Originally posted by
Innocent Warrior
There’s no denying there is still a major lack of compassion in the alternative community, as a whole. If we want more transparency then we'll need to work on providing a safe space for people like Zen Gardner to be more open about issues like this. That’s our responsibility to address.
I agree accusing Gardner of being a paedophile is presumptuous but do you really believe there’s nobody who considers themselves victims of the leaders of that cult?
Imagine being born into the Children of God cult (COG). We’re literally in download mode for the first six years of our life. Imagine what it’s like to be told who you are, in every way, and being deprived of all the choices we take for granted, like how many squares of toilet paper you can use and how to wipe your bum, from the time you were born. No choices, no individuality, no parents because they split them up, zero freedom. To make it even more messed up, it’s all done in the name of God and Jesus. So we’re looking at severe mental, emotional, spiritual, and, for many, sexual abuse.
It would take a near saint to recover from that, a real one, not a Catholic one. It would be near impossible.
Gardner joined the cult as a very young adult, 22 years old. I understand what Gardner said about how cults work; they begin with beautiful ideals and gradually morph into absolute insanity. There’s enough insanity in our culture for us to be able to empathise, to a degree. It’s not difficult to understand how Gardner became so brainwashed that he didn’t leave as soon as he became aware of any abuse, which he has admitted to. That doesn’t change the fact he didn’t leave though, it’s not an excuse, it’s a reason. It’s understandable, but he still didn’t leave, so it’s no wonder people no longer care to accept him on a guru platform. That’s his responsibility. And he is projecting, and quite frankly that was dumb of him to judge others for judging him. That’s where I went astray, I was compassionate until he had the audacity to judge others in the community and I ended up doing what he did and hit back.
I’m sorry to you, Pointessa, and to anyone else I hurt with my posts.