jim Baker, but I never did, and I'm not alone in that belief. One woman who became one of 'Yahowha's women' wrote many years later how she never wanted to have sex with Jim Baker and resented the fact that he coerced/convinced her at the time that it was for her own spiritual growth----something that more and more women are now speaking out about their experiences in other cults and yoga organizations where the spiritual leaders or yoga teachers used their elevated positions of power over their followers to have sex with their female followers, and in some cases---the men.<br />
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When I decided to speak out and to tell my own story about experiencing what I consider to be sexual abuse, while being in The Source Family; several women contacted and messaged me privately to voice their support for me and my choice for wanting to tell the truth about what really happened in The Source Family----something that doesn't align with the sanitized and whitewashed storyline that has been presented to the public in one former member's book and the film that was made, based on that book. Nobody, especially the women ever wanted to publicly discuss/talk about the more sordid things that we all had to endure, while in The Source Family under the direction of our 'spiritual father', Jim Baker. A lot of what went on in The Source Family that was deemed as being 'wisdom teachings' or something that Jim Baker had 'channeled from the ethers' in his role as either Father Yod or Yahowha is just too damn embarrassing for most to ever want to talk about, which allowed the ardent, devoted remaining followers of 'Yahowha' to propagate a sanitized and whitewashed fairy tale----to spin only an idealized narrative where they have become tone deaf to any former member who's views, stories and memories don't align with the fairy tale. Anyone, especially any of the women, who do not go along with the approved Source Family 'party line' risk being personally verbally attacked and character assassination from those who are intent on portraying Jim Baker and the entire experience as being ultimate and ideal.<br />
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Which is why, I was in a state of disbelief recently when I heard that one former female diehard follower of 'Yahowha' had written about her Me Too experience as a teenager when a young man tried to sexually impose himself on her---a story that sounded similar to what Dr. Ford claims happened to her when she was a teenager. My disbelief stemmed from the fact the same woman had personally attacked me on Facebook not long ago, after someone posted/shared one of my blog posts on his wall where she tried to denigrate and belittle me for speaking out about what I had experienced in The Source Family that does not align with what she chooses to still believe. Her attitude and behavior towards me showed neither 'sisterhood' or solidarity, which I believe the Me Too movement is based upon! When a woman wants to be allowed to share/tell her Me Too experience, but then cherry-picks which voices and stories of other women that she'll allow; especially women who were in The Source Family alongside her----then she is certainly no sister of mine and should perhaps begin her own movement and call it Me Too---Just Not You.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-83971273183217684922018-09-04T08:17:00.006-07:002022-02-13T12:32:15.139-08:00Spiritual Pathology<div>
Jim Baker's spiritual commandment 'harm not one of your body parts either by neglect, food, drink or knife' sounded like good advice back in 1970, but isn't denying yourself or your children (especially infants) surgery or medical treatment of any kind doing harm? Jim Baker's commandment to 'not harm one of your body parts by knife' was meant to deter people from circumcision or having any vital organ surgically removed from the body. But, Jim Baker took that commandment of his to the extreme when he decided that no one in his Source Family should seek or use outside medical treatment or medicine of any kind; especially that no one should ever undergo a blood transfusion---because it went against the magical thinking that he held that your blood should never be replaced with someone else's blood (even in a life or death situation) that might interfere with your soul viewing it's 'river of life' upon death for the soul to learn it's 'life lessons' and be reincarnated. <br />
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In my mind, the adherence to many 'new age' spiritual beliefs has become almost pathological among many who believe that things such as modern medicine and medical treatment of any kind should be avoided, especially if it goes against a commandment by their 'earthly spiritual father', as was the case in The Source Family. I suspect that even today; there are a few zealous former members who would allow themselves or their own children to die rather than submit to a blood transfusion, in what I see as a kind of spiritual or 'new age' extremism. I think that it's harmless to believe that crystals have magical powers, but harmful if you believe they alone will cure cancer. The reality was that had Jim Baker received medical treatment for the injuries that he sustained, after crash-landing on a beach, instead of following his own deluded magical thinking and belief not to seek or use medical treatment---he would probably still be around to have watched the babies he sired grow up. Instead, he allowed himself to lay there and die surrounded by his enabling followers.<br />
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When people place their lives in the hands of a designated 'spiritual' or 'religious' teacher adhering to whatever 'magical' thinking or belief system that teacher prescribes; it can become fertile ground for an abuse of power, by those spiritual teachers and leaders, because their followers believe they're imbued with 'divine' or 'magical powers'. So, followers never question their spiritual teacher's motives or doubt any of their actions or behaviors, and as we've all seen happen in cults and churches over and over again; the devoted followers become enablers in the misconduct of their spiritual teacher or leader----that is the dark side of spirituality that many people have fallen victim, since the 'new age' movement began----where people surrender and subjugate themselves to the whims, desires and sexual inclinations of their supposedly 'divine' spiritual leader and is exactly what happened in The Source Family; especially what was sexual abuse disguised as a spiritual teaching.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="color: #b01500;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21.33px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">At some later point the man, who was increasingly presenting himself as a so-called Lama, wearing exotic robes and the regalia of a yogi, came to visit us. I was shocked and hurt one day when he came to me and said that he was going to sleep with my girlfriend and that I should allow it as it was good for my practice of generosity. If I should object it would show that my practice of Bodhicitta, the aspiration to always work for the welfare of others, was hopeless. I was sufficiently young, naive and feeble to take all this seriously and found I had no grounds to question the validity of what he was saying. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;">Whatever pain I was in was entirely because of my attachment</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21.33px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black;">. </span>He tried to convince me it was best for my practice and that his love of my partner was so pure and what they were doing was right. I tell this story because it is typical of the kind of delusion we can conjure around our self-beliefs sufficient to create the conviction that we are entirely right in what we are doing. The grandiosity, for example, of this man made him utterly blind to the delusion he was caught in and the consequence of his actions."<span style="background-color: white; color: #005000; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/01/lama-sex-abuse-sogyal-rinpoche-buddhist">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/01/lama-sex-abuse-sogyal-rinpoche-buddhist</a></span></span></span></i><br />
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Jim Baker, in his role as 'earthly spiritual father' behaved in the same way as described in the article above when he began to have sex with multiple women within The Source Family, whether or not those women were married or already had a partner and in a relationship---if Father Yod/Yahowha ordered a woman (like he did) to leave her husband or partner to go 'serve'/be with another son; then that woman was expected to do so and obey his directive. When people were being sent to Maui, one young woman who went there was in a happy relationship with one of the 'sons', when Father Yod/Yahowha sent for her to return to Los Angeles to be impregnated by him---convincing all around him that it was a sacred honor for the young woman to be inseminated by him, and a test of non-attachment for the 'son' she'd chosen to be with----proclaiming in a similar way, as stated above, <i>'that his love of my partner was so pure and what they were doing was right'.</i> Because some saw it as a great honor to be chosen by Father Yod/Yahowha to have his child, and any personal, conflicted feelings of any Source Family member was seen as attachment and Piscean (belonging to the past), and so everything that Jim Baker wanted to do in his role as the 'earthly spiritual father' was enabled and fulfilled by his followers' belief in his omnipotence.<i> </i><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><br />
By simply attaching some esoteric or spiritual meaning and significance to every one of Father Yod's directives and supposed 'teachings', Source Family members never had to question anything, instead suspending any doubts they may have had to just follow and obey the man, because nobody wanted to question the 'word of god' being channeled through their chosen 'earthly spiritual father'. Everyone was given a headshot of Jim Baker when they joined The Source Family so they could stare at, or rather meditate on his photo where some believed (some still do) that it would transfer his '<i>energy and power</i>' to them----a practice that Jim Baker adopted from Yogi Bhajan. <br />
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I believe that people need to use critical thinking and discernment when pursuing a spiritual path especially when adopting the beliefs of someone proclaiming to be a spiritual teacher, and not be afraid to look at any questionable practice or moral behavior of that spiritual teacher. Just because someone claims to be a spiritual guide or teacher who has been 'enlightened' or 'illuminated' doesn't mean they have infallible moral character. I've seen it become imperative in some people who have pursued a spiritual path to present or portray themselves as being 'illuminated' or 'enlightened' where their egos grew to enormous proportions puffed up by their perception of their own spiritual greatness believing they had defeated all darkness within themselves, to where they lost the ability for honest self-reflection or introspection choosing to believe they had attained a great spiritual height and a moral perfection and were incapable of doing anything wrong or behaving in a way that wasn't morally superior and aligned with <i>'light and love'-</i>---a delusional state that I feel many spiritual 'new age' seekers have succumbed in what the article I've linked below calls 'solar spirituality' that excludes the inevitable darkness of human experience where people bask <i>'in the light of happy-faced, huggy, saccharine spirituality."</i><br />
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Everything that Jim Baker did or said in his role as the 'earthly spiritual father' when he adopted the names Father Yod and Yahowha was to be seen as having been 'channeled by God', and therefore his followers believed he could do no harm and that everything he did or said was considered to be 'wisdom'. My feeling is that any former Source Family member who continues to defend and excuse the sexual misconduct and abuses that went on, who refuse to acknowledge the deviant sexual practice that Jim Baker imposed on his entire group of followers was unhealthy and an abuse of his power where everyone who followed the man contributed to enabling his behavior over forty years ago----are continuing to enable that kind of behavior by promoting an idealized mythos around Jim Baker and hiding and covering up anything they know the public would find disturbing. A few former diehard members vehemently defend the sexual misconduct of their 'divine' spiritual leader, Father Yod/Yahowha and the sexual grooming of young women that went on in The Source Family saying, "people wouldn't understand, because they weren't there.". A few former diehard members vehemently either deny or just ignore there was any wrongdoing on the part of their beloved 'earthly spiritual father' when his spiritual directive was against anyone seeking medical help for their babies or small children, which resulted in the deaths of some infants---instead portraying it as something that 'just happened', during the normal course of life giving no explanation why those babies never received any kind of medical treatment that might have saved their lives. A couple of former members have done a very good job in presenting a carefully sanitized and idealized narrative omitting anything they feel the general public should never know about, in order to gather/gain their own followers by presenting an idealized portrayal of life in The Source Family---which helps a few former members who still maintain their 'aquarian' persona to continue feeling <i>'special and chosen'</i> for their loyalty and obedience to Jim Baker.<br />
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Something else that I see as spiritual pathology is how people have become obsessed with becoming 'enlightened' or 'illuminated' claiming to have 'gone into the light' just as Buddha and Jesus were to have done. In The Source Family, it was always an enviable place for anyone to claim their <i>'kundalini had risen'</i> and they had <i>'gone into the light</i>'----something that has become an obsession with some people seeking a profound spiritual experience. But, the search for spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment has resulted in people often following unhealthy, abusive and dangerous practices such as completely shunning the use of modern medicine or medical treatment and relying on only chanting, visualization, affirmations and crystals.<br />
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The quotes below are from a wonderful and insightful article written by Carolyn Baker (ha ha, of all last names) that I just found that basically confirms and substantiates what I also believe to be true of the 'new age', spiritual movement that has been taking place since the late sixties/early seventies. <br />
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></i></span>
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"After many years of immersion in New Age spirituality, at the age of 40 my life fell apart as a result of my shadow blind spots. I subsequently entered Jungian depth therapy, and as I persevered in it, I quickly came to understand the extent to which my reliance on New Age spirituality had served to mask my pain and obscure the deep childhood wounds I needed to attend to in order to experience the wholeness for which I longed. My obsession with positive thinking and attempting to manifest a pain-free life had fostered within me an ego-inflation that was rapidly de-flated as I became more familiar with the ugly, obnoxious aspects of my shadow." (excerpt from <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/carolyn-baker/in-the-shadow-of-new-age-_1_b_9032460.html">https://www.huffingtonpost.com/carolyn-baker/in-the-shadow-of-new-age-_1_b_9032460.html</a>).</i></span></div>
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<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"I soon realized that solar spirituality, focused primarily on the light, offered a dubious peace of mind at the expense of familiarity with my deepest humanity and the human condition at large. In fact, I came to understand that addiction to positive thinking precariously ignores the dark side of humanity and in doing so, conceals the shadow of manipulation, abuse of power, self-righteous arrogance, and compulsive control that lurk beneath the still waters of “living in the light.” </i></span></span><br />
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="25" data-v9y="1" data-ylk="elm:context_link;itc:0" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/201204/essential-secrets-psychotherapy-what-is-the-shadow" rel="nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 17.93px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_hplink"></a><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">".....t<i>hat authentic spirituality requires consciously accepting and relating properly to the shadow as opposed to repressing, projecting, acting out and remaining naively unconscious of its repudiated, denied, disavowed contents, a sort of precarious pseudo-spirituality." </i></span><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></span></span><br />
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<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"Thus engaging in meticulous and astringent shadow work is a moral and spiritual imperative. Moreover, in situations of ghastly abuse as we witness in the sordid saga of Marc Gafni, a host of enablers always encircle the perpetrator. He would not have been able to continue his devastating sexual behavior without the likes of Ken Wilber and Sally Kempton fluffing pillows and making tea for him. The Gafni scandal reveals nothing if not the grotesque head and monstrous appendages of the human shadow writ large across the entire New Age movement, intoxicated with the Kool Aid of solar spirituality. Overwhelmingly, the New Age movement and the spiritual guru system is in abject denial of the shadow, and until it confronts its shadow, we can expect to see lives and communities ravaged by the darkness ignored while spiritual celebrities bask in the light of happy-faced, huggy, saccharine spirituality." </i></span></span><br />
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">"....the full truth of this situation needs to be surfaced, witnessed and addressed, not just for the sake of those involved but for the sake of our whole movement so that we may </span><strong style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">do collective shadow work</strong><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> and face the abuse of power that too often happens under the guise of spiritual teaching.”</span></i></span></span><br />
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></span></span>
<span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""proximanova" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 17.93px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>"In any event, until individuals on a spiritual path have done deep shadow work, they are highly susceptible to being blinded to it by solar spirituality, making themselves vulnerable to taking advantage of others or being taken advantage by them. One of the risks and liabilities of solar spirituality is that it makes us prey to exploitation and abuse and also increases our own potential for becoming a perpetrator of abuse."</i></span></span></span></div>
Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-20257879634107908532018-06-10T07:40:00.001-07:002018-07-09T07:57:27.420-07:00Euphoric Recall<div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Euphoric recall is a psychological term for the tendency of people to remember past experiences in a positive light, while overlooking negative experiences associated with that event (Wikipedia). The term euphoric recall best describes what some former Source Family members exhibit when recounting and recalling their experiences. I understand why some former members want to cling to the past fervently wanting to only believe that Jim Baker was a wise and loving 'holy man' and that the lifestyle within The Source Family was 'ahead of its time', healthy and magical, because accepting the truth and reality about the whole thing creates a cognitive dissonance that is just too much for some former members to bear. There are some who just do not want to accept the fact that a man who presented himself as being a wise and loving man of God became consumed with having sex with the majority of women in the cloistered and close-knit group that he gathered around himself. Some just do not want to accept the fact that The Source Family failed, because it was an authoritarian cult around the personality of Jim Baker, who controlled, directed and expected group compliance and obedience to his commandments where a group hysteria took over where everyone was expected to constantly elevate, praise and worship Jim Baker (even chant his name), and where the man's ego grew to such an extent that he believed God had directed him to create a new Aquarian race of children beginning with his own sperm, which for him meant having sex with prospective 'mothers' of his Aquarian progeny. So, in Jim Baker's 'spiritual' family; he began to cast his eyes around for any new prospective females who would help him fulfill his deluded prophesy of him creating a new Aquarian race.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I watched the film The Tale the other night about a woman finally coming to grips with being sexually seduced by a 40 year old man when she was thirteen years old. But, the film wasn't just about the sexual abuse of a child; it was also about how we often block out certain memories replacing them with only glorified ones in a euphoric recall. The adult woman in The Tale didn't want to allow herself to believe that she had been victimized by a much older man, when she was thirteen years old, claiming instead that it was the 1970's and that was just how it was back then--- the same explanation given in the 2012 film, by one of Jim Baker's more ardent remaining male followers. But, fast forward over 40 years later and one of the women who joined The Source Family when she was thirteen years old told me not long ago that Jim Baker had 'raped her and ruined her life', and yet she will never publicly tell her story, because of the embarrassment, shame and guilt that many women feel worried about how they will be perceived as being complicit in the abuse---something that keeps women from speaking out about sexual abuse suffered at the hands of men who use their positions of power, authority, and leadership to take sexual advantage of women around them. Although, the biggest reason that women who were in The Source Family remain silent is because of how former members are demonized and censured for not adhering to an idealized and romanticized narrative and who no longer hero worship Jim Baker. Sadly, a few of the women who joined The Source Family when they were very young have chosen to cling to a more idealized and romanticized narrative about what happened to them, rather than admit they were sexually taken advantage of by an older man who professed being their loving 'spiritual father' who expressed a great love for them, because what young woman doesn't want to be made to feel 'special' and 'chosen'. The reality of what happened to some of the young women who were only teenagers when they allowed Jim Baker to sexually penetrate them on a regular basis and how it later impacted their adult lives is very similar to what happened in the film The Tale.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I understand how difficult it is to accept the truth of what happened to some of the women who were teenagers when they joined The Source Family and Jim Baker began to groom them to not only be sexually open and available to him, but to other men within the group, as well---men that he called 'his sons'. That was the message that Jim Baker was sending to 'his sons'/the men in the group: that a woman's role was to be sexually submissive to a man and age didn't seem to matter. Behind the appearance or guise of being an enlightened man who had been specifically chosen by God to father in the new Aquarian age, Jim Baker used his power and position as the 'spiritual' leader of The Source Family to have sex with as many of the women within the group, as he possibly could. It became part of everyday life in The Source Family---waiting to see which woman Father Yod would add to his ever-increasing stable of 'spiritual wives' continually attaching some kind of divine or sacred 'spiritual' meaning and significance to all of his actions (something that every spiritual or self-help guru does), and to have it be seen as some kind of honor or privilege to have sex with the man. Jim Baker actually believed that he was elevating sex to a higher level when he ordered/directed all of the women and men to perform a sexual ritual that he'd gotten from reading occult books by Aleister Crowley and The Golden Dawn, but the truth and reality behind Jim Baker's delusional beliefs about sex was that he ended up abusing his position of authority and power, as a 'spiritual' teacher, by controlling the sex lives of all of his followers particularly some of the teenage women. Which makes it even sadder how some former members from The Source Family continue to try and attach some kind of sacredness to the sexual ritual and beliefs of Jim Baker that he imposed on his followers, because rather than sex being an individual choice and decision; all of the men and women who had become willing and devoted students of the man were expected to follow and obey his directives. Ordering women to perform sex with the men was something that Jim Baker had no hesitation in doing, because like so many other spiritual and self-help gurus around even today like the leader of NXIVM; they hide their sexual misconduct and abuses behind a smokescreen of 'spiritual' wisdom or knowledge. Jim Baker didn't expect women to be physically branded with his initials like what was done to some women in NXIVM, but he did attach a familial label to every woman in The Source Family referring to them as either 'his wives' or 'his daughters' around the illusion of him/Father Yod being their loving and benevolent father figure directing his loyal and obedient children to adhere to and follow his 'aquarian commandments', and ordering the women within The Source Family to sexually service the men by performing a ritual which Jim Baker said would result in 'magical' and 'mystical' powers was an abuse of his power being the 'spiritual' teacher or leader of the group, because it robbed all of us/his loyal followers from making our own individual choices and decisions. But, more than anything Jim Baker should never have used his power and position as the father figure and 'spiritual' leader of The Source Family to have sex with teenage women or attempt to impregnate any of them. That's the difference between being in a cult where the leader decides and makes all of the decisions about how members will conduct themselves in every regard, and simply being in a commune or communal living situation where there is no one leader deciding how everyone should dress, eat and behave. Any group with one central leader who has been deified and elevated to a heightened vaingloriousness of being in possession of some kind of supreme knowledge or wisdom, becomes the perfect setting for sexual misconduct and abuse, as we've seen over, and over again in our culture.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Th<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">e following statement is from a review about The Tale which I believe applies to what happened to some in The Source Family; "Ultimately, where the film is truly challenging, and potentially controversial for some, is in the way it questions the nature of victimhood, and how young women, longing to feel loved and desired, and needing to assert agency for their actions, effectively collaborate in their own abuse and its covering-up. That doesn't mean we should blame the victims or exonerate any of the adults involved, but Fox's film does illustrate how complex and nuanced these situations can be, especially when they took place in the aftermath of the counterculture's reframing of sexual norms. Just saying "It was the '70s" doesn't let anyone off the hook, but it does contextualize a set of permissive-to-the-point-of-lax attitudes toward child sexuality." </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, during the seventies there were a lot of young women who left their homes often searching for the love and acceptance they felt was lacking in their lives, and so when the spiritual leader of a seemingly 'new age' group convinces them they have been chosen by God to help him herald in the new 'aquarian age' espousing how much he loved, cherished and valued all women---it was very alluring. The whole hippie culture of sexual liberation and freedom of expression through 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' during the sixties and early seventies was a powerful attraction for many people, who during that time were also looking for like-minded individuals who shared a vision of peace and love that many believed their parent's generation lacked. Jim Baker, a WWII veteran and family man left his wife and family for greener pastures decided that God had chosen him to become the father of a new Aquarian race, and so having sex with and impregnating some of the young women who joined his 'aquarian family' made perfect sense to him. After all, Jim Baker believed that he had elevated sex to a 'higher' more enlightened 'spiritual' level and making each woman presented before him to feel uniquely special and chosen by him is why some of those women still cling to the belief that they found true love in Jim Baker, and that he only wanted to protect them----especially from the lust of men outside of The Source Family---a subject that Jim Baker talked about all of the time. It began with a big, warm bear hug from the man, but soon went from hugs and kisses and long embraces with Jim Baker, to convincing women that having sex with him was part of their spiritual growth. The fact that Jim Baker had a wife, Robin Baker made no difference whatsoever because he believed that God had chosen him to 'father' or usher in the new Aquarian age and impregnating women other than his wife, Robin became part of that plan. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 14.86px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28.97px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/tale-review-1076440">https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/tale-review-1076440</a></span></span></div>
Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-30774278281375637972017-11-29T08:33:00.003-08:002023-11-22T06:18:07.043-08:00The BoxI read a Vice article today where a woman who survived Jonestown recounted some of her memories and experiences. One of her statements really jumped out at me when she referred to what was called 'the box', which was a 6 x 4 x 3 plywood box where adults considered to have disciplinary problems were placed. Followers of Jim Jones also called him Father, the same as Source Family members called Jim Baker. Similarly, a plywood box was also used in The Source Family as a disciplinary measure, but children were put into that box, not adults. A few of the women who had small children, while in The Source Family have expressed to me how upsetting the box was to have their child placed in it and how that was something they thought was wrong. But, again as I've written about many times---that's what happens in a cult: people surrender and go against their own moral feelings and beliefs to obediently follow and obey their cult leader's, who is perceived to be spiritually superior. Putting children who were acting out into a plywood box, in order to get them to behave was either Jim Baker's idea, or perhaps one of the women whom he appointed to the council. The council, as it was called consisted of several of the women, whom Jim Baker had decided to sexually penetrate and then claimed to be one of his women----a position that gave some women a sense of power and control within the social order of the group. So, it was decided that children who exhibited behavioral problems such as not doing as they were told or who exhibited excessive crying were placed in the box, until they calmed down and became compliant and apologetic for their behavior, because Jim Baker believed that children were like little animals. I have stated before that I didn't like that damn box and thought it was a cruel and scary form of behavior control to use on children, but my son was only an infant when the box was utilized both at The Father House in LA and again at the Hilo Country Club on the Big Island. In the hot, humid conditions of Hawaii; I do not think it would have been very comfortable being placed into a plywood box. <br />
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But, that's the kind of thing that diehard followers of Father Yod/Yahowha choose to omit from their idealized fairy tale narrative saying how wonderful and ideal life was within The Source Family, and how 'ahead of its time' and Aquarian the lifestyle was.....hardly. Placing small children into a plywood box as a disciplinary measure is hardly 'ahead of its time' or Aquarian, and yet it's one of the things that went on in The Source Family that some want to keep hidden from view and kept secret, or at best have some kind of spiritual meaning or purpose attached to the many unhealthy and detrimental things that took place within The Source Family, under the direction and complete control of our spiritual leader, Jim Baker.<br />
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My recent post comparing Jim Baker's predatory sexual behavior towards the women in The Source Family to that of Harvey Weinstein really caused an uproar among a few of Father Yod/Yahowha's most entrenched devotees. I was accused by one former male member for betraying a vow that he claims everyone took in The Source Family not to divulge Jim Baker's deviant sexual ritual called qudosh that he imposed on the entire group. I never took any vow of silence to never speak about qudosh, but that is the lame argument that a few diehards are using, in defense of one of Jim Baker's most disturbing teachings in a desperate attempt to try and silence, shame or intimidate other former family members from speaking out. Any former member who falsely claims that "we all took a vow of silence" never to reveal the practice of qudosh are terrified that their friends or family members will find out what was really going on within The Source Family and that it wasn't the cool, rock and roll New Age utopian ideal that has been presented to the public. Using a quote that I just saw on a website where a husband and follower of Yogi Bhajan wrote about how his wife had to endure years of sexual demands and abuse at the hands of one of Bhajan's teachers which reads: "I'd rather be hated for telling the truth, than loved for telling a lie"----that's exactly how I feel about exposing qudosh and the truth about many other things that went on within The Source Family that some would rather be kept buried and hidden in the past.<br />
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Hide, deny or obfuscate---those are the ploys that a small handful of diehard Father Yod/Yahowha followers are using, because admitting the truth and accepting the fact that those of us who found ourselves in The Source Family cult for years willingly participated in what now the majority of former members realize was textbook cult behavior is just too much for some to bear and creates cognitive dissonance in those who want to cling to their delusional belief that Jim Baker was spiritually superior or an enlightened New Age avatar which includes themselves---a delusional belief they've clung to for the past forty years. As I've stated before, most people would never want to admit they were in a cult, much less that the cult leader imposed a sexual ritual on all of his followers or allowed babies to die without medical treatment of any kind. Honestly, I get it---who would want to admit to being part of something that became harmful and deleterious to the health, well-being and safety of babies, small children and women who were the ones that suffered the most under the so-called teachings and directives of Jim Baker. But, hiding or denying the truth doesn't help the victims of abuse, no matter how long ago it happened.<br />
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I wanted to end this blog post by including a link to an article referencing Bounded Choice. Especially for any former Source Family members who are reading this and who are continuing to try and make sense/understand why they stayed/remained in The Source Family for as long as they did, even after realizing that much of what Jim Baker was teaching and extolling was either unhealthy or detrimental to the health and well-being of themselves and their children---I strongly encourage them to read Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults by Dr. Janja Lalich which explains why people find it difficult to leave a cult, after adopting what's described as, "the transcendent belief system" or ideology of the cult leader, because it will provide answers to why so many of us remained in The Source Family for as long as we did.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.jenkiaba.com/lessons-on-leaving/illusion-choice">https://www.jenkiaba.com/lessons-on-leaving/illusion-choice</a><br />Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-36633722255181571272017-09-01T08:37:00.001-07:002017-11-10T07:19:58.203-08:00Escaping The Downward SpiralOne thing that Jim Baker seemed to be good at was leaving or escaping situations that he no longer wanted to be in, like his escape from his wife and children early on....his escape from being married to just one woman, and I guess that you could say his escape from any moral or ethical rules of society when he created his own little fiefdom where he was the supreme ruler. Yet, once he had created his fiefdom and called it The Source Family; he would also escape from that whenever things became too stressful for him, or if he became too restless within the confines of his little 'family' and wanted to travel abroad seeking the recognition as a 'great spiritual teacher' that he so eagerly sought and had expected to find in India where he believed that he would be easily recognizable as a great 'holy man'. So, when things became too much for him on Kauai; Jim Baker split with a small entourage of 'essential' women and a couple of 'chosen' sons, who would take care of everything along the way, because having people attend to him and wait on him who virtually revered him as being their divine 'earthly spiritual father' was something that Jim Baker had become accustomed to and enjoyed immensely. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy being the constant center of attention and even seen as God incarnate by some people!<br />
