Cults Versus Citadelization
A cult is an alternative belief system which requires isolation from the greater organism within which the cult exists because its internal logic, practices and rules cannot be defended in the light of day and by consensus reality. Whereas citadelization is the practice of creating separation from the consensus reality because of the danger of being the next lemming walking off a cliff led by a culture in terminal decline.
Both cults and citadelization thrive within a civilization in dis-ease or decline. Cults, like cancerous tumors, assist in the division and death of a culture while citadels of individual and collective organization thrive due to nature’s wisdom of atomization and division as a tool of resiliency against death and decline. When the initiating force to collectivize arises it is important to keep watch on the motivation for the separation. Leaving the organizing force of the civilization makes any small group vulnerable to hijack via purpose and leadership.
Every organization of life is best led by a consciously agreed collective mission aligned with instinct and conscience as the organizing principle. A family giving birth and raising small children is the glue that gives great organizing purpose. A cult, by definition, uses its specialized purpose as both the internal glue and the repelling force separates and gives a special feeling of belonging that overrides instinct and conscience.
If we can put true and definable purpose as the guide to our organization then leadership can be vetted constantly. Many cults are founded upon the mission of “Finding God” through love in our heart. Here leadership is too subjective and easily deluded or manipulated. Add in any component of sexuality and it’s certain to blow up. So, first, group purpose is a tool of evaluation. Then leadership and its relationship to the group is the next most fertile ground for defining a citadel versus a cult.
Nowhere do cults better thrive than on the spiritual journey. Any journey into the unknown makes getting sidetracked or led astray a systemic risk and there is no shortage of vampires and carnival barkers in spirituality, religion and the realm of the collective consciousness. The trap is always fueled by love. Being the penultimate reconciling force, true love and union with the divine makes embarking on the spiritual journey a warrior’s training for testing and refining the productive capacity of the heart center. Being a magical and creative force, love naturally draws those tests and challenges to your own soul’s mastery of your own will and creativity.
Some of you, who have never been seduced by a misused call of love, might wonder how any of this cult stuff ever gets started. Mastery and control of your heart center and its ability to reconcile division is a long journey that makes us vulnerable to betrayal, repeatedly, until we come to see the heart, as the zero point of this creation can reconcile everything. Like a muscle must do repetitive exercise, our hearts need to be exercised during the entire journey back to wholeness. There really is no upper limit to the heart’s ability to both suffer and transcend. Cults are like catnip to the seeker. Be aware.
Most cults are easily exposed by their purpose. And then by their leadership. All abuse the energy of worship. Citadels arise from a similar place in the heart but worship life as health, as children, as freedom. A home-school cooperative that gives relatively isolated children an opportunity to socialize is an excellent example of parents gathering in citadel for a purpose with decentralized leadership. They usually have a strong level of internal communication and can have a policing function to weed out uncooperative members without the pitfalls of hierarchy, feeling special and imbalanced energy exchanges so common in cults.
If we apply this division between cults and citadels within our body we might consider the differences between cancerous tumors versus healthy organs. Tumors exist via separation from any healthy purpose. They ferment sugar instead of burning it and their pH is too acidic. The energetic corona of a tumor radiates out several times its size broadcasting its unique message that is completely disconnected from the continued life of the greater organization it exists within.
Whereas a healthy organ has a specialized purpose that evolved over time in response to its external environment. A fat layer under the skin is a citadel responding to an abundance of food at the end of the harvest season and in preparation for winter temperatures. All the so-called “preppers" who are stockpiling food and other essentials might be considered a very decentralized citadel acting under the impulses of potential climate change, supply chain break down and distrust of monopolistic/authoritarian systems. These are natural responses of instinct and conscience that when viewed in the macrocosm are very beneficial to the greater organism by providing resiliency.
So, if you feel called to separate or isolate from the greater body of humanity in mind and action, check your motivation and who is in charge. At these periodic moments of societal dis-ease, a “head for the hills” message is being broadcast from both instinct and charlatans. Be aware that action is probably necessary and seduction is rampant. The mind is easily tricked by fear and the heart can be easily led astray by the desire to love and be loved.
Both fear and love can be life-giving or debilitating. Check your motivation and your leadership both within and with other members of your citadel or your tribe. Collectivizing into citadels is instinctual in times of stress and upheaval. That is choosing life. Avoid collectivizing into cults of personality and dubious purpose. That is choosing death.