Prominent people in Mahikari
Mahikari is not alone in tending to refer to prominent people amongst its members in order to make the group appear more acceptable to the general public. Apparently, this practise is effective, too. Just the other day, I read about a girl who was determined to join Scientology, despite her family warning her against it, because her movie star idol is a prominent member.
I sometimes wondered if Mahikari makes special efforts to recruit prominent people, or treats them differently once they become members. I didn't actually meet any kumite who were particulalrly "prominent" when I was a member, so I did not have a chance to draw any conclusions on this matter.
Yesterday, I just happened to be looking at the website of Mahikari Hawaii, and came across their listing of leaders and team members for various dojo tasks. There, amongst all the more expected tasks, such as Ceremonies, Expansion, and the Yoko farm, was an entry showing the person in charge of "Guiding Prominent People"!
There is nothing there to indicate whether this task focuses on recruiting such people, or on taking extra special care of them once they join, or both. However, I assume this is regarded as a rather important task, since the person listed for "Project Coordintation" takes care of the "prominent people" personally...or so it would seem, since no team members are shown.
If you want to take a look for yourself, the listing is at this site. If you want to see it, do look soon, because I imagine this listing will be removed or made private as soon as someone realizes what a faux pas they have made in making it public!
Of course, having a private or secret policy of special treatment for prominent people would be no better, but it'd be nice if someone at the Hawaii dojo had enough sensitivity to realize that different treatment for prominent people must be highly offensive to both the prominent and the less-than-prominent kamikumite.
I sometimes wondered if Mahikari makes special efforts to recruit prominent people, or treats them differently once they become members. I didn't actually meet any kumite who were particulalrly "prominent" when I was a member, so I did not have a chance to draw any conclusions on this matter.
Yesterday, I just happened to be looking at the website of Mahikari Hawaii, and came across their listing of leaders and team members for various dojo tasks. There, amongst all the more expected tasks, such as Ceremonies, Expansion, and the Yoko farm, was an entry showing the person in charge of "Guiding Prominent People"!
There is nothing there to indicate whether this task focuses on recruiting such people, or on taking extra special care of them once they join, or both. However, I assume this is regarded as a rather important task, since the person listed for "Project Coordintation" takes care of the "prominent people" personally...or so it would seem, since no team members are shown.
If you want to take a look for yourself, the listing is at this site. If you want to see it, do look soon, because I imagine this listing will be removed or made private as soon as someone realizes what a faux pas they have made in making it public!
Of course, having a private or secret policy of special treatment for prominent people would be no better, but it'd be nice if someone at the Hawaii dojo had enough sensitivity to realize that different treatment for prominent people must be highly offensive to both the prominent and the less-than-prominent kamikumite.
posted by Anne at 7:29 PM
7 Comments:
Olá! Sou um ex-membro (ex-kumitê)que esteve na Mahikeri por mais de dez anos. Caso alguém precise de ajuda ou informações, por favor, escreva.
Ass.: BR1
Sounds like a definite possibility. I don't know about where everyone else lives, but I know that the dojo here is losing members. They are struggling to rent the tiny space they have. It's about the size of a small boutique like you see at the mall. They have had to move three times so far because the bills are too high. Recruting prominent or famous people would be an excellent way to bring members in. The naive people will follow their idols anyhwere. It's smart but sneaky and shady.
I remember it being discussed at our dojo how it was important to get 'prominent people' - academics, politicians, business leaders etc - who 'supported Mahikari'.
They didn't have to join (lucky them!) - having the public support of people like this was a way of gaining credibility for the organisation. I'm sure this was the main reason they were pushing for this 'expansion' of sorts.
Did anyone checked recently to see if the team list for Mahikari Hawaii is still open to the public?
I hadn't looked for a month or two, but I just did, and got a "page not found" message. One now needs to register as a user in order to access the site.
can u translate comments from annonymous?
annonymous 2
Okay. Here is the translation of the anonymous comment above:
"I am a former Mahikari member who spent more than 10 years in that
sect. If
someone needs help, please, write your message."
If anyone prefers to write a comment in Spanish or Portuguese, BR1 (who signed in as anonymous above) can reply in those languages.
Alternatively, if anyone wants to write an email to BR1 in those languages, they can email me, and I will forward it to BR1.
Hi Anne,
The team list for Mahikari Hawaii cannot be accessed.
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