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The photo below taken on Kauai conveys a lot about what it was like in The Source Family where our 'spiritual leader' Father Yod would 'hold court' in his often loud and bombastic way either imparting his brand of fiery 'new age' beliefs or chastising someone whom he felt was threatening his 'family' like local public officials or anyone who was against having a cult move in next door to them. The day this photo was taken was when Father Yod had extended an invitation for local Kauai citizens to an 'open house' at the compound where we were all living, in order to show them just how benign and harmless we were; which is why the scene is staged with Father Yod set up with a microphone (I guess he was expecting a huge crowd and wanted to make sure the people in the back could hear him). But it's the somber and pensive expressions on most everyone's face which tells the story more than anything. I was standing at the very back that day; my own face turned downward finding it more and more difficult to look at or listen to Jim Baker as he spouted off like he incessantly did, but like many who had remained in The Source Family for years; I felt trapped and fearful of what might happen, if I were to leave 'the family', because Jim Baker would continually warn of the dangers of leaving....even death or insanity and so like many others who have found themselves trapped in a cult unable to extricate themselves.....remained and endured whatever situation their cult leader lead them into.<br />
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Jim Baker's delivery of his 'teachings' became more and more bombastic and was something that he did every single day either during 'morning class' or throughout the course of each day where anyone who remained in The Source Family was expected to stand around, or sit at his feet, or follow him around attentively listening to him preach or 'teach'......whatever you chose to call it. But, everyone who joined The Source Family was expected to display the same adoring and loving reverence for our leader, Jim Baker, because we were his 'little kitties/kiddies' and he had given us everything, and nothing but the utmost respect and elevated reverence was to be shown to our most valued and venerated leader. An atmosphere of utter and complete devotion to our 'earthly spiritual father' was expected at all times and so he could never be wrong or mistaken about anything.....how could he when it was believed that Father Yod had become the voice of God. So, Father Yod was preparing to put on a good show for any locals on Kauai who might show up....he was ready to 'blow their minds' with his profound 'wisdom' and then perhaps they would see him for the great Godman that he believed he had become.<br />
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But over time the constant and expected reverential behavior and attitude towards Jim Baker's fire-and-brimstone way of conveying his 'teachings' became more and more contrived; especially whenever there were people present who were non-family members where Jim Baker would really put on a show. The members of Jim Baker's cult of personality labeled The Source Family had followed him to Kauai to live on acreage with one main house where he and 'his women' lived more comfortably than everyone else, who were scattered around in the other structures. Life in The Source Family had disintegrated into living isolated and cut-off in a compound on Kauai, after living in relative prosperity back in Los Angeles where we all lived off the proceeds from The Source Restaurant. But now, many of us had begun to question what we were all doing there continuing to follow, obey and worship this former Los Angeles restauranteur turned 'holy man' who had convinced us that he was our 'spiritual father' and how we were leaders of the 'new age', when we barely had enough food to eat on a daily basis, and were having to live with the stress and fear of some kind of violent retaliation from the Kauai locals where Jim Baker began talking about being prepared to 'kill' anyone who tried to harm his family, and where the nursing mothers were forced to apply for birth certificates all using the last name of Aquarian, in order to receive welfare payments from the state of Hawaii for their babies who were born while in 'the family' none of whom had birth certificates----those welfare payments becoming one of the main sources of income for the remaining family members on Kauai. <br />
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So, it was no surprise when Jim Baker decided to take off for India where an exorbitant amount of money was spent on airfares, hotels and clothing, hats and accoutrements for himself and his small, chosen entourage, while the rest of 'the family' remained behind on Kauai where myself and the other women with infants were forced to apply for welfare to support the remaining 'family' members, until we were evicted from the island completely. But, Jim Baker escaped the conditions on Kauai under the guise of 'searching for a new home in Nepal' (of all places) to have a fun and exciting overseas adventure with his small entourage of women and token 'sons' to eat at fine restaurants and stay in nice hotels, while everyone else left behind struggled under the growing insufferable conditions on Kauai. But, none of Jim Baker's decisions or actions were ever questioned by anyone within 'the family', because all of his actions and behaviors were elevated, excused and explained away and always had a magical 'spiritual' significance attached to every single thing that he did or said, and where nothing less than elevated and worshipful dedication and devotion to our 'earthly spiritual father' was to ever be displayed. Welcome to Cult 101 Groupthink where the cult leader's whims and desires are always fulfilled.<br />
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Most of us just wanted to escape the worsening conditions on Kauai, and yet felt helpless and incapable of leaving out of fear of what might happen, if we were to leave the group, because our spiritual leader and ersatz father figure repeatedly warned of the dangers of leaving 'the family', and so many of us remained out of fear enduring and suffering through the worsening conditions, while 'Father Yod' jumped ship and went overseas. The account in the one former member's hyperbolic book about The Source Family states, "They (meaning Jim Baker & his entourage) left Egypt and went to Athens, Copenhagen, Denmark, Germany, England, and Canada, then on to the Pacific Northwest, and finally to San Francisco, where the Family waited for them at the airport" making it all sound like such a happy and joyous reunion welcoming back 'Yahowha' from his European vacation, while the rest of 'the family' members had been left behind to struggle under the desperate and deteriorating situation on Kauai. Jim Baker's excuse for his escape from Kauai was to search for better 'digs' for the entire family, but in reality what he was really doing was just extricating himself from the worsening conditions, and as always was seeking to satisfy his own grandiose delusion of being a 'holy man" looking for validation and recognition wherever he went. Jim Baker's self-obsessed messianic complex and his subsequent behavior became apparent to anyone who wasn't blinded by a devotional worship for the man. But, that's what cult leaders and gurus usually do---emboldened by their own grandiose self image of themselves being 'great' spiritual teachers or leaders; they afford themselves travel, luxuries and niceties, while their loyal subjects toil and wait in a holding pattern, until their leader returns to sit at his feet and worship him once again. But, as in most cults, the cult leader's desires were always to be indulged, like the time in San Francisco where our 'earthly spiritual father' went out to eat and ordered steak tartare (which is made from finely chopped or minced raw beef or horsemeat), when his 'teachings' had explicitly been founded on being a vegetarian! But, that's what it's like being in a cult where the followers are expected to adhere to the words & 'teachings' of their master or guru, but the same rules of conduct do not apply to the cult leader. <br />
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After Jim Baker returned from his overseas escape/vaca and reunited with the rest of 'the family' in San Francisco, the entire group lived like a bunch of homeless people wandering around the Bay Area looking for a place to call home which ended up being an old, dilapidated mansion in San Francisco where 'Father Yod' would spend his days performing 'sex magick' with his 'women' in his upstairs meditation tower, while the rest of 'the family' members continued to struggle to bring in much needed income, in order to indulge and support Father Yod and the rest of the family members, while trying to follow and adhere to his 'aquarian teachings', even though he had just squandered thousands of dollars escaping to Europe and India to indulge his own spiritual ego. The situation continued to spiral downwards when 'the family' was relocated back to Hawaii....this time to the Big Island moving into what was called The Doc Hill mansion where conditions continued to become dire and desperate where there was barely enough food to eat and some nursing mothers began to show the effects of malnutrition. Again, Jim Baker escaped the conditions at Doc Hill with his entourage of chosen 'women' and 'sons' to Oahu where he took up residency in a lovely home overlooking the ocean in the bedroom community of Lanikai where he would perform his final escape when he decided to fly off a cliff one day to 'test God' leaving behind the babies he'd sired, and the gaggle of women that he'd accumulated around himself.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Khv6V0rQB90/WahY99LWIvI/AAAAAAAAAl0/DdWKppiQCNEhPs952UBcsKjPbxOvT3caACLcBGAs/s1600/Jim%2BBaker%2Bspouting%2Bon%2BKauai_LI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="643" height="176" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Khv6V0rQB90/WahY99LWIvI/AAAAAAAAAl0/DdWKppiQCNEhPs952UBcsKjPbxOvT3caACLcBGAs/s320/Jim%2BBaker%2Bspouting%2Bon%2BKauai_LI.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
On this day, Jim Baker had invited the local community of Kauai for a concert and to hear him speak; hoping to win over the locals, but nobody showed up that day. But, that didn't stop Father Yod from delivering one of his fiery speeches about an approaching Armageddon. I circled myself standing at the very back holding my infant son, because I always hung back at these kinds of spectacles having already become extremely disillusioned with Jim Baker, so I moved to the periphery of the group just trying to take care of my infant son, hang on and survive what life in The Source Family had become: a platform to indulge and feed Jim Baker's messianic complex and his desire and need to gather more and more followers, along with constantly having to indulge all of his whims and desires like taking off for Europe and India on a whirlwind trip while the rest of his followers stayed behind suffering and enduring the worsening conditions and the outside pressure from locals to leave Kauai. So, the scene pictured above was part of everyday life within The Source Family, because that's what gurus and spiritual teachers do---they sit around all day doling out 'enlightenment' or their "wisdom" while their adoring and grateful followers sit at their avatar's feet soaking up their every word.....that and constantly attending and waiting on their master or avatar in every capacity whether sexually satisfying them or whatever else is required at their avatar's behest. <br />
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<u></u><br />Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-19519324309885810722017-05-31T09:33:00.000-07:002017-05-31T10:40:01.829-07:00Music Recollections By OctaviusAll of the songs that were ever recorded, during the Source Family had one thing in common, and that was they all had the same drummer---Octavius performed on every one. Although, Octavius wasn't just the drummer; he was also a producer and engineer. I recently asked Chris Johnson (aka Octavius), if he would write something about the music from The Source Family to post on my blog and here is what he wrote:<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hello, I'm Octavius Aquarian. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I would like to share some memories of being </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the drummer for The Source Family music journey presenting highlights of the evolution </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of the music and the phases of its development. I will avoid the emotional interactions </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of the many people involved. I have been known to be sarcastic and opinionated, so please bear with me </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and I will try to lay out the meandering journey of music, minds, and melodies. Because of the things that ego’s madmen, and </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">visionaries bring to our lives....some names and places have been left out, to protect the not-so-innocent </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">from getting their togas and drawstring pants in a bunch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I walked away from a job in Vegas playing for good money, room and board---</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to the Source Restaurant for no money or room, but I was never bored.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I walked away from the drums when I joined The Brotherhood of The Source. No one knew that I played drums, but sooner than later it was found out that I was a musician.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was of course as in any group of people, hidden talents never before realized.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was a member who was a very talented singer/songwriter named Lotus. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I would play bongos with her (laughing), because I no longer had a drum kit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was another member who was also a singer/songwriter at that time named Aladdin, who was a gifted musician.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was a member who was a bass player of some repute in Hollywood in those days who was </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hiding out being a talented jeweler in the group. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was a member who played keyboard and his name was Magus.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Another songwriter joined, as well who had previously been writing jingles and such; he also</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> wrote some wonderful songs. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The group had enough talent to hobble together a musical distraction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Artist and thinkers are the troublemakers. It's not only smart, but necessary to have these kinds of people busy doing things that </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">keep them occupied----lest they start asking questions. At least </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that is what music does to me, and it was all I was in those days....all I thought about. I</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t was my persona---that Jesus was a drummer kind of thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That is when t</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he leader says to me, "I have a drummer, I have a band.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I thought, Oh yay or was that Oy vey!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Well the floodgates were opened. Our spiritual sugar daddy/producer/leader told me to get instruments and outfit a band. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Can you say 'gift horse'? Guitar Center here we come in our robes and long hair waving cash around, so as to be taken seriously.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">All the people who could do anything showed up for an audition at some point or another. It surprises me how evaluating ourselves </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">can sometimes be so skewed. As I remember, it was nerve-racking at times a bit like the Gong Show. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I was designated to be the executioner of musical egos. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After purchasing recording equipment, building a studio area and sound booth; we recorded our first album.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Aladdin was never part of the wannabe crowd.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Most all the songwriters and singers made up our 1st musical level.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">From there we focused on the individuals who had more than one song. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Arranging and making them band-worthy. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We were having a good time playing the rehearsed music.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So much so, we even managed a gig at the Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was The Tubes night off. It <span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">was the only gig we had.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>As I recall, there were 13 people in the band named "Spirit of Seventy Six” - the 2nd musical effort.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was during rehearsal days, </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">when the leader of our group started to hang out in the band room.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He did not have a singing voice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He did not play an instrument.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He bought a timpani drum to play along!!!!!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We didn’t have any material that called for timpani drum.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, he would start playing by himself and we could join in!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It was less difficult for me at the beginning....both being percussion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, he didn’t have timing either.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Everyone faked (whatever) the best they could. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Since the guitar player had never really played electric, he made strange sounds with it l</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ike squealing and scratching with wha-wha and echo through a B3 cabinet twirling horns vibrato.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">He fit right in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We just kept playing hoping it would end without a scene of freak out or storming off.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That's when our leader said how fantastic that it was.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>We had just had our first taste of YaHoWa 13 spontaneous music - the </i></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>3rd musical effort.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is what we presented as our contribution to the music palate of Hollywood in the 70’s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This spontaneity continued till in the end we had a band member change up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I observed that the guitar and the sounds made were pushing to dominate and control with no way out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I went to the leader and said, "Either he goes or I go."</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>The next day we switched things up and played some music with Arelich (Sky Saxon) and Fire Water Air - the 4th musical effort.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">With a different guitar player. Those were in the last days of YHV13 in Hollywood.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We made many albums. Others even took the music and redistributed it. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was even a book about the family, and a music tour for a couple of years 2012-ish, and a documentary movie. </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The spontaneous music is what we were known for.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="color: blue;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There was also a star in the beginning that continued doing what he always did....s</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing and play his music, but Aladdin now had a new name Hom (pronounced home). </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When YHV13 was not making a splash anymore, Hom's music came to the front.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>We put together a band called BREATH and made some great music - the 5th musical effort.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We presented a demo to A&M records. They liked it. They wanted to give us a contract.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As things go, we were not to take their offer. In retrospect, its obvious our leader was selling the family package not the music.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If the musicians were to sign, they would leave the community. Then what would the group do without their music and their band.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Breath did a few gigs in the last days. We opened for Bread at the Hawaiian International Convention Center, </span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and the Crater Festival in 1976 on New Year's Day in Honolulu Hawaii.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Breath was the most commercial, and relatable music the Source Family ever made.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Short and sweet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Well, thanks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Making sure the stories remain true.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Octavius</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chris Johnson</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "trebuchet ms";"></span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div>
Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-37709126418540354822017-05-08T09:00:00.004-07:002022-10-15T12:50:13.848-07:00Subjugation By A Narcisstic Cult LeaderUnconsciously, Jim Baker ended up subjugating every man, woman and child who joined his cult family by admonishing and entreating everyone to follow his words or rather his commandments. But, like countless other so-called 'spiritual' leaders of cults, Jim Baker believed that gathering followers around him was what God wanted him to do, and that whatever he said or did or entreated his loyal followers to do was being condoned by a higher power. <br />
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I doubt that many gurus and cult leaders have malicious intent when they initially start forming and creating their own little quasi-religious following, but invariably when someone is elevated to the position of being a great avatar espousing the 'word of God' and imploring people to follow and obey them---to be swathed in that man's immense love for them; I believe that with omnipotent control and influence over other people's lives is where so many gurus went wrong. It is always the people who willingly decide to believe in and follow a guru who end up suffering at the hands and commands of the cult leader; especially someone like Jim Baker----a fatherly figure expressing love, care and concern to all who willingly wanted to join him and to follow and obey his commands.<br />
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I understand how people have to take responsibility for their own actions and choices in life, and yet the gurus and spiritual leaders who become enthralled by their own power and who become convinced they are 'the voice of God' who then begin to gather people around them exerting absolute control in the lives of their followers and making all of their follower's decisions like what everyone should eat, wear and believe---then I believe that cult leader has to take responsibility for any and all misguided, dangerous and detrimental practices that he decides to impose.<br />
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The inflated spiritual ego impressed by his or her own great spiritual achievements begin to believe that everything they do is for the greater good of mankind, and no matter how deviant, debauched or debased their beliefs or behaviors may become; the majority of cult leaders remain confident that all of their actions are condoned by a higher power and therefore, should not be questioned or second-guessed by any of their followers, but rather their followers should be ever so thankful and grateful just to be in their cult leader's presence. That kind of intensified and magnified glorification and idealization of Jim Baker is what happened very early on in The Brotherhood of The Source, as more and more people came to The Source Restaurant wanting to join the group who initially wore only all white clothing, because Jim Baker, the man who owned the restaurant believed that white was the highest 'vibration', and so encouraged by his new wife/bride; Jim Baker decided that he should gather or 'get his own children' (as he is heard saying in the film) to become a spiritual father/leader just like his spiritual leader, Yogi Bhajan had done. <br />
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But, the ego of a man or woman usually goes askew when they become thoroughly impressed and enthralled in the belief of their own spiritual greatness, and sadly it's the gullible and hapless yet earnest believers who end up suffering at the hands, whims and desires of the cult leader---people who no matter how much enthusiasm or idealism they may initially have about the decision to follow one man or guru, eventually begin to suffer and feel the negative results by having to 'live up to' and abide by/fulfill the whims and desires of the inflated spiritual ego of their leader---a person who convinced his followers that he wanted to create a new race of enlightened, 'aquarian' children, and that he needed to have sex with and impregnate the women in the group, in order to do that, because after all 'it was what God wanted him to do'. That is exactly what happened with Jim Baker, and yet there are still those who cling to the notion that Jim Baker was a great visionary in possession of ancient knowledge and wisdom surpassing all other teachers and gurus around----people who still refuse to even accept the fact they were in a cult and that cult was The Source Family. An aggrandized spiritual ego tends to hide behind a mask of 'doing God's work' believing that all of their actions and decisions are justified and only for the benefit of others. <br />
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Joining The Source Family meant that you were entirely expected to adopt and adhere to Jim Baker's 'teachings' especially his commandments, and anything less was seen as being inferior in some way and not as 'enlightened' or 'aquarian' among his more fervent and zealous followers. Everyone in The Source Family was expected to live by and obey Father Yod's words and teachings in an obedient, unquestioning and childlike way. <br />
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In the 2012 film about The Source Family, you hear Jim Baker say the following to the family members surrounding him, "Do you see how I absolutely need you? And how you absolutely need me? What would I do without you? Do you know where I'd be? In the looney bin." That statement was followed by laughter, and yet it was true, because Father Yod had created a dependent situation among his followers---a situation where many became desolate when he died, because their entire lives had revolved around the man. In that statement by Jim Baker, he confirmed that he relied on the constant praise and unwavering devoted and attention of the worshipful meiny surrounding him, many who had been following and obeying his every command for years. The following quote from Daniel Shaw's book titled <i>Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation</i> summed up Jim Baker's control perfectly,<span style="color: red;"> "Cult leaders succeed in dominating their followers because they have mastered the cruel art of exploiting universal human dependency and attachment needs in others. The lengthy period of dependency in human development, the power that parents have, as God-like figures, to literally give life and sustain the lives of their children, leaves each human being with the memory, however distant or unconscious, of total dependency. Cult leaders tap into and re-activate this piece of the human psyche. Followers are encouraged to become regressed and infantilized, to believe that their life depends on pleasing the cult leader. Cult leaders depend on their ability to attract people, often at critically vulnerable points in their lives, who are confused, hungry, dissatisfied, searching. With such people, cult leaders typically find numerous ways to undermine their followers’ independence and their capacity to think critically."</span><span style="color: blue;"> <span style="color: black;">That summarization perfectly defines the childlike/infantile dependence that a majority of Source Family members displayed throughout the existence of the cult. I have stated before how Source Family members would ask Jim Baker's advice/direction and guidance on absolutely everything in their lives where his tenets and decisions were to be quickly adopted and acted upon, and anything else was frowned upon and seen as being lesser for not following Father Yod's letter of the law. Anyone who detoured from the prescribed behaviors as determined by Father Yod were looked down upon as being spiritually inferior by those in The Source Family who considered themselves more 'enlightened' among his 'sons' and 'daughters'----an imperious and often condescending spiritual arrogance was exhibited by many in The Source Family who believed what Jim Baker was telling them---that they were 'chosen' and 'forerunners of the new age' and 'children of the sixth root race' creating an elitist, smug attitude among the more zealous and devoted of Father Yod's followers.</span></span><br />
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From what began for many of us as something new, novel and exciting wearing all-white clothing trying to adopt a 'spiritual' persona sitting around an older, bearded man who professed being the 'father that we all wished we'd had' became an exhaustive and beleaguered existence in having to listen to Jim Baker/Father Yod/Yahowha incessantly in his bombastic way espouse his 'wisdom' on a 24/7 basis, to where everyone was constantly and exhaustively expected to 'live up to his expectations' and to please him, but most of all to maintain and feign the appearance of absolute commitment and loyalty to any and everything that Father Yod or his 'council of women' wanted or imposed on the rest of us. So, life in The Source Family became an intolerable and unendurable situation where the circumstances of the entire group had become insufferable and unsustainable, and yet a few diehard and devoted followers of Jim Baker are still hell-bent on pretending it was all some kind of wonderland.<br />
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Here are other excerpts by Daniel Shaw from <i>Traumatic Abuse in Cults</i> - <span style="color: red;">"In fact, the cult leader does not escape dependency. Instead, he (and also, in many cases, she) comes to depend on his followers to worship and adore him, to reflect his narcissistic delusion of perfection to him as does the mirror to the Evil Queen in the tale of Snow White. One of the ways in which this perversion of dependency is often enacted can be observed when the cult leader claims that because he needs nothing, he is entitled to everything. Thus, cult leaders claiming to be pure and perfect, without any need or attachment, use manic defenses to rationalize and justify their dependence on extravagant and grandiose trappings such as thrones, fleets of Rolls Royces, and the trust funds of their wealthy followers." </span><span style="color: black;">Although the income from the very successful Source Restaurant provided support for everyone who showed up and wanted to become a follower of Jim Baker, those resources became strained from supporting so many people, and from the indulgent expenditures into either his travels to India or the huge investment in musical instruments and recording equipment to facilitate and indulge Jim Baker's rock star fantasy within the cult; even though only a handful of people benefitted from the flush of cash that went into producing the albums that were made in The Source Family. The strain on the income from the restaurant to support the entire cult compelled Jim Baker to covet and pursue people with personal wealth or celebritydom, because acquiring more and more followers became a major focus of Jim Baker's.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">"Ultimately, followers act on the belief that only the leader’s thoughts and feelings matter and have validity, and the follower must exist only to serve the leader’s aims. The follower actively seeks to negate any aspect of his own subjectivity which the leader might disapprove of. To most outside observers, the leader’s aims are clearly nothing more than self-aggrandizement. Insiders, however, in spite of little or no evidence on which to base their assertions, cling stubbornly to the belief that the leader is actually pursuing lofty and noble aims. Asked to do anything to enrich the leader, including, in the case of some notorious groups, prostituting themselves, followers obey and find a way to believe that whatever they do is righteous. By remaining loyal to the leader, the followers persuade themselves that their own existence is given meaning and validity by their support of the leader’s mission." </span><span style="color: black;">This</span><span style="color: black;"> is chilling and a very accurate description of exactly what happened in The Source Family.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">"The follower’s rewards, which are recognition from the leader and the ensuing prestige the followers gain within their group, are bestowed and rescinded at the leader’s whim, keeping the follower in a state of instability and fear about displeasing the leader and thereby losing status and favor.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">One of the reasons many of the people who leave cultic groups choose not to identify their own experience as abusive is because to do so would mean acknowledging an extraordinary degree of grief over the loss of a deeply cherished, idealized attachment connected to their most cherished hopes about themselves and about life, along with the unleashing of an extraordinary degree of shame about their own self-deception and gullibility, and shame and rage about the amount of abuse they were willing to endure for the sake of maintaining their tie to the leader. Eventually, the realization that their devotion and labor within in the group led to no real personal growth, and to no significant contribution to society, will also become a source of deep shame and regret." </span><span style="color: black;">Another very accurate explanation/description of what it was like in The Source Family, and how many felt after the whole thing finally ended. Many of us tried to salvage something positive from the experience of being in The Source Family like doing the 'star exercise' or adhering to a vegetarian diet, but in a kind of collective amnesia the majority of us tried to forget about many of the things that Jim Baker imposed on us/his loyal followers hoping to leave it all in the past. But, there are still a few who only want to present an idealized picture of what life was like in The Source Family, and who are now denying that many things went on, in their need to maintain an illusion that The Source Family was ahead of its time and representative of a new age, or that our leader was an avatar or the messiah.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">"For the cult leader, his ability to induce total dependence in followers serves to sustain and enhance a desperately needed delusion of perfect, omnipotent control.</span><span style="color: red;"> " </span><span style="color: black;">Yep, t</span><span style="color: black;">hat about sums it up.</span><br />
<a href="http://integral-options.blogspot.com/2014/05/daniel-shaw-traumatic-abuse-in-cults.html">http://integral-options.blogspot.com/2014/05/daniel-shaw-traumatic-abuse-in-cults.html</a>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-35551235511636464842016-10-04T10:12:00.007-07:002022-12-27T16:48:52.501-08:00Spiritual Bypassing At Its FinestAlthough the term <i>spiritual bypassing</i> was not coined until 1984, it is a term that probably describes/sums up the entire Source Family experience better than anything else that I've found. After intimately living with everyone who comprised the core members of The Source Family for six years, along with having continued interaction and involvement with many beyond The Source Family days; I can safely say that many have varying degrees of emotional or psychological issues in one way or another. <div><br /></div><div>Although sadly many who were in The Source Family came away from the experience more traumatized or damaged than when they first joined. A perfect example were the women who lost their babies while in The Source Family, after adhering to Father Yod's edict of family members not using modern medicine, medical treatment or doctors of any kind. It is my belief that a couple of those women never fully recovered from the trauma of losing their babies while in The Source Family. But, one of the worst results of <i>spiritual bypassing</i> was found among a few of the men where they found fertile ground in The Source Family to view and treat women as being less than equal to them on a spiritual level, along with giving them the green light to go ahead and freely exploit women sexually, because Jim Baker drummed it into the men----his 'sons' that they were gods and deserving of being worshipped and waited on and pampered just like him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jim Baker didn't feel that women needed to contemplate 'spirit' or even participate in any kind of spiritual exercises, because their lives were about keeping the 'earth trip' of men together which entailed cleaning, preparing meals, serving, childcare and of course, sexual servicing. Jim Baker did not see women as being equal to the men, when it came to achieving illumination, thus cultivating and encouraging male-gender bias behind a smokescreen or façade of being 'the aquarian way.' Men who had unresolved emotional issues with women, found the social order created by Jim Baker within The Source Family helped them to bypass any much needed psychological work they needed to do on themselves: particularly their deep seated hatred or bias towards women and the servile role of women within The Source Family that was put into place by Jim Baker enabled any abusers of women to flourish. </div><div><br /></div><div>Because Father Yod believed that men were like the sun----all powerful and life-sustaining and that women were emotional and lacking the emotional stability to withstand the vicissitudes of life, and therefore needed to serve a 'son of Yod' in order to thrive. Jim Baker expected total submission and contrition from women towards the men or 'sons' where quite often he would direct/place women to be with and serve certain 'sons'. One man flush with the idea and power of himself being a god became a bully and because of his intransigent devotion and love for his newfound spiritual leader used bullying and intimidation tactics, and continues to this day to try and bully and intimidate anyone who speaks out against his spiritual father, Yahowha; especially any of the women, whom the guy also blames for the failure of The Source Family and even worse as being abusers of the children often using the worst kind of labels to describe the women who were in The Source Family. I was willing to 'let sleeping dogs lie' and would have left this guy alone, had he done the same and left me alone to write about/express what it felt like to be a woman in The Source Family and just how awful it was being forced to perform a sexual ritual with men whom you barely knew----which is something that I feel needs to be told. Instead, this devoted and entrenched follower of Yahowha decided that he couldn't allow that. Denial now seems to be the only option left for the small handful of devoted followers of Yahowha who desperately want to silence anyone who speaks out against the ongoing promotion and perpetuation of The Source Family, especially a couple of former male members who when pressed quickly reveal their abusive and aggressive natures, because they've never dealt with their own emotional issues about women. </div><div><br /></div><div>A couple of former Source Family members who claim to have attained spiritual enlightenment and in possession of ancient knowledge and truths are presenting themselves as being representatives of the entire defunct collective of The Source Family in order to pass if off as being ahead of its time-----which is the perfect ruse or cover for hiding their own deep-seated, underlying psychological problems in an epic display of <i>spiritual bypassing</i>. Even in the wake of damaged relationships and claims of abuse and misappropriation of personal items, photographs, videos and music, the former Source Family members who continue to maintain they are spiritually awakened and in possession of immense love and compassion professing love to all claiming to possess secret teachings and wisdom while using New Age saccharine platitudes are lying and deceiving themselves and others. The Source Family produced a good many of those kinds of egos----those who operate from a place of spiritual superiority/hiding behind a mask or façade of them possessing wisdom and love for all when just below the surface are the worst kinds of behavior and pathological lying that just keeps getting worse and worse as these people ignore and deny their emotional and psychological problems. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was much easier to adopt Jim Baker as a surrogate father surrendering and handing over your personal power to him obediently following his edicts and doing whatever he instructed them to do in a childlike way. But, that kind of s<i>piritual bypassing</i> has had negative consequences in some former member's lives. In the sixties and seventies, many of us baby boomers were trying to self-medicate and/or heal ourselves by using either drugs or meditation to help resolve our own emotional and psychological issues (most of the time not even aware that's what we were doing) believing at the time that strict adherence to some kind of spiritual doctrine or belief system and surrendering our lives and our personal power over to our chosen guru or spiritual teacher/leader; we would gain freedom or liberation from any underlying issues or problems through that spiritual practice, but that was not what happened. </div><div><br /></div><div>People who join cults even unwittingly who become convinced the leader of their cult has the ability to heal and transfer enlightenment to them usually end up disillusioned and victims of emotional abuse, because the cult leader or guru use their perceived power to take advantage of their followers most often taking sexual advantage of the women around them. Unfortunately, many people who got into a pursuit of spiritual enlightenment have foregone ever doing any self-analysis or psychological/emotional work on themselves. As I've stated before, the entire New Age consciousness expansion that's been going on since the late sixties is fraught with people who have never dealt with their own unresolved emotional or psychological problems, and yet they are sure they can fix everyone else, if you just listen to them and follow their lead which in the case of The Source Family meant adopting Father Yod/Yahowha as your spiritual father along with hiding behind an aquarian persona while denying that anything dark or disturbing, unhealthy or detrimental went on in The Source Family. Because denial is the only option left for the most rabid and ardent followers and devotees of Yahowha----people who condemn anyone who doesn't speak lovingly or ideally about Jim Baker or their experience being in The Source Family. </div><div><br /></div><div>One such staunch follower and epic <i>spiritual bypasser</i> recently stated that anyone who doesn't come from a place of love and kindness towards the ongoing promotion of Jim Baker must surely have gone insane and that it was something that Jim Baker predicted would happen. Oh yes, how convenient to say that Jim Baker prophesied that anyone who was in The Source Family who does not go along with the continued promotion of The Source Family or does not come from a place of loving kindness (no matter how phony or contrived) cannot 'handle the energies bombarding the planet' are therefore deemed as having gone insane. Wow. That is the kind of delusional, rambling spiritual BS that is being spread around, in order to diminish or discredit any former member of The Source Family who doesn't agree with the continued promotion of Father Yod and The Source Family which was essentially a hippie cult from the seventies that failed miserably because its leader wanted to have sex with as many young women as he possibly could using<i> spiritual bypassing</i> to avoid facing the fact that the guy had a serious womanizing problem. A man who was continually sleeping around and could not maintain a monogamous relationship or marriage with one woman where his philandering lead to death of one man. A man who bragged about how he robbed banks in order to bankroll The Source Restaurant where in a short amount of time he set himself up as a spiritual father where any beautiful, young woman who joined his family would be vulnerable and fair game in his sexual escapades veiled behind a preponderance of spiritual teachings and claiming himself to be their 'earthly spiritual father'.</div><div>Some of the most devoted male followers of Jim Baker idolize and revere him for exactly that kind of behavior. Men who display the same aggressive, male-dominate behavior as displayed by their spiritual teacher and leader, Father Yod/Yahowha. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Source Family was the perfect setting for encouraging male domination and female submission. Jim Baker created an unbalanced and unhealthy social order where women were expected to serve the men most of all to sexually service them, whether or not the women barely knew the men that Father Yod directed them to serve. Male domination under the pretense of being a spiritual lifestyle. So, I will not be silent or intimidated or bullied by any ardent followers of Jim Baker. Anyone who loudly claims they are doing the work of Father Yod/Yahowha and have set themselves up as being spiritual surrogates of the man, and who are intent on gathering their own followers are the greatest examples of<i> spiritual bypassing</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which is why I discourage anyone from listening to or following any former Source Family members who are presenting themselves as being representatives/surrogate leaders of Father Yod in order to present The Source Family as spearheading or leading the entire New Age movement in this country when these individuals hide behind their Source Family personas and façades as being loving and full of spiritual wisdom and truths when these same individuals have never dealt with their own psychological and emotional problems. </div><div><br /></div><div>In my opinion, Jim Baker was a man who spiritually bypassed his own bleak treatment and abandonment of the women and children in his own life to create a new surrogate family of devoted followers who would never question his motives or his behavior, but only worship and idolize him. Where he could persuade his group of followers to adopt and follow his hodgepodge jumbled virtual pick and choose of Hinduism, occultism, esotericism and theology thrown in with the obsessive pursuit of raising your kundalini which helped him successfully ignore/avoid/elude having to deal with his own psychological and emotional problems. Welcome to the New Age! You too, can use<i> spiritual bypassing</i> to ensure that you'll never have to face or deal with any dark, disturbing underlying emotional or psychological problems in a fix one/fix all recipe concocted in varying forms by every guru/cult leader to gather their own following. That was the reality of The Source Family and that is what some diehard followers of Father Yod simply cannot come to grips with; which is why some continue using their pseudo Source Family names, because it helps them to continue in their own<i> spiritual bypassing</i> completely avoiding ever having to deal with their own personal stuff.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>The following are a couple of quotes by John Welwood:<br /><div><br /></div><div>---Being a good spiritual practitioner can become what I call a<span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"> compensatory identity </span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;">that </span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;"> covers up and defends against an underlying </span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;">deficient identity</span><span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;">, where we feel badly about ourselves, not good enough, or basically lacking. Then, although we may be practicing diligently, our spiritual practice can be used in the service of denial and defense. And when spiritual practice is used to bypass our real-life human issues, it becomes compartmentalized in a separate zone of our life, and remains unintegrated with our overall functioning</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;">---<span style="font-family: "palatino"; font-size: 12pt;">Others may unconsciously use their spiritual brilliance to feed their narcissistic inflation and devalue others or treat them in manipulative ways.</span></span><br />
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Here is an article about <i>spiritual bypassing <a href="https://themindfool.com/spiritual-bypassing/">https://themindfool.com/spiritual-bypassing/</a>.</i><br />
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<br /></div></div></div>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-51340341498502726232016-07-31T09:33:00.001-07:002018-12-02T09:34:53.830-08:00My Own Moral OutrageToday I read an article in <i>Harper's</i> titled <i>The Ideology of Isolation</i> where I read the following statement that I felt perfectly described Jim Baker's own attitude and belief towards the women in The Source Family cult; "The loner taketh not, nor does he give; he scorneth the social and relies on himself alone. Himself<em>.</em> Women, in this mode of thinking, are too interactive, in their tendency to gather and ally rather than fight or flee, and in their fluid boundaries. In fact, what is sometimes regarded as an inconsistency in the contemporary right-wing platform — the desire to regulate women’s reproductive activity in particular and sexuality in general — is only inconsistent if you regard women as people. If you regard women as an undifferentiated part of nature, their bodies are just another place a man has every right to go." Man, nothing summed it up better with regards to Jim Baker's 'good old boy' mentality towards the women in The Source Family; something that he was able to hide/cloak behind the outward presentation of himself being a holy man; but make no mistake he decided as the group's head honcho how women's bodies would be utilized in his cult/group. So, that statement in <i>Harper's</i> hit a nerve and addressed the gnawing, unsettling feeling that I've always had about the way that Jim Baker imposed his outdated male gender bias and views that he had carried with him throughout his life about the role of women, and injected those views into what was supposedly 'new age' and 'aquarian'....please. <br />
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There was nothing sexually 'liberating' in having one man impose his deluded belief that the menstrual blood of a woman gave him superhuman consciousness! But, the deeper that Jim Baker delved into the extreme occult beliefs of Aleister Crowley and his own plunge into ritualized sexual madness; the more Jim Baker became convinced that was the way to achieve ultimate consciousness. Men have dictated how women's bodies should be used throughout history and Jim Baker was no different; he just hid it behind a façade or veil of 'spiritual' precepts. Jim Baker decided that all the women in his 'family' should be impregnated and produce what he believed would be a new race of 'aquarian' children; yet he never once ask what any of us wanted/he just expected everyone to obey his directives, along with instructing the women on what their roles or duties were to be; which was to be of service to the men.<br />
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The most egregious edict of Jim Baker's was when he decided to impose a sexual ritual called qudosh on the entire group; ordering/instructing women in 'the family' to perform often with multiple men/sons---quite often one after the other. Jim Baker decided that it was his role to decide and direct how women's bodies would be used in his so-called 'family' believing that he possessed the inalienable right as the group's leader to make those decisions for us. When I became a nursing mother, I also distinctly recall Jim Baker referring to me as 'one of the milk cows' of the family, because he would routinely make distinctions about many of the men & women in his 'family.'<br />
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Fervent former devotees of Jim Baker balk at any statement made that portrays their savior and God in an unfavorable light saying things like, "no one was holding a gun to anyone's head." True, no one was holding a gun to any of our heads to remain in The Source Family or to obey and abide by everything that Jim Baker imposed on the group, but that is what happens in a cult; that's what happens when people blindly and obediently obey and follow a cult leader---people end up doing things/behaving in ways that are contrary to their own moral and ethical beliefs and standards. <br />
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It was not until 'the family' ended and we all dispersed and went our own separate ways that many former 'source family' members were able to deprogram themselves and look back critically and objectively at what we had been made to do/coerced to do while in 'the source family.' To their credit, a few got out early when they saw the disturbing direction that Jim Baker was taking the group. The behavior of everyone in The Source Family was dictated to and controlled by Jim Baker in what he saw as being the 'aquarian' way of life. There was never any overt dissension within 'the family' as that was seen as being negative or out-of-your-center (a 'source family' term for being angry), because everyone was expected to comply with every one of Jim Baker's edicts---edicts that he would change almost on a daily basis.<br />
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There was never any forum or 'women's groups' within 'the source family' to discuss or talk about our feelings or views; just the expectation for everyone to obey and comply with the dictates of our 'earthly spiritual father', Jim Baker and of course the 'council' comprised of women he designated as 'his women.' So, you either got onboard and did whatever 'Father' instructed and directed everyone to do, or you faced being diminished or ostracized from the group in what became an intolerance of anything other than what 'Father' decreed in saying, "So mote it be." The reason that so many women who were in The Source Family do not openly speak out about their experiences from being in 'the family' is out of embarrassment or a sense of shame and not wanting their own children to learn or know more about what their mothers had to endure while in 'the family.' The majority of us have simply tried to forget about being forced to service men/sons; some we hardly knew, and know in our heart of hearts there is no way in hell that we would ever repeat the experience and certainly would not want our own children or grandchildren to follow or believe in anything that Jim Baker was extolling; the only exception might be the benefits of adhering to a vegetarian diet and perhaps a handful of other things that did not transgress the physical, personal and psychological boundaries of women.<br />
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So, I have chosen to speak out and verbalize the embarrassment that many of the women felt, from their time spent in 'the source family' and their regret for allowing a man from the WWII generation who believed that women should sexually service and serve men to decide how their bodies would be used; an attitude that is still seen in many men which continues to disempower and disenfranchise women within our society. The Source Family may have had the appearance or window dressing of being 'new age' with our long hair and white homespun garb of robes and handmade dresses parroting whatever Jim Baker extolled about either the 'mysteries of the Pyramids' or how we were heralding in the new age of aquarius, but below the surface for anyone who actually lived in the group and spent any length of time in the group; the loss of personal choice and freedom ensued primarily among the women, who were forced to 'obey the teachings of their earthly spiritual father' and 'love their earthly spiritual father more than themselves' which meant performing whatever acts or actions that Jim Baker/Father Yod/Yahowha (all three of him!) purported to have 'pulled from the ethers.'<br />
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The moral outrage that I felt over forty years ago in The Source Family cult has remained with me to this day. There are still some things that I just cannot bring myself to write about simply because some things are just too embarrassing, but remain as a constant reminder and the reason that I will not remain silent in the face of the continued efforts by some to promote life in 'the source family' as being the bellwether or pioneer of the 'new ageism' or conscious healthy living taking place in the world today. Aside from adhering to a vegetarian diet, many of Jim Baker's beliefs and dictates were for his own self-gratification and have no place in any current relevant dialogue or progressive movement/conversation that is going on today; aside from it serving as a warning. <br />
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It is deceptive for those who continue to present only the window dressing of The Source Family to make it look appealing and to be viewed in a favorable light by the public leaving out entirely the fact that Jim Baker expected men and women to perform a sexual ritual which caused more harm than good and that was the equivalent of a physical and psychological abuse of power. I have conceded that when I first joined 'the brotherhood of the source' that I enjoyed being part of a group and the camaraderie and joyful feelings of being with other free spirits who were happy to have found what appeared to be a healthy & wholesome group, at first. But Jim Baker, empowered by his new role as our savior-cum-spiritual father decided that in his newfound role he would make decisions about the roles of men and women never asking any of us if we were 'ok' with his edicts or if we felt 'comfortable' with anything he imposed, because Jim Baker also believed that he needed to 'test' a person's loyalty or commitment to him, because he was convinced that all his decisions were being 'channeled' from God. <br />
