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Welcome cult-curious, this was a great read! The book I speak of is Not Without My Sisters, a memoir of being born into The Family, a pseudo-religious cult, with a sexually perverted, self-proclaimed old man as king. The book is written from the perspectives of three sisters of two different mothers, whose father wrote, narrated, and produced numerous radio programs, videos, and other propaganda. He was something of a cult celebrity (if you will) who fathered numerous children by several women, and remains a dedicated and devout member of the group. The young women all eventually broke away from The Family, at different times and ages, and for different reasons, They write candidly about their feelings as followers and later as doubters. Perhaps because their father is a writer, and they all, at one time or another seemed to write and perform as well, they recall and articulate their past experiences well. As with the other book I read on The Family–see the previous tardily-published post–there is not a lot of sensational, gratuitous writing about sex, though sexual abuse of children remains one of the most heinous doctrines encouraged by the early organization. Instead, the focus is on the difficult navigation of daily life in a world where children were moved from country to country, household to household, and frequently and routinely assigned  new “parents” without any warning or consultation. That is not to say that there was no disclosure or discussion of the various forms of abuse and “retraining” that went on in the highly dysfunctional compounds around the world. Here is an excerpt that illustrates the mode of physical and psychological torment:”As we were everybody and nobody’s kids, according to the Mo letter ‘One Wife [the “prophet” David Berg was also referred to as “Mo” and sent out letters of rules, instructions, and so-called prophesies to the international community], any adult could correct you for any offence they thought you had committed. This often became confusing, as one adult could tell you to do something, and another would catch you doing it and become angry because they saw something wrong with it and punished you. If you tried to explain yourself, you would get in trouble for talking back, but if you did not obey what the first adult told you to do, you would be punished for disobedience. For the worst sins committed in front of the class, you would receive a public beating which was meant to hurt your pride as much as it hurt your rear-end. This was derived from the verse, ‘They who sin before all shall be rebuked before all.’ I received a public spanking for such offences as murmuring, arguing, talking without permission, or lying.”   The triple perspective makes the book feel very fair, and the stories are not difficult to follow, though god knows how those poor little girls (at the time) knew if they were coming or going or who their parents were supposed to be on any given day! Fortunately, these three stories had an ultimately happy ending; many of their friends were not so lucky.Next, I attempt to learn a new way to ease, eliminate, or at least channel my depression, with help from Eric Maisel’s The Van Gogh Blues-The Creative Person’s Path through Depression. Stay tuned.  

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