You are in a cult. So am I. So are they. So is each of the ~7.5 billion people on this planet.
In fact, we’re all members of several cults. We join them because they feel right. Their rules align with what we believe or want to believe. Or because we’ve been persuaded that this is where the smart people are.
The problem is not whether we’re in a cult or even which cult. The problem, like most problems of community, is self-awareness and empathy.
It’s a question of whether we — the people inside this cult and the people inside the other cult — can foster the empathy required to open the gate on the fence.
A good start is the knowledge that all cults, even the ones divinely inspired, are a creation of humans.
We can take another step by recognizing the labels we use — for them and us. These labels reinforce and buttress the fences around us. They make us feel better about ourselves. Like somehow we are right, and they are wrong.
But when we recognize that their cult, like our cult, was created by smart people just like us, with families, needs, desires, curiosities, challenges, joys, and miseries, we can see that the labels have no meaning. Even the label “cult.”
Once we stop yelling over the fence, “You’re in a cult!” we can start to foster unity. Unity doesn’t require that we all believe the same thing, but it does require empathy.
