In this episode, Cortney describes an intact family living in a religious Midwestern town, torn apart due (in part) to an intoxicating and influential New Age cult. Her mother, a restless seeker, started exploring the self-help world. She eventually left Cortney’s father, and his extended family. She moved with Cortney and her two younger siblings to a tiny Pacific Northwestern town divided into two camps: locals and cult devotees. Cortney found herself living with another seeking single mother and her children, marinating in the doctrine that our thoughts manifest all life events—control your thoughts and create your best life. Accidents, illnesses, and misfortune are due to “negative thinking.” Of course, the cult peddled all the tools and tricks for best-life thought-manifestation, and the convenient narrative that when those tools fail, it’s “…because we weren't trying hard enough." What could go wrong? Cortney describes the debilitating obsessions consuming her mind and, because the cult rejected science, reports extensive medical neglect. Learn how she finds her way out of the group and into a healthy loving marriage, a career and an important perspective: we can’t control everything, bad things happen because life happens. She emphasizes the importance of helping others understand when "... maybe they're looking in the wrong places" for guidance.
If you are interested in connecting with Cortney, please write to hello@livingcultfree.com and we will connect you.
Trigger Warning: Due to these episodes containing stories that involve cults and other types of coercive control that may be disturbing to some, listener discretion is advised.
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Intro & outro by Jon Snow; Original Music by Esther Friedman
Editing and production by Vanessa Hennessey
Huge thanks to Living Cult Free’s intern, Nikki Kattamuri, and the Living Cult Free Board of Directors.
Music and sound by Isaac Haines; and found on Pixabay by: Dmitrii Kolesnikov, Dream-Protocol, drmseq, Geoffrey Burch, Nikita Kondrashev, Ønetent, Rahul Vaghela.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Living Cult Free. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The Living Cult Free name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.
