Zen Li's
How to know if you're in a cult
You may be in a cult right now

One Cult to Rule Them All
Your cult will tell you that it is the only real cult, that all other cults are anti-cult and must be converted to your cult.

The CEO

Your cult will claim to worship a Company Creator (cc), but they will tell you instead to worship the board, the Creator's Executive Officer (CEO), because it says so in the cult User Manual.
There may be other characters involved that you need to worship, anyone you're sympathetic to, like the CEO's mother. Just not The Creator directly, he's in a meeting. The Creator will get the message via regulated trickle-up channels, don't worry.

Your cult will demand that you accept the cult CEO as your boss. He's not around anymore, having been promoted, but he created everything and knows if you've been good or bad, just like Santa Claus. His eyes are everywhere. You are his eyes and ears, unless you are blind or deaf. You will never see him, he's very mysterious and magical. But you know he's there. Look behind you.

Earthly Things - Up the Assets
Your cult will worship earthly things.
Your cult likes profits.
They will elect one human as being the guy (always a guy) who, with his magical mind powers, Created the Universe. Worship him! He's Jolly Good! In just 7 days he can make you, man!

Your cult will have a symbol that you worship. Usually in the form of a historical weapon, like a short-sword. It is Magical. Wear one.

Your cult will have a book that you worship and see as Holy and Magically Powerful.
In this earthly manual that you worship, it tells you that to worship anything earthly is Bad, confusing you, making you vulnerable to coercion.

Your cult will control money. The more you give them the happier they are with you. If they are happy enough you will get promoted by the CEO when you stop working.
Don't work and you will get Fired.
But you should not have your own money. Money is for cult board members and management only. Give your earthly things to the cult. And work hard at your job so that you can give more to the cult. Workworkwork, generate cash, that's what you were made to do. You are a money-making machine. A cult dairy-cow. Moo!

Follow the money trail of your cult. Where does the money go?

You Owe Us Everything - Deep in Debt
Your cult will tell you that everything you are is because of them.
You are required to pay your cult money.
Sometimes money is asked for, sometimes a little container is passed around by beady eyed women who frown if you don't put something in.
Sometimes there's a number you can call, have your credit card handy.

But Wait, There's More.

The more money you give, the better person you are, the more your cult will respect you.

Unnatural Control

Your cult will control your desires: Food, Sex, Companionship, Entertainment.
Having sex with a non-cult person is a no-no.
Only people from your cult should be privy to your squishy bits, preferably those people who are in charge of the cult.

Any baby that has not been 'cleaned' by a certified cult member is a bad baby. Remember to pay your cult baby cleaner in cash.

When you reach your reproductive stage your cult will certify you.
It is important to keep your mind off reproduction during your reproductive stage, as reproduction, unless certified by the cult, could cause you to spend what little cash you have on things uncult.

Any entertainment outside the cult building is frowned on. Any enjoyment that is not cult-originated is not completely good, and the cult can not benefit from it financially.

Music that you like outside the cult is anti-cult. It is not cult-like to listen to any idea that is not about the cult or the CEO.

Your cult is a closed loop. To doubt your cult is anti-cult. To question your cult it anti-cult, and will result in your family getting punished by the CEO.


Love them, hate their cult.
It is your duty to report anything that is anti-cult to the cult building administration department.
Such as: people who think nature is beautiful, or that things change over time.
Or things like mental telepathy and playing with numbers, which are very anti-cult.
If these things are found then your cult says you should communicate to the CEO with mental telepathy, preferably on a fortuitous day marked as number 7, asking him to convert the offensive individual to your cult, so that you can diffuse his anti-competitive nature.


Maybe the cult will send out a few nice sales representatives to talk at the individual.

A Time to Market
Historically your cult will have sent out sales reps to unwilling buyers. Usually with big weapons strapped to their thighs. Nowadays cult-leaders use even bigger weapons strapped to rockets.
This is called loss-lead marketing.

