Heavenly Mountain, Boone, NC

Ok, keeping with the cult theme.... Transcendental meditation is considered by some to be considered cult-like. According to Steve Hassan, author of several books on cults it "seeks to strip individuals of their ability to think and choose freely. (wikipedia) TM was started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and was made famous by the Beatles who visited him during their recording of Sgt. Pepper's. People who practice TM meditate for several hours a day and some even practice "Yogic Flying", which basically means levitation. (advanced only, prerequisite required) So, what's all this got to do with Boone? 

The Spiritual Center of America

Heavenly Mountain Resort 

639 Whispering Hills Rd.

Boone, NC 28607

Yes, there used to be a TM school in Boone (right off the parkway) that was started in the late 90's and was active for several years. It was called the Spiritual Center of America and housed members of the women's Mother Divine Program and the men's Purusha programs, as well as residents and visitors. It was a thriving community complete with it's own school for girls. What happened to Heavenly Mountain? It closed in 2004 because of a rift between David Kaplan, who helped start the TM school and the residences of Heavenly Mtn. After Kaplan became so sick he almost died he decided to leave the Purusha Program and was kicked out of the movement. After Kaplan and his brother Earl investigated Maharishi (founder of TM) they decided they could no longer support him or be a part of the TM movement. What did they find out? They never said, but I definitely would like to know. After that, the school failed and residences were asked to vacate the West campus. I believe the East campus is still occupied but is protected by a gate and a guard 24 hours. Yes, I have tried to go there. As for the West campus.... well it's still there. Abandoned temple, buildings, houses and apartments. There is no gate and you can drive up there and see for yourself. Trust me, it's creepy. It's completely untouched but deteriorating slowly. What's it still doing there? Who knows. Someone still owns it and has decided to just leave it sitting there. I've done much research about it on the Internet and can't find anything about who owns it now or why it's just sitting up there. It's probably time for investigative journalism. 

So the point of this story was to show that you don't always know what's happening or what happened in your own backyard. Because I guarantee that none of you knew about this until now. 

Pictures:

http://www.healingtaousa.com/heavenly_mountain.html

Links: 

http://www.enmag.org/01/1sca.htm

http://www.rickross.com/reference/tm/tm98.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendental_Meditation

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/7338/future-of-heavenly-mountain-disputed

Jonestown, Guyana

The other night on MSNBC there was a documentary on Jonestown, Guyana. For anybody who does not know should visit our friend wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

But briefly, Jim Jones, the leader of the cult, The People's Temple and approximately 900 of his followers committed suicide in 1978 almost immediately after Congressman Leo Ryan visited Jonestown. Jim Jones' extreme paranoia led him to convince all of his followers that suicide was the only way after Leo Ryan's visit. He told his followers that if they didn't drink the drink (cyanide) the US would come and torture their children and kill all of them. So they all drank. 

My first questions was 'how in the world did these people believe him? And why would they ever commit suicide and kill their children because of what this one man said?' Then as i thought about it I remembered fear. Fear is how Jones kept the his followers under control. He would stage false attacks on Jonestown to prove that indeed they were in danger if they didn't do everything he said. He successfully controlled the minds of almost 1,000 people for several years. Because of Jonestown's remote location away from the media and far away from concerned family members, it made it easier for Jones to control the people. Eventually the US intervened but it was too late. Jones' extreme paranoia led him to convince everyone that suicide was the only choice. Jonestown and other cults prove that fear is the ultimate communication tool and through inducing fear you can make almost anyone do almost anything.