Leaderboard

when i was still addicted to the bible part of "fellowship" i had someone say to me "so what's stopping you from making up a little group like that for yourself?" well of course my immediate thought in my head was "because i'm not a twig leader yet". go figure huh? i didn't say that out loud luckily but instead said "you know, you're right" and then put up little flyers around town and found out that there were a whole lot of people that wanted to do the same thing without all the "churchy" stuff attached, but i found myself freaking out when people wanted to "privately interpret" the bible and interrupted a "teaching" i'd worked hours on and didn't want the "manifestations". that's when i knew i was still in the way international in my head and had to do something with my own head before i could ever consider having real relationships with other people.

On the topic of nostalgia for the old TWI research, etc., someone recently asked me what were the hallmarks of an "offshoot" leader. I found this quote in a book called The True Believer - Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, by Eric Hoffer published in 1951 and think it is apt for such a discussion. I've put a couple of my own comments in [ ]: Pg. 150 : “...he cannot help being awed by the tremendous achievements of faith and spontaneity in the early days of the movement [nostalgia for the good old TWI days?] when a mighty instrument of power was conjured out of the void. The memory of it is still extremely vivid. He takes, therefore, great care to preserve in the new institutions an impressive façade of faith, and maintains an incessant flow of fervent propaganda, though he relies mainly on the persuasiveness of force [psychological not physical necessarily]. His orders are worded in pious vocabulary, and the old formulas and slogans are continually on his lips. The symbols of faith are carried high and given reverence [the Bible, the classes, etc.]. The men of words and the fanatics of the early period are canonized. Though the steel fingers of coercion make themselves felt everywhere and great emphasis is placed on mechanical drill [mindless repetition of verses, theological ideas], the pious phrases and fervent propaganda give to coercion a semblance of persuasion, and to habit a semblance of spontaneity.”