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The public is being duped into believing that Jim Baker was ahead of his time and that The Source Family were shiny examples of wholesome, healthy living leading the way for the entire new age movement, and the sexual ritual/practice of qudosh which became the most important practice or supposed 'teaching' extolled by Jim Baker is left out entirely; something that the handful of diehard 'Yahowites' (devoted followers) neglect to tell people about this most predominate and important of their leader's so-called teachings. You would think the fact that babies were allowed to die without receiving any medical help would be enough to dissuade people from wanting to promote Father Yod or The Source Family as being forerunners of anything, much less a healthy 'new age.' <br />
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It is my feeling that now, more than ever there needs to be more moral outrage; a combination of disgust and anger towards men who continue to believe that they have the right to make decisions about women's bodies. The Source Family was a travesty of women's rights and the rights of children to receive medical treatment; especially when it was available. It is time that people felt a moral outrage about men who think/believe that they should be the ones to decide what happens to a woman's body or to the bodies of their own children.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-24778247080759061392016-07-09T06:40:00.002-07:002022-03-05T11:09:44.058-08:00A Product of EnvironmentJim Baker loved old movies, especially movies like <i>The Ten Commandments</i> starring Charlton Heston, probably because Jim Baker saw himself in the role of Moses. I recall when <i>The Ten Commandments</i> was showing at a local theatre in Hollywood and we all had to accompany Jim Baker to see the film. Another time in 1972 a few of us had to accompany Jim Baker to see the production of <i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i> at the Universal Amphitheatre. Sitting in the audience with his long hair and beard wearing his robe looking very biblical surrounded by his own group of look-alike followers; Jim Baker no doubt hoping to draw attention to himself that the audience would make a connection between the central character in the show and himself. Heavily influenced by biblical themes, Jim Baker even penned his own Ten Commandments in his new role as a 'spiritual' messiah.<br />
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Jim Baker also really loved the old Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald films and in the early days at The Mother House he would have a movie projector brought in so the entire 'family' could watch his beloved old films. Everything was always tailored around what Jim Baker wanted, because after all The Brotherhood of The Source was his own production. It's easy to see how much films and plays, especially ones with a biblical theme had an impact on Jim Baker, and how he began to see himself as a modern day Moses leading his own tribe of 'chosen people', because he was a product of Hollywood where showmanship and appearance were everything. <br />
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A man with questionable moral character; someone who decided that robbing banks was the best way to bankroll his next restaurant venture who looked the part of Moses as portrayed in Hollywood films---deciding to gather his own group of 'spiritual children' (as he called them) fit very well into Jim Baker's wheelhouse and the attention that it gained him, from the worshipful meiny who began to follow him. It was exactly the kind of 'savior' role that he wanted to play giving him the ego boost and attention that he desired. Always the showman, Jim Baker put on a good show presenting himself as a 'spiritual' father figure, and the heady lure of working in his restaurant on the Sunset Strip frequented by rock stars and movie stars alike had an exciting and intoxicating effect. <br />
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For me, it was extremely easy joining The Brotherhood of The Source where I found immediate acceptance by a seemingly loving 'father' and his beautiful counterpart called 'mother.' The very early days in 'the family' were like being in a safe, warm cocoon where everything was provided for you. But, as more people kept joining the entire thing grew into more spectacle than anything else, because Jim Baker was intent on having more and more people join his 'family'; something that would burn-out in a relatively short span of time. I was nineteen-years-old when I joined 'the brotherhood' in 1970 already a vegetarian having dabbled in transcendental meditation. I was on my own 'spiritual quest' having given away all my worldly possessions in an exercise in non-materialism; so for me it was an easy transition from being a young 'spiritual' seeker who was living a relatively homeless life to joining Jim Baker and The Brotherhood of The Source. <br />
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Although, I never really had a close affinity for Jim Baker, nor was I particularly impressed or overwhelmed by him, but I did like the vibe and the energy or feel of what was going on at The Source Restaurant, and I liked the people who were already there and it felt safe; so I remained from the very first day that I ever went to 'meditation' class (more a recruitment tool) that was held at the restaurant. That was how easy it was to join Jim Baker's 'family' and becoming part of the motley crew who showed up. Many were just like me---lost and seeking looking for some kind of haven or communal situation; some were unkempt and spaced out----a few borderline schizophrenic, from ingesting too many hallucinogens who were looking for a free and groovy place to land. <br />
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But, for many of us who were on our own 'spiritual quests' in search of someone or something that would satisfy our desire for metaphysical understanding; what Jim Baker was offering fulfilled that need, especially since looking for 'spiritual' teachers or groups where dabbling in Eastern mysticism was the hip thing to do in the late sixties and early seventies. People were casting around for anything that might produce 'spiritual enlightenment' and when an older man sporting a beard and longish hair hung out his 'open for business' sign that read 'all spiritual seekers welcome'/inquire within/delicious fresh food available and females being groomed to serve and inspire'----it was enticing. Jim Baker was offering 'spiritual enlightenment' to everyone who showed up and devotedly followed him and adopted his 'teachings' and he provided them with a place to live and food to eat. All anyone had to do was accept Jim Baker as their 'earthly spiritual father.' It was all so easy, and at first everything felt safe and comfortable. But, not very long after the formation of 'the family', especially as more women joined; our new leader or 'earthly spiritual father' believed that it was his role to create a super race of 'aquarian' children and he began that by trying to impregnate several of the young women who had joined his 'family.' <br />
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Many of the women who joined 'the family' who saw Jim Baker as their 'spiritual father' became conflicted when he changed the rules and decided that he needed to have sex with them and/or impregnate a few of them; all under the guise of their participation in helping him create a new 'aquarian' race. Many of us threw ourselves into following and adopting Father Yod as our 'earthly spiritual father' where unflagging devotion and obedience to the man became absolutely essential for anyone who wanted to remain in 'the family.' There was never any room for anything but whatever Jim Baker/Father Yod/Yahowha 'channeled' from the ethers to impose on his group of gung-ho prostrating followers. Your only choice was to 'get on-board' with whatever Jim Baker devised or leave, or be kicked out. Absolute commitment and adherence to the words and directives of Jim Baker, who we all called 'Father' became mandatory. <br />
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But, for many of us who joined; we became inured to the conditions in 'the family' that went from aplenty for everyone to only those pampered and favored by 'Yahowha' benefitting where life in The Source Family became increasingly stressful, indolent and dubious and many of us found ourselves incapable of extricating ourselves or our loved ones from 'the family' as things grew progressively worse. As more people joined who were solely into venerating and deifying Jim Baker; life within The Source Family became about positioning----getting next to 'Yahowha' and about 'spiritual' one-upmanship of whose kundalini would rise up their spine first claiming 'enlightenment' so sought after, by those who hovered around their new found 'spiritual father' in ever-increasing honorific ways feeding Jim Baker's messianic complex even more and more. The hero-worship and/or deification of Jim Baker grew to ludicrous proportions where life in 'the family' was all about indulging his ego, like being a rock star/lead singer of Yahowha 13 and going out to play concerts at local high schools trolling for new converts, while trying to look cool performing with a pair of shades and his shirt unbuttoned just enough to expose his huge medallion looking more like a new age pimp than spiritual father, while the rest of the members of 'the family' sat on the sidelines as spectators. <br />
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The majority of people who joined The Source Family had absolutely nothing when they joined and were mostly just people looking for an alternative or free place to land, or who had joined only because they followed their spouses, siblings or friends in joining and remained because of those familial connections. Many people who joined The Source Family remained simply because everything was provided for them, and they only had to obey and comply with whatever edict Father Yod/Yahowha imposed on the group. But, for anyone who joined The Source Family, it quickly became apparent that everything revolved around the veneration and hero-worship of Jim Baker and the catering to his every whim or desire where the entire group dynamic became one of ever-increasing worship of the man, who renamed himself 'Yahowha' as he nurtured a group bubble of delusion around himself. Towards the end of his life living in a luxury Hawaiian setting in the expensive bedroom community of Lanikai on the island of Oahu; Jim Baker spent the remainder of his days sitting/holding court surrounded by his most loyal followers where on occasion 'outsiders' would be brought in and presented to him where those family members surrounding him would laugh and giggle as if they were privy to something the 'outsiders' were not. Giving the appearance that 'Yahowha' and only his most devoted followers possessed something that people outside The Source Family did not was crucial in maintaining the illusion. The illusion that people in The Source Family were 'leaders of the new age' who possessed secret, occult 'teachings' they had gleamed from 'Yahowha' that had become the group mentality that was fomented in The Source Family, and was something that persisted in several of his followers well beyond the death of their avatar. An imperious smugness and sense of superiority was embedded in a few who had loyally followed and worshipped Jim Baker and became the outward expression of The Source Family experience more than anything else. <br />
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The entire Source Family experiment had come to its inevitable end, due to the incessant worship and adulation of Jim Baker and the pervasive groupthink that everyone in The Source Family obey and abide by the man's supposed 'teachings.' After The Source Family disbanded a year after Jim Baker died, there were a couple of former members who desperately wanted to continue living exactly as they had, while in The Source Family; especially a couple of the men and women who had been treated like <i>rock stars</i> and <i>royalty </i>while in 'the family' who wanted to maintain their perceived status and so with a heightened sense of themselves being 'spiritual' teachers; some ended up creating abusive situations in trying to gather their own group of followers trying to replicate life in The Source Family. But, that is something that the film doesn't show. Many people from The Source Family had a difficult and arduous time adjusting back into normal society when the whole thing finally ended. Those of us who remained in The Source Family had become products, or rather victims of the biblically-themed environment/collective bubble of delusion that had been created by Jim Baker---something and someone that crash-landed in the short span of six years.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-91056214915694290122016-06-22T08:14:00.005-07:002023-11-20T07:48:45.061-08:00The Protective Role of A FatherOnce in awhile, I get an email from someone who wants to know more about The Source Family and they ask me, if I would be willing to share something. Of course, I send them a link to this blog warning them that if they're hoping to find a magical and glowing endorsement; they won't find it on my blog. It's painful to watch people begin to follow Jim Baker though; people who have been fed a steady diet of magical and spiritual embellishment about the man, along with exaggerations about life in the source family that leaves out anything that might be considered disturbing or alarming. Although, feeding people only magical, happy and glowing accounts about Father Yod and The Source Family is deceptive; it is simply not being truthful. Although, I do understand why people choose to block out the harsher realities of something opting for a more mythical and magical view thinking and believing that they have to be uber positive, happy and uplifting about virtually everything in order to feign some kind of New Age spiritual consciousness. <div><br /></div><div>Blocking out anything that is unsavory or disturbing and presenting only the excessively positive and idealized version of something is symptomatic of many New Age believers and enlightenment seekers. Some people who see themselves as channels of love and light often deny and block out the realities of life which places them in a perpetual state of disconnect or delusion----a delusion which becomes impossible to maintain. Choosing to only use magical thinking towards every aspect of life, while completely ignoring or blocking out anything that is harmful, unhealthy or detrimental only succeeds in perpetuating a delusional state of mind which often excuses bad behavior and detrimental practices, rather than god-forbid finding fault in someone or something or worse being labeled as being negative.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most people would rather bury their heads in the sand and deny or reject anything from the past that is sordid or unsavory, in favor of adopting a faultless and pristine fairytale perspective. But, the wrong kinds of behavior often continue unchecked as long as people refuse to take a critical look at something. When New Age believers and spiritual seekers suspend or stop using critical thinking choosing to ignore and block out anything that conflicts with their happy or magical view of things they are perched on a precipice of delusional disorder. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some people want to have the mystically magnified illusion of Jim Baker and The Source Family reinforced, in their yearning to find someone and something to idolize, but I cannot give that to them. Babies died in The Source Family, due to the beliefs & teachings of Father Yod/Yahowha and it is something that I refuse to block out or ignore in exchange for hero-worshipping the man. A man who was deemed as being our 'earthly spiritual father' became more consumed with his 'spiritual children' following and abiding by his so-called teachings and directives than concerned with the fact that infants might die without medical attention. </div><div><br /></div><div>Because no matter what magic or enlightenment that anyone may claim to have experienced, during the time they spent in The Source Family and no matter how much so-called wisdom some profess to having gained from following Father Yod; none of it outweighs the fact that women lost their babies, because they followed and adopted the misguided teachings of Yahowha. Whether anyone believes or feels that Jim Baker was the living embodiment of Christ or had the ability to channel the word of God; none of that matters when faced with the reality that he believed an infant was better off dying and it's soul being liberated than receiving medical treatment of any kind. What kind of father does that? What kind of father would stand around and listen to infants scream and cry, while ensconced in their own comfortable surroundings being waited on by multiple, adoring females who prostrated themselves at his feet 24/7? </div><div><br /></div><div>Most fifty-year-old men who are fathers especially of young girls would have paused and considered what impact it might have in a young woman's life by engaging in sexual relations with her. Just because a young woman in her teens consents to a fifty-year-old man sexually penetrating her doesn't make it ok even if some kind of magical or spiritual meaning is attached to the act. At least not any father who I would honor on Father's Day; which is exactly what one new follower of Jim Baker did on his Facebook wall---he posted a photo of Baker honoring him and presenting him as the ideal example of fatherhood! </div><div><br /></div><div>When a man has his own children and becomes a father; he begins to look upon all children hopefully in a fatherly and protected way especially if they have daughters. Most men with daughters would never consider having sex with young women the same age as their own daughters or granddaughters, and yet that was exactly what Jim Baker did. Which is something that in my book of life a fifty-year-old man and father should not do. But, it's that kind of behavior that is being 'swept under the rug' and dismissed and excused in order to continue deifying and hero-worshipping Yahowha----anything to shove the notion of him being an uber father down the throats of an unsuspecting public. </div><div><br /></div><div>I understand people wanting to find idols and heroes to worship and follow it's what we do in our culture, but let's not idealize or idolize a man who doesn't deserve such reverie. In my book of life, the father who should be honored and admired is the one who looks upon all children in a protective and fatherly way and who is capable of discerning what is healthy and age-appropriate behavior for themselves. A man who stops and considers what the impact might be, if they were to engage in sexual relations with a young person the same age as their own daughters or granddaughters. </div><div><br /></div><div>Father Yod/Yahowha blurred the lines of what was sexually appropriate behavior when he decided that he would orchestrate and decide the sexual behavior of everyone in his group, and where he took sexual advantage of the women who joined who had become enthralled by the perceived power and position of a man who professed being their loving earthly spiritual father. </div><div><br /></div><div>I will never understand how people can be so intent on the hero-worship of a man who did not look upon the young women surrounding him in a fatherly, protective way, but more in a sexual way under the guise of being a holy man. I choose to honor fathers who would never choose magical thinking over medical necessity where children are concerned. I choose to honor those fathers with daughters who would never engage in sexual relationships with young women the same age or younger than their own daughters. That is the kind of man who deserves to be honored on Father's Day not the construct of Yahowha-----a name that Jim Baker adopted, after he became convinced that he had become God and needed to procreate with several of the young women who surrounded him.</div>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-61029511931246043172016-06-15T06:38:00.000-07:002018-12-01T10:53:36.049-08:00Deteriorating Conditions and OmissionsJust the idea of a country club conjures up images of swimming pools, golf courses and tennis courts and having drinks at the bar. But, for anyone who remained in The Source Family after its leader died, life at The Hilo Country Club was anything but enjoyable. Everyone was still reeling from the death of Jim Baker where the women who comprised the council of 'his women' closed ranks around the woman he deemed his<i> mother/angel </i>looking to her as the group's new leader where all sycophantic and fawning attention was then focused.<br />