Fear Factor - Hostile Takeover
Woe betide any living organism that is not part of your cult!
There are creatures from other cults who want to talk to you. Tell you things about 'Science' and 'History'.
Destroy them all, your cult will tell you. Burn them. Burn their books. Books are anti-cult promotional items. The only thing that is important is you and your cult, the Universe belongs to you. It revolves around you, your CEO made it for you - hate and destroy everyone who says differently.

Your cult will have a violent history. This puts fear into you. You don't want to end up like those others who didn't believe enough in your cult, do you?
Your cult top-leaders have big, big scary bombs and guns. Don't fuck with them.

Cult members are very afraid of people that don't look and act like them. Any race that does not support your cult is a bad one.
The colour of your CEO's skin will change, depending on the country he is worshipped from.
Your cult does not like people that think too much or are too well educated.

Your cult's prior members travelled the world converting everyone to your cult, killing those that refused.
This is called a Hostile Takeover.

Retirement benefits - The Afterlife
Your cult will claim to control the afterlife. Only if you attend regular meetings will you get promoted. If you don't attend you will be sent to the basement when you stop working, where there is no aircon.
If you don't work you will get Fired.
Your cult knows everything about the afterlife, they have physical evidence to prove that it exists - like drawings and books, written by people from the cult.
Your cult's afterlife is a magical place, just like earth, except people dress in skimpy outfits, like oversized swimsuits.
You will only get there if you pay the cult your subscription. It is important to devote your entire life to promoting your cult, so that when you are promoted you will get a nice office.
This makes the cult grow, just like pyramid-scheme marketing.

Subtly Away from a Creator
Your cult will steer you away from a Creator without you realising it. You will worship earthly people, buildings, things, ideas, thinking that they are a Creator. Your cult will get you to call the Creator by other names, or by any name.
Your cult will elect a human being as a Creator, a real human who had a sad story, because humans are sometimes sad creatures and are most coercible when they are sad and hear sad stories.
Before you know it you will be worshipping this poor guy as if he was the Creator of Everything, giving your money to your cult leaders to help them be happy - buy better cars, houses, holidays, weapons, etc.
You want this poor sad guy to be happy.

The User Manual
Every cult has a manual on how to be a good cultist. You must own a manual (manual sales are absolutely not for profit, bulk discounts available) to fully understand the amazing benefits you will get.

Your cult will tell you that your manual is the exact transcript of the Company Creator, in proper Latin English, that it is perfect and true in every way.

Your manual contains many amazing facts, all 100% absolutely true, proven and certified by leading doctors (of Philosophy) in the field of occultism.
Your book will tell you about the true origins of your existence, how you owe everything to the cult, that the only thing worth knowing is what's in the manual; everything else is from other cults who want to destroy your cult and thus you.
Your cult manual will be full of : sex, violence, murder, rape, revenge... just to keep you interested and to make the manual look big and important. In the print and marketing arena this is called 'bulking'.

The names of people in the cult manual may change to suit the target market. You wouldn't want them to sound foreign, would you? Foreigners are unknown!

You will be told that only certain parts of the manual must be taken seriously, some parts are just for entertainment. Which part must be taken seriously is up to the cult authorities, or those with loud voices at cult meetings and seminars.
Same parts of the new edition of the manual may have been left out because your cult decided they weren't quite what a Creator really meant, surely.

Your cult will prove their divine and magical leadership by saying "It says so in this manual, look, in the back, after the bit in the middle with the glue, in the different language."

Your manual will change over time, reflecting changes in society. With every new edition the characters in the manual will become more holy and more powerful, even if their origins were quite humble. Your manual will be edited by your cult-leaders, to improve the understanding by you, the target market, and to align it with consumer expectations as they become common evidence, like the world no longer being flat.

