Blinded by the Light Blinded by the Light

In this interview with Christiana Herbert, we discuss detoxing from evangelical Christianity and other cults. We also uncover other places in society where cult mentalities exist.
Christiana's website
Justice's website
Podcast website

In this conversation Justice and I explore how we can navigate forgiveness, boundaries, and holding people accountable to foster better relationships.
We also discuss how our childhood experiences and parents (especially our dads) contributed to who we are today.
Justice's writing at Elephant Journal

Justice's website, Bedhead Mystic
Show website: www.blindedpodcast.com

What did growing up in Church Universal and Triumphant look like in the late 70's in Los Angeles (before the church relocated to southwest Montana)?
In this interview, Matt and Andy Lewis, two uncles of the co-host, describe what the church high school experience was like and how it affected their upbringing.
We also explore why they left CUT and what remnants of the church's impression on their young minds still exist today.

In this mini episode we explore several aspects of sex. How do connective or poor sexual relationships affect our lives and our expression of wholeness? How is sex multi-dimensional?
Fundamentalist religion represses sexuality to an unhealthy extent. We look at how breaking free of sexual dogma can release shame surrounding healthy sexuality, and how embracing our full sexual selves can be life changing. 
Good sexual relationships can provide a platform to learn more about needs, express vulnerability, grow deeper with our partners, and access parts of ourselves that are otherwise shamed, subdued, or dormant.

How does “ascension culture” potentially create stumbling blocks for marriage? We explore how one young parent saw multiple divorces while growing up in Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) and how he’s used his experiences to become a better parent and spouse.

In this “mini” episode we discuss how Spiritual Materialism affected the outlook, behavior, and overarching beliefs of CUT church members and our parents. Topics include:
-- Defining Spiritual Materialism
-- How CUT has their own version of the Law of Attraction and why this is problematic
-- Magical thinking and its influence / an infantile view of the world and how things are affecting you
-- How Purism is linked to our topic
-- How only putting out positive intentions and doing rhythmic chanting (decrees) has limited effects
-- How the Hindu caste system is reflected in CUT hierarchy and their modified theology of karma 
-- How decrees (rhythmic chanting) are part of spiritual materialism
-- Hierarchies of graduation
-- How doing getting professional mental health support comes down to the willingness of the individual, and how some people were encouraged to do it
-- How some mental health conditions are viewed as weakness and being caused by invisible evil spirits called “entities”
-- Beliefs about if you are failing it is because you are failing spiritually
--  In the last four minutes we give a summary and recap of what spiritual materialism is and why it’s harmful