Combating Mind: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan

Combating Cult Mind Control: The Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan is an interesting and somewhat disturbing book. I rarely listen to audiobooks and even more rarely review books I listen to as audiobooks because I often don't feel like I can do an audiobook justice. However, Combating Cult Mind Control stuck with me. Hassan's story of becoming indoctrinated into a cult, the Moonies, his experience in the cult, and his eventual deprogramming is fascinating. Combating Cult Mind Control offers insight into the methods cults use while seeming to miss similarities to some groups not considered cults. Hassan tells his story and the story of helping others with a level of compassion and insight that reminded me of the fear of cults and the lack of compassion for the indoctrinated during my teenage years. I had never questioned where those fears or the lack of compassion came from, but Combating Cult Mind Control pushed me to revisit those attitudes and their origins with a better understanding but also with a more skeptical lens than I had at the time. Hassan's openness about his experience reminded me to dip into my compassion when confronting people who are manipulated by the techniques used by groups and even marketing techniques while embracing my critical thinking skills and skepticism. Combating Cult Mind Control reminded me to be careful of undue influence and people who want to influence my thoughts and emotions while still remembering that people who have been indoctrinated can be deprogrammed.


Currently Reading:


A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 

How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens

We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word by Franny Choi, Bao Phi, No'u Revilla, and Terisa Siagaonu (editors)

Pretty Is As Pretty Does by Alison Clement

If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer


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