Hi Nya, Joe, everyone...regarding how it's been to exit this cult for me, yes, that "devotional component" as I call it has been the difficult part.  What to do with it!!??  I don't trust anything much as to religious or spiritual systems any more--anything that actually has a name or a label anyway, and certainly not anything that purports to have a leader, master, "enlightened one" or whatever.  This is probably a Good Thing-- my new-found scepticism--but it has also been very disorienting at times.  I think it has something to do with having been brought up Christian (which is an excellent foundation for later involvement in a cult like ours!), but I also have something of the writer's or poet's love of life, nature, "beauty" (however you might define that), music, something at a deeper level that one could call soul, I suppose, although that language approaches dangerous ground. I'm sure this is just part of being human, really--but some people have compromised themselves so much for material gain that they may not actually FEEL this part of themselves anymore.  And some people (me being one of them) are or were so insecure about their self-worth, they needed someone to tell them what to think, do, be, and donate!    This can all change, mercifully.  As long as I'm willing to walk across the abyss and not look down, I'm doing OK.

Just one ex-p's experience anyway...

cheers,

Shelagh