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The Hilo Country Club was a big, empty place located outside Hilo, Hawaii that was large enough to house what remained of The Source Family. As usual, there was not a stick of furniture anywhere to be found in the entire place so everyone sat, ate and slept on the floor. Most of the houses The Source Family occupied never contained furniture, beyond the early days at The Mother House in Los Angeles, and that was especially true in Hawaii where there was barely enough money to house and feed the entire languishing group.<br />
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People would devise ways to go into Hilo to find food or simply escape the lassitude, where life in The Source Family had become a dubious plight. Most everyone who had remained in 'the family' for years no longer had any means of support and were completely dependent upon whatever was allotted or allowed to them, because the payments from the sale of The Source Restaurant were not enough to support the entire group, and since the men were the only ones Father Yod would allow to go out and look for work support for the entire group fell to the men. <br />
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It turned out that a few members had continued to maintain their own banks accounts, but the majority of members who had spent years of their life in The Source Family no longer had any viable means of support and had no money in which to buy themselves or their own children food or basic necessities. Everyone was completely dependent, but money being received from the sale of the restaurant, along with the welfare payments of the women with children that were being collected from the state of Hawaii was simply not enough to house and feed the entire group. Yahowha's <i>mother-angel</i> and the trove of other women whom he deemed as being his <i>wives</i> now had to look to the men in the group to support them, as well as the remaining indigent group of family members. <br />
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The same pandering, worshipful obeisance that was shown to Father Yod/Yahowha had been shifted to his replacement: the woman designated as his<i> mother/angel. </i>The pecking order in The Source Family was supposed to be that all food/resources were to go to the children first, then to the nursing or pregnant women, then to the women, and lastly the men, but in actuality it was often 'Yahowha's' <i>mother/angel</i> and his other women who were often provided for first and foremost---especially the women who had given birth to 'Yahowha's' biological children conceived and born in 'the family' who were viewed by some as being superior to all of the other children in 'the family.' Yes, the children conceived by Father Yod were considered to be superior not only because of his belief in the genetic superiority of his own sperm where early on he became convinced that it was his mission to produce a super race of 'aquarian' children, but largely due to the family members who believed that he was the messiah. <br />
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Deluded, magical thinking had taken a firm hold within The Source Family and it effected the thinking and behavior of everyone. With the death of Jim Baker, there really was no point in The Source Family continuing any longer yet many of us remained for another year trying to 'stick it out' while having to endure increasingly difficult and tenuous circumstances which resulted in an enervated torpor among family members who were unable to extricate themselves from the worsening circumstances. Yet, even with the death of Jim Baker, the woman seen as his<i> mother/angel</i> surrounded by 'the council' of women who considered themselves 'wives of Yahowha' insisted that the practice of 'sex magic' be continued and even tracked or charted which 'sons' had been 'serviced' in the performance of the ritualized 'sex magic' so highly lauded by their godman 'Yahowha'. The council of 'Yahowha's' women and his <i>mother/angel </i>were viewed as being especially 'chosen' and above all other family members, due to their perceived 'special' status of being 'women of Yahowha'---an imperious and delusional attitude that some still possess. <br />
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To me the continued emphasis on ritualized sex being performed seemed bizarre---to place so much emphasis on the performance of 'sex magic' when there was barely enough food for everyone to eat. Which is why it was not surprising to learn that a couple of 'Yahowha's women' got into prostitution towards the end of The Source Family and after we all dispersed, due to the seedier elements that were being attracted to 'the family.' A couple of men who were drug dealers turned pimps became attracted to the open, sexually inviting allure of the women in The Source Family---women who had been groomed and induced by Father Yod to perform 'sex magic' with any number of men in 'the family' in a detached and impersonal way, and so it was easy to see how some women could have easily made the transition from being <i>'mothers'</i> in The Source Family expected to have sex with multiple 'sons' to being prostitutes in the real world. <br />
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But really----why would anyone want to exalt or idolize Jim Baker for creating any of that? Looking back, I envy those people who left and got out early, before the whole thing degenerated into what became a pressured compliance for everyone to perform 'sex magic', while often lacking food or basic necessities, along with the possibility of contracting hepatitis or a serious staph infection and the constant looming threat of being raided by the local authorities. Which is why it's all that more unfathomable to me why a small handful of people continue to try and portray life in The Source Family as having been 'ahead of its time' or that we were 'forerunners of a new age.' <br />
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There was nothing ahead of its time in an entire group of followers who ended up suffering from a lack of food living crammed and cramped together in conditions which resulted in rampant staph infections, while trying to adhere to and uphold the magical 'teachings' or beliefs of one man. All of the occult magic extolled by Father Yod and the ritualized sex, along with the constant chanting and magical incantations that were used were only distractions which perpetuated the delusion that The Source Family was 'being of service to humanity.' <br />
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Delusional beliefs and magical thinking staved off the reality that the entire thing had become a cult and was doomed for failure. Although one former zealous follower of Jim Baker blames the 'other' family members for the failure of the group, while proclaiming himself to have been superior to everyone else. A perfect example of the residual delusion that some former member's exhibit. Those of us who remained in 'the family' after Jim Baker died had become inured to the living conditions, after having lived removed from normal society sequestered away by the words and dictates of our spiritual 'father' in a childlike and dependent way with him directing and guiding us all and which ended up having a debilitating effect. <br />
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Remaining in the group and clinging to the magical, delusional beliefs that we had all adopted from Jim Baker and integrated into our daily lives seemed less frightening and uncertain, than the prospect of having to go back out into the world, which is something that all former cult members experience----the fear and consequent challenge of integrating and adjusting back into normal society. But, that is what being in a cult does: it creates a false belief that only the group or cult can offer safety and security and that the outside world poses a threat. <br />
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So, the people who remained in The Source Family endured worsening conditions when faced with the fear and uncertainty of what might happen to them outside of the group/cult. Life at The Hilo Country Club consisted of Father Yod's <i>mother/angel</i> leading morning meditation, then the men going into Hilo town everyday to look for food or work. Many family members looked for ways to escape into town to find food or relief even for a day, from what had become oppressive living conditions, where the women with babies or small children remained at the 'country club' all day sitting around waiting for one of the men to return with food. Mothers spent the day watching over the children utilizing 'the box' whenever a child became unruly or disobedient. Everyone walked around in a dazed and distracted way some combating 'golden spell', the term used for hepatitis without medical treatment. <br />
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Again, I want to emphasize for anyone who has watched the film thinking/believing that life in The Source Family was some kind of idealized 'new age' utopia that had they been there in Hilo and had endured the conditions at both The Doc Hill mansion and The Hilo Country Club; they would feel entirely different about the whole thing. But, people have been given a false impression and fed only a glamorized version of the story---one that left out the fact that Jim Baker sexualized his so-called 'teachings' so much so that he began to order women that he referred to as his 'daughters' and his 'wives' to sexually service multiple men or 'sons' within 'the family'----many practically strangers to the women who were compelled to follow their 'spiritual father's' directive.<br />
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If the filmmakers had been given all of the facts initially, where every aspect of what went on in The Source Family had been revealed to them rather than only being fed one former member's whitewashed and sanitized version or narrative, then perhaps the film labeled a documentary would have been a more truthful and honest rendering, rather than a film that gives the viewing public the impression that life in The Source Family was a magical wonderland or a harmless, benign social experiment having very few negative effects on its members. Instead, the filmmakers had certain things hidden and withheld from them, by a woman and her partner (both former members) who wanted to gain media attention for themselves and so they intentionally left out certain aspects of the story, while glorifying themselves. The 2012 film contained nothing about how babies had died who never received any medical help, or how ingesting a mixture of semen and menstrual blood became the apex of Father Yod's so-called 'teachings.' <br />
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Two former 'source family' members highjacked the entire story to use to their own advantage leaving out/omitting anything they wanted left out. I don't think that any young parent nowadays would tolerate or allow their infant or small child to go without food, or suffer from an untreated staph infection or be put into a wooden box with holes, because of the directives of one man and the peer pressure to comply, but that was what life was like in The Source Family. Parents were put under tremendous pressure to follow Father Yod's edicts regarding their own children. The publicity photos that surround the film that the public are so enthralled by and impressed with were taken to promote the music of Yahowha 13 and were merely a form of propaganda meant to attract new members----hopefully people with money or fame. Father Yod wanted to give the appearance of The Source Family being a wealthy and affluent group. <br />
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It's hard to understand why anyone would want to idolize or hero-worship a man whose beliefs and directives allowed babies to die without receiving medical treatment, and how anyone can ignore the fact that young women were thirteen and fourteen-years-old when Jim Baker insisted on penetrating them sexually, by convincing them it was for their own 'spiritual growth' or that he needed to impregnate them in order to create a super race of 'aquarian' children. <br />
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Women who now feel as though they were taken advantage of by an older man posing as their 'spiritual' teacher and father-figure are dismissed and peer pressured to remain silent, by those former Source Family members who are intent on hero-worshipping and immortalizing Jim Baker. The women who believe they were victimized by Father Yod by his own sexual misconduct and his deluded, sexualized so-called 'teachings' are told to 'forget about it' and 'leave it in the past', in exchange for their adopting a sanitized and more idealized narrative.Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-44011354427819757022016-05-18T06:46:00.001-07:002023-10-22T10:09:23.137-07:00Spiritual ArroganceOne of the results of sitting in front of Jim Baker day in and day out in a meditative state listening to him drone on and on in a subliminal, trance-like and hypnotic way convincing his group of followers they were all part of a 'guardian wall' that protected humanity and how they were the forerunners of the 'aquarian age', and how they outshone the rest of humanity was that he began nurturing a false spiritual pride and ego in his devoted followers where chests began to puff up and arrogant, imperious attitudes and a self-satisfied, hubris became the by-product of what Jim Baker was saying; a spiritual smugness which still exists today in some of his more feverish followers. The spiritual ego or pride that Jim Baker fostered in those who sat in front of him became the signature behavior and attitude of many in The Source Family.<br />
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The entire new age movement and trendy 'spiritual' awakening in this country is fraught with people who suffer from a false, magnified sense of their own 'spiritual' accomplishment or knowledge some claiming to have a direct connection or channel to God, or other disembodied 'ascended' masters. Jim Baker saw himself as a 'holy' man; a spiritually awakened man who had received a divine transmission or message that he needed to gather together and foster/father the lost and seeking young souls who were wandering around looking for a spiritual mooring in which to anchor themselves, and in doing so he was able to convince his followers that they had been divinely chosen by God to lead the rest of humanity. But, from that grew an arrogant and spiritually superior attitude that is symptomatic of many who pursue a spiritual path to enlightenment. The attitude fostered by Jim Baker among his followers was that they were better than the rest of humanity, and that they were the 'chosen ones' meant to lead mankind. Many of Jim Baker's followers believed that he was a direct 'channel' to God. Spiritual ego or pride is something that is rampant among the multitude of new age/self-help and enlightened milieu of the 'new age' movement that began in the late sixties/early seventies.<br />
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Nowadays self-proclaimed 'enlightened' or 'illuminated' individuals abound everywhere either on youtube or churning out videos and books holding retreats and symposiums on how to attain or achieve 'self mastery' or 'God-consciousness' claiming to be in possession of specific knowledge or wisdom that only they alone seem to possess. It often becomes confusing trying to find just the right avatar or 'spiritual' leader/teacher or expert to follow. In 1969/70 the pool of spiritual teachers especially Western gurus was limited and so Jim Baker stood out with his long hair and beard bearing a striking resemblance to a modern-day Moses and was able to form his own 'spiritual' group or quasi 'family' with the proceeds from his successful first-of-its-kind all vegetarian restaurant situated propitiously right on Sunset Boulevard frequented by every Hollywood star or rock musician who were either staying up the street at the Chateau Marmont or who happened to be driving by on their way to the Whiskey A Go Go.<br />
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The Brotherhood of The Source began to form around Jim Baker, who began attracting and taking in/harboring some of the young, lost souls who had been floundering around the streets of Los Angeles or who had travelled cross-country in search of the promise of illumination in finding and following an Eastern guru or mystical 'teacher' who had found a home among the freewheeling counterculture abundantly found in California---people looking for groovy and fantastical experiences that psychedelics such as LSD and mescaline had given some a glimpse into something otherworldly and cosmic in origin, and so delving into meditation, yoga and the occult, along with theosophy and metaphysics became the new alternative culture. Joining Jim Baker to help him run his restaurant, while becoming one of his disciples in his newly formed 'religion of the eternal now' was a perfect storm, where all of the external forces came together at the same time and produced something that would end up wrecking more havoc and destruction in people's lives, than it having any true, lasting positive effect. Many people from the sixties/early seventies got into Eastern 'spiritual' pursuits and the occult believing that once they were 'illuminated' that they were then qualified to lead others as their 'spiritual' guide or master, often with disastrous results. People little qualified with nothing more than their own claim of 'illumination' and/or a direct connection with either God or some other ascended deity began to gather followers. Many who had deep, emotional problems and issues which they had never dealt with or addressed were now leading people in finding spiritual fulfillment! Which is exactly what Jim Baker did, who went from being a Hollywood 'player' would-be bank robber to someone who after spending a few months with Yogi Bhajan started to believe that he, Jim Baker had become a 'holy' man destined to lead a group of his own 'spiritual children'. It's my view that Jim Baker was psychologically and emotionally ill-equipped to 'teach' or lead an entire group of people mainly because he let his male organ make his decisions for him, and was a man who believed that his semen was superior and that he was destined to create a super race. <br />
