Word: sawyerism
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That's the way many runners describe the Boston Marathon, according to Christine L. Sheppard-Sawyer...
This control proved tenacious, even in the face of ideological stagnation and disappointment. "Do and Ti had repeated things for so long," says Sawyer (he refuses to give his real name), later a high-ranking member of the organization. "There was frustration. We had even waited for a craft to pick us up on several dates, and it didn't happen. Ti and Do both had a lot of depression over that." Then in 1985 came a reformulation of tenets. "In the early days," says Theo Althuiszes, who joined and left the cult twice, "Ti had the real control...
Castration was first discussed in 1987 merely as "think-tank material," a next step that Do did not plan to impose on all male members. He was fearful, says Sawyer, that "someone would leave and tell people and he'd be blamed." Eventually, Sawyer and another cultist, Steven McCarter, who died in Rancho Santa Fe, pressed Do to begin the castrations. Says Sawyer: "I wanted to do it. I was very much in favor of it. It was me and Steve. We flipped a coin to decide who would go first. He won the toss." The surgery took place...
...August the number of believers had doubled, to about 50--and suicide had arisen as an option. At a hotel meeting room near Worcester, Massachusetts, Do met with his disciples to reflect on the matter. Says Sawyer: "It was mentioned that we should not discount the possibility that the Next Level is not going to pick us up and we'll have to be the ones to leave our vehicles behind." He adds, "I felt a sense of life preservation. I felt like I wanted to live." The separation was swift, as it had always been when a disciple chose...
...aftermath, a sense of devotion is evident even among disciples who have fallen from the faith. Says Althuiszes: "Ti and Do were not some kooky New Agers. They heard voices. They were controlled." As for Sawyer, he still believes Do and Ti's religion "makes the most sense of anything else I've heard." Of his dead compatriots, he says, "I think they're outside their bodies. I believe that 100%. I suspect they might be on a spacecraft somewhere...