Your cult will have loads of supporting documentation written by cult leaders and followers, proving that the facts in the manual are correct, because it says so in the manual. ( Most supporting cult documentation references your cult manual at least once every sentence. No other proof is necessary or available. )

Magical Miracles
Your cult will be full of magic / miracles. There are wondrous benefits from belonging to your cult, like curing strange mental diseases! And getting magical rain after a drought! ... or magical drought after rain!
Limb regrowth is not possible - it is not your elected Creator's duty to grow limbs or change the world immediately. Anything that can be proved or seen cannot be healed or changed with magic or miracles, because that is beyond the scope of your manual.

Although, if something turns out good it must have been done by the hand of your CEO. Anything bad must have been by other influences from other cults.

But, your cult will tell you, if you Truly Believe™ it may be possible to have visible results in just a few days. But(again) only a few people are good enough to receive a special bonus from the cult's CEO. Like Jenny from Milwaukee who lost 12kg in 3 weeks because she went to the the cult building and used her mental telepathy powers to communcate with the CEO, asking him to magically vanish her weight.
It worked! Although Jenny regained her weight, but only because other cults were using their powers to bring her down.
The medical records are not available as they were stolen by anti-cult members.

It is not possible for your CEO to cure the world's ails because the other cults are trying to destroy the world.
Your cult CEO will not fix anything because that is not his job. He could if he wanted to, he's so big and strong he can do anything, but he doesn't want to right now.

Good, Bad and Ugly
Your cult will tell you that everything good is because of them, that everything bad is because of other cults, you are not clever enough to judge the difference unless they tell you.

Your cult controls what is good or bad. This is so profound it must be repeated. Your cult controls what is good or bad.

In fact, anything anti-cult is very, very, bad. Those that try to live good lives outside cult methods are actually very bad people, cleverly disguised. You can't see they're bad, but the CEO knows, and tells the cult offices regularly, in clear and obvious ways.
Some people in your cult may hear voices of the CEO or his board members. Some may hear voices that tell them to pick up a weapon and create holes in someone.

Some pictures, like those with a snake or a dragon in, are horribly anti-cult. Dragons may be mentioned in the old cult manual, but your revised version may mention a 'Cow' instead, to make it less ugly and therefore more good.
Ugly things are bad, pretty things are good.
Fat, ugly women are bad, especially if they pick herbs and make their own ointments. Pretty girls who do what they're told are very good to the cult. They are welcome to dine with cult leaders at any time. Or have pyjama parties in the cult buildings under close cult supervision.

Murder, Rape, Torture are okay but only if performed by your cult's board members and their deployed staff in Times of War. There are books and documents written by the cult that say it's okay, and the manual says it has been done before, so rest assured, your cult is good and peaceful, except in Times of War and Alert or financial crisis.
You should not tell anyone about these things, because to say your cult does bad things is very anti-cult and may get you Fired.

Dabbling in Science and Fiction
Your cult says that those who dabble in things like science and history are very anti-cult. That history is fiction made by people who don't work for the CEO. These 'scientific' discoveries are anti-competitive, because they prevent people from believing cult facts, which are more in line with cult marketing strategies. Your cult believes that reality is what they tell you. All cult facts can be proved through cult-debate and by referencing the cult manual. Evidence is anti-cult.

If you find old bones under a very old piece of solid rock then it was either put there to confuse you ( perhaps by anti-cult people with huge amounts of earth-moving equipment and magical rock cement), or the bones are just very big doggies or a fishies.
It was probably left over from some incident explained in the cult manual. Things like 'Carbon Dating' and 'Cesium' and 'Potassium-Argon measurements' are all confusing hocus pocus jiggery, do not bother with finding out how they work, or how anything works, because you might get corrupted by anti-cults.

Your cult will tell you that your cult CEO made the world. It only took him a day to make you, and he made Everything for you and the cult. Exactly as it was today is how he made it, nothing has changed. Change is anti-cult. Change means things just happen uncontrollably. Anything the cult does not control is bad, very very bad.

So
Now you can decide if you're in a cult. If you're a devout member of a cult and think that I am very anti-cult and this article is very Bad, please don't drop bombs on me or have me hanged in public or have your manual read to me through my security gate.


~Zen