Strong City Cult: A Reader's Reaction

In response to my last post about the Strong City Cult (or, as they name themselves, the Lord Our Righteousness Church) and their leader, Michael Travesser, several people told me that watching the Strong City video that I linked to reminded them of our Buddha Field and Angelo. Seiva sent me an email after watching the video that I think expresses it well:

Well. that really creeped me out!!! The Strong City Cult video was disturbing on so many levels. The overall vibe of it was, well, depressing and made me throw up a little in my mouth. I felt dirty all day after watching it- it reminded me of Angelo and some of the members of the BF- not all, but enough of them, myself included in certain aspects. YYYUUUUKKKKKKKKK!!

Not only was so much of it hauntingly familiar-the required zombie behavior to slavishly adore the leader, to the Leader being an eccentric control freak and the only source of affection and love, estranging members from loved ones and friends, reinforcing that self righteous 'holier- than- thou' attitude, isolating the members from society with all its various perspectives (healthy and unhealthy is often a matter of opinion.) that could give a member support to have their own"voice"- it was awful to see others being so grossly manipulated, as I now felt we were by Angelo.

And excuse me- God told him to sleep with his son's wife???? Oh! that sounds just like Angelo - "Having sex with the Master is the highest....." or" Never say no to the Master" Anyone with even the least bit of perception could see the son was torn up about it but could not really see his way clear to deal with it. How many of my brothers were subjected to this gross type of BS and how many sisters (or brothers) had their boyfriends or lovers destroyed or damaged by this- even if it were only one, that would be too many, but as we know now it was way more than that.

It definitely was an encapsulated example of everything exposed and addressed so far by your site.

Of course for the vast majority of us, it is the time for healing and moving on, being thankful for whatever growth occurred inside and setting our focus on rebuilding our lives. Easier for some than others but everyone has been through a huge transition, death if you will, and I send my love and support to each and every one of them. I love and respect most of the people who used to be in the Buddha field and hope everyone is doing well.

I have been surprised that I don't miss Angelo at all- hardly even ever think about him, only when I check in to read this site. But I often am reminded of my hearts' friends and how much I love and miss them.

It is my experience that each life has many incarnations within its span- I have already been through several- this has been the hardest but also the richest in lessons learned.

Moving away from Austin and starting this chapter of my life has been challenging and much more difficult than I expected it would be, but that is OK. I am continually delighted by what the universe presents me with, even the unpleasant difficult situations. Lots of opportunity to see who "I" really am, since no one knows me here to define or limit me. Having no "group mind" to check in with for approval or
even advice leaves much to be explored. It can either feel un-grounding or liberating. I choose liberating. And relying on that still place of inner peace to be my guide rather than someone or something on the outside- it is "good stuff". I can honestly say I choose to accept my time in the Buddha field as part of what makes me who I am now- I would not want to do it again in this life but I don't want to be bitter and distrustful the rest of my life . I am learning to exercise personal boundaries though- very important!!

It will be interesting to see what happens with other ex-members and what they end up doing with their next chapter.

I know that reminders like this can be disturbing, but I also know that once you're ready for that bucket of cold water to get thrown in your face, it can be very liberating to be reminded of what you have walked away from. Especially in something like this where you can take a look at our group, by looking at "yourself" in a different setting.

As an aside: Am I the only one that sees "LOR Church" and reads it as Lord of the Rings church?

View all posts mentioning Strong City.