ABSTRACT
Janja interviewed sixty-five people who were raised in cults and escaped, in all cases on their own without any inside or outside help. This chapter discusses six individuals namely: Samantha, Iris, Matthew, Jessica, Joseph, and Lily each of whose names have been changed to protect his or her privacy. Some were strictly religious; others were focused on martial arts, while still others were focused on meditation or metaphysical philosophies. Nevertheless, the four dimensions of bounded choice that characterize all high-demand groups and relationships were and still are active in all of these groups. All of these groups rely on a transcendent belief system, charismatic authority, systems of control, and systems of influence to transmit their ideology, control their members, and put their worldview into practice—even though each group has its own unique organizational structure, philosophy, and utopian vision.
