Defining cultism can be challenging to the research scholar or the mental health professional. The matter is not made easy by the fact that some social commentators use terms such as new religious movements or sects, to describe groups which others refer to as cults. From my perspective, the word cult or its derivatives cultic, cultism and cultist are pejorative terms; terms which can be understood to indicate, the existence of debilitating and destructive processes occurring in a particular environment, whether religious or otherwise. Understanding cultism through this lens, renders terms like new religious movements meaningless. If the term sect is simply indicating a breakaway faction from another religion, it to has no relevance in this context. However, if the term sect is somehow understood to be analogous to the meaning of cultism, in a particular geographical or cultural context, at least we can have a mutual understanding of meaning.
For those working in the cultic environment, it is not enough to simply understand cultism in layman's language as something negative and destructive. Our understandings must be based on more in-depth ethnographic research and knowledge. In the context of cultism, I believe research cannot be confined to a particular discipline. It must incorporate knowledge from the fields of: anthropology, psychology, theology, astronomy, biology, physiology, neurology and hypnotherapy. I am not suggesting one should have an in-depth knowledge in any of these disciplines- it is more a question of recognizing that each field of study has something important to contribute to the study of cultism. Taking all of the above considerations in mind, cultism could be defined as follows:
Cultism is essentially an imbalance of power and control, between two or any number of social actors. The imbalance can be created and maintained by the threat of physical force, numerous variations of mind control processes, or a combination of both. A mind control or thought reform program can be understood to contain three elements- the first is, the inculcation of a system of beliefs which contain ultimate truths about the nature of self and reality. The second element, which is also part of the inculcation of the belief system, are what we might refer to as “cultic processes”. These are primarily processes which include debilitation, closure, control and hostility. Its the combination of ultimate beliefs about the nature of reality ( which are often delusional and always destructive) which justify and give legitimacy to the cultic processes. This in turn gives rise to the third element-- the activation of behavior that is destructive to the well being of oneself, family, friends or perceived enemies.
Defining Cultism