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Men and women with profound psychological problems even sociopaths have claimed to be 'spiritually enlightened' or having attained cosmic-consciousness. People who gather their own followers for their own egotistical desires and need for attention often become 'spiritual leaders'; something that was indicative of many of the so-called 'spiritual' leaders of groups and cults that began to pop up, during the late sixties/early seventies. Simulated messianic figures proclaiming they had the ability to transfer divine knowledge and wisdom; people claiming to being reincarnated from thousands of years ago and to being 'channels' of ancient and secret 'keys' for unlocking the secret mysteries of life began to appear everywhere, due to the 'new age' movement. Many people were searching for a quick, cosmic fix---someone or something that would transform them into superconscious and awakened beings and finding someone who offered that up became too good to pass up. That was what Jim Baker was offering, but what happened after he died and The Source Family ended; was that quite a few former members ended up living dissolute and drug-induced/alcoholic lifestyles, a residual effect for many who joined Jim Baker's 'aquarian' tribe. Because nothing that Father Yod/Yahowha was espousing actually dealt with or addressed anyone's underlying emotional problems. None of the magical thinking or ritualistic practices that were indicative of life in The Source Family addressed anyone's individual psychological and emotional problems, but only succeeded in creating a temporary and illusionary living situation where Jim Baker, the ersatz father decided what everyone should wear, and what everyone would eat, and how everyone should conduct themselves sexually; especially in having the men and women in his 'family' practice the sex magic that he began to covet that would become the pinnacle of his so-called 'teachings'. <br />
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So, when Father Yod/Yahowha died and The Source Family ended; the maladapted relationships of men having multiple wives or women and virtually all of the delusional magical beliefs found in 'the family' left many floundering trying to figure out how to adjust back into normal, mainstream society most importantly reconnecting with their own estranged family members. I believe there is a downside in pursuing enlightenment or cosmic-consciousness without also dealing with your own underlying emotional problems and issues---something that I have observed can produce sociopaths who feign a state of being enlightened and possessing infinite wisdom, while hiding or masking who they really are. When a pathological liar or a womanizer adopts and feigns the mantle of 'spiritual' attainment and profess themselves as being enlightened; it is an easy way for them to hide or cover-up aspects of themselves. People operating under a false sense of their own enlightenment and of their own spiritual superiority to others excuse themselves from the moral conduct that applies to the rest of society, to the extent that their own bad behaviors are perfectly acceptable to them, and to their devoted flock of followers. It's very prevalent to find haughty, arrogant and intransigent egos among the many spiritually 'realized' beings around today, who have managed to gather their own following. The cases of spurious spiritual leaders taking sexual advantage of the women among their followers has become textbook behavior; sexual misconduct of men who proclaim themselves to be either Jesus Christ reincarnated, or God. I've included an article written by Mariana Caplan titled <i>10 Spiritually Transmitted Diseases</i> where I found that although all applied to Jim Baker and The Source Family numbers 8 and 9 were dead-on.<br />
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But, it's approaching fifty years, since Father Yod/Yahowha ruled over his quasi family, and people have now become more self-aware and know more about the pitfalls of choosing and following a guru or spiritual master, but rather than trying to elevate/idealize and idolize someone and something that was flawed from the very beginning and that got progressively worse over time, due to the spiritual arrogance and deluded, magical thinking that was fed and nurtured; it's time to expose what went on in The Source Family with frank and honest dialogue. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mariana-caplan-phd/spiritual-living-10-spiri_b_609248.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mariana-caplan-phd/spiritual-living-10-spiri_b_609248.html</a>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-37329514297148966712016-04-21T07:35:00.001-07:002022-11-03T08:20:36.247-07:00Mothers and 'Suns'Probably the most absurd and contrived pseudo-relationship that Jim Baker devised within The Source Family was that of the <i>Mother/Sun</i>. Jim Baker referred to any man who joined The Brotherhood of The Source as being his 'son', but he also likened a man to the sun shining life-giving rays on to woman, whom he equated with the moon having no light of her own only capable of reflecting her man or <i>sun's</i> light and so he referred to the men as both his sons and <i>suns. </i>So<i>, </i>I decided to use <i>suns</i> in the title, since the <i>mother/sun</i> relationship contrived by Father Yod within The Source Family was hardly a maternal one. Because I'm not talking about the relationship between a woman and her biological child or son; but a spurious one concocted by Father Yod between the women in the family whom he gave the title of <i>mother</i>; comprised of the women he was having sex with on an ongoing basis whom he also began to refer to as his 'wives', and the men in his family deemed as his <i>suns. </i><div><br /></div><div>When Jim Baker decided to adopt and introduce the ceremonial 'sex magick' that he had gleaned from reading Aleister Crowley; he also decided to designate his 'wives'/any of the women whom he started to have sex with from the pool of women within 'the family' as<i> mothers</i>, whose primary purpose was to perform the ceremonial 'sex magick' called qudosh with any one of the men, or <i>suns</i>. Yes, that was exactly what life was like, being in The Source Family. Every single woman could have her relationship usurped and undermined at any moment by Father Yod assigning one of his women deemed a <i>mother</i> to engage in ceremonial 'sex magick' with another woman's partner, husband or father of her child. Absolutely no relationship was respected, but rather continuously transgressed by the often unsettling directives laid down by our self-appointed 'earthly spiritual father', Father Yod because he believed that the role of women a subservient one, as quoted from several passages in his book <i>Liberation</i>,"the Woman's whole life revolves around, and is dependent upon, her Man", and "He(man) is Her security....Her Life....Her reason for BEING", and "the woman's way to Liberation is to serve and inspire Her Man", and "The perfect Woman is both Wife and Mother, to Her Man." The same kinds of postulations made about women found in other male-dominated faith-based belief systems throughout history; belief systems that believe women are subordinate to men. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, Jim Baker loved to give the appearance of treating women as though they were 'the mothers of all living' espousing how all women should be respected and not lusted after; yet his own behavior and actions appeared to always contradict his own words, and always seemed more self-serving designed to accommodate his own lustful desires masked by the pretense of attaining a higher spiritual consciousness. But Father Yod made a distinction between the women labeled as <i>mothers</i>, and those labeled as <i>angels</i>, because the title of <i>mother</i> per Father Yod which had nothing to do with the mothers of babies and small children implied that the women he was having sex with had a higher status than the rest of the women in The Source Family, as though they had received some sort of imaginary transmission (or rather emission) from their seemingly divinely ordained godman Father Yod/Yahowha. I felt the role of <i>mother </i>as assigned by Father Yod completely undermined the women who were either married or who had formed close, intimate relationships or partnerships with men in 'the family', because those given the title of <i>mother </i>were to be treated and viewed as being special or above everyone else; a belief based on the deluded and erroneous magical thinking that was the mainstay of The Source Family. </div><div><br /></div><div>Because every aspect of life in Jim Baker's Source Family was originated and fueled by magical thinking along with talismanic ritual belief and repetition. None of the women who were having sex with Jim Baker were any higher or more evolved or enlightened than those women who did not have sex with the man. The entire thing was complete and utter poppycock devised and implemented by Father Yod in his ever-increasing desire to control the man/woman relationships within his so-called 'family' by manipulating the sexual behavior of absolutely everyone! Many of the women who comprised The Source Family lost respect for the men whom they were involved with, due to Father Yod's contrived <i>mother/sun</i> maladaptation. If a woman was labelled as being an <i>angel</i> within The Source Family, she was seen as having a lesser social position; which is also why some women clamored around 'Yahowha' for the distinction of being called one of 'his women' and given the title of<i> mother</i>. An<i> angel</i> was not seen as equal in status to that of their counterpart the <i>mother</i>. I saw the<i> mother</i> and <i>angel</i> distinctions devised by Father Yod create discord, confusion and feelings of disempowerment among the women in 'the family' whose husbands and partners could be randomly 'scooped up' (a cutesy 'source family' term meaning a woman initiating sex with a <i>sun) </i>by a <i>mother</i> assigned by Father Yod<i>. </i>Women were expected to acquiesce and standby/allow the men in their lives to be regularly 'scooped up' by their designated <i>mother</i> to engage in ceremonial 'sex magick'. Yet, Father Yod absolved his own <i>angel</i>, Makushla from having to serve any of the other men/<i>suns</i> or perform 'sex magic' with any of them; so she was given a special dispensation and given a new title of <i>mother/angel</i> and appointed and anointed as being his very own special <i>mother/angel</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although, Father Yod only allowed Makushla to be called his <i>mother/angel</i> elevating her status within the entire group above all the rest, to such an extent that she was seen as being his spiritual equivalent to be showered and treated with the same reverence and respect, as shown to him. I believe that the ritualistic 'sex magic' that Jim Baker expected the women to perform with the <i>suns</i> in The Source Family transgressed the personal boundaries of all the women who comprised 'the family' putting us all in stressful, uncertain, compromising and sexually unprotected situations. Because Father Yod used his power and control as the 'spiritual' leader and ersatz father of the entire group to mandate that both men and women obey and comply with his 'teachings' that he believed would lead to a higher 'spiritual' consciousness. But, the only woman whose status was elevated within The Source Family was that of Father Yod's own <i>mother/angel</i>; whereas the rest of the women were expected to perform something that his own <i>mother/angel</i> was exempt from having to perform. It's no wonder that the one woman designated as being 'Yahowha's <i>mother/angel</i>' was left with pleasant memories of being in The Source Family, because she was the only one who had a get-out-of-jail-free card. Only Father Yod's <i>mother/angel</i> was exempt from having to perform ceremonial 'sex magic' with any number of men within The Source Family; nor did she have to take care of the children during 'children's duty', or do laundry, cleaning or any of the other menial chores performed by the other women within The Source Family, but instead was treated like a queen being pampered and waited on and afforded the luxury of accompanying Father Yod to Europe and India. <div><br /></div><div>Yet, there are some who proclaim that life in The Source Family was 'ahead of its time' and that it was representative of a new 'aquarian age'. The faux <i>mother/sun</i> relationships devised by Father Yod gave a few women status and perceived power over other women and undermined the man/woman relationships that had already been established within The Source Family<i>. </i>The public can now get a better understanding of why so many men and women who were in The Source Family are embarrassed by having been part of such a group and want nothing to do with any of it feeling only degrees of regret and embarrassment for having followed Jim Baker to the extent they did and for having willingly participated in what most consider to have been deviant, sexual practices. Because the reality was that the only relationship that Father Yod treated as sacrosanct within The Source Family was that of his own with Makushla, but where none of the rules or expected behaviors for the rest of the family members applied to her, because he elevated her above all others. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me, Jim Baker's behavior resembled more that of Henry VIII minus the beheadings than that of a man claiming to be the "earthly spiritual father' of a new age. Because, removing and replacing one woman for another whom he had become sexually enamored showing favoritism and allowing special treatment and luxuries for some, but not others certainly applied to life in Henry VIII's court, as well as in Jim Baker's court or rather cult.</div></div>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5330999227512932268.post-62550127067030755982016-04-05T07:43:00.001-07:002022-03-05T11:19:32.076-08:00Copyright Infringement and 'Source Family Music'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I met with a lawyer last week who specialized in music copyright law, where I obtained the above copy of the copyright law under section 202 which applies to all of the albums that were produced at The Father House circa 1973-74; who informed me that 'possession of a tape or recording does not automatically transfer any copyrights to the songs or material', which was 'music to my ears', especially since so many other people have felt they have the right to enter into agreements to license, distribute and sell albums that were produced while The Source Family was in existence; in order to make a profit for themselves from albums which contain original songs written and performed by a few of the individuals who were in 'the family' at the time! Copyright Law reads that as soon as a person's song is recorded on to tape, it automatically conveys copyright of that song to the individual who wrote and performed that song; not to any individual who comes into possession of the 'object' ie album or tape. Per the copyright law of this country, simply having recordings or tapes in ones possession does not convey any 'rights' to the songs on that medium; especially where no signed contract or agreement has been put into place. The albums that are being marketed and sold labeled as 'Source Family Music' are in reality albums where no 'mechanical' license or agreements were EVER put into place; until not long after a 'box set' of all the albums was released where a couple of former family members appointed themselves as 'president' and 'vice president' of their recently (supposedly) dissolved 'source foundation' were able to inveigle a couple of the individual songwriters/musicians into signing over their 'rights' to the two people heading the 'source foundation' giving said 'president' and 'vice-president' the rights to sell and license their original songs or performances; but these 'source foundation' agreements were not all-inclusive, because a couple of the songwriters and musicians refused to sign anything! Yet, somehow these same two individuals felt that conveyed to them the 'rights' to sell and license ALL the songs contained on all of the albums produced circa 1973-74. But, several of the songwriters and musicians who contributed to the albums produced back in and around 1974 at The Father House in Los Angeles, never signed one of these 'source foundation' contracts, or any licensing agreements with any of the parties who continue to sell what are called 'source family' albums! In my mind, it has all been a huge copyright infringement; because of the attitudes of entitlement exhibited by a few individuals who believed they could make money from the sale of the music made by individuals other than themselves who they shared space with while being in The Source Family over forty years ago. I believe that once and for all, the inherent copyrights of each individual's songs and/or performances need to be looked at closely and examined, and administered to correctly where legal licensing agreements are put into place with either the artist themselves, or with their respective heirs, if that artist is deceased; rather than anymore of the continued wholesale sales of albums being marketed and sold as 'Source Family Music'. Anyone currently selling albums under the banner name of 'Source Family Music'; people who believe they have carte blanche permission to distribute and sell albums which contain original songs written and performed by actual individuals really should investigate and take a closer look, rather than just accepting the belief that all of the songs were 'made by the group' which somehow invalidates the claims of any individual songwriter, singer or musician; any persons who are presently involved with the sales of any of the albums that were produced during the brief period of time at the Father House in Los Angeles circa 1974 really need to determine whether or not they actually have licensing agreements in place with all of the individual songwriters whose songs are featured on those albums, rather than just taking the word of a couple of individuals who have wanted to profit from the sales of the music, and who have also presented themselves as being 'representatives' of the individual songwriters and musicians. Because in the 'real' world, an individual artist/songwriter is acknowledged and compensated for the use of any of their songs. None of the original songs on ANY of the albums being marketed and sold as 'Source Family Music' belong to ANYONE but the person(s) who wrote the songs! But, a very bad precedent was set back in the nineties when Sky Saxon and another former family member took it upon themselves to enter into a deal with a Japanese record label to release a 'box set' of all of the albums that had been made during 'the family'; a deal which netted them both thousands of dollars; but where nothing was paid to any of the individual songwriters or musicians who performed on the albums in this 'box set'; I believe this action set into motion what I see as a continued 'pleasant form' of piracy where other former 'Source Family' members saw an opportunity for themselves to also profit off music which they had nothing whatsoever to do with! It is my belief, that it is long overdue that things are put right in the continued licensing and sales of original songs contained on all of the albums deemed as 'Source Family Music', along with the correct recognition given to the individual songwriters, singers and musicians of those albums.<br />
<br /><div>Here is a site that addresses what falls into public domain, which states the following: "It is important to emphasize that copyright protection is not the only form of legal protection for creative works. Although a work may be in the public domain for copyright purposes, rights to the material may be protected under various legal theories such as trademark or unfair competition laws (which protect against confusingly similar usage by another); an individual’s right of privacy (the right to be left alone); or a person’s right of publicity (an individual’s exclusive right to benefit commercially from his or her name, voice, photograph or likeness)." <a href="http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html">http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html</a></div>Laura Garonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11085807205109758449noreply@blogger.com