To Mahikari former members: Survey please!
Anecdotal evidence suggests that there might be a causal connection between receiving okiyome (light) less often than usual, and leaving Mahikari. I have nowhere near enough data to draw any conclusions at this stage, so I would like to ask for your help in collecting as much data as possible.
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
6. Any other comments? [optional]
Please answer the above questions about yourself and also, if you happen to know this information about other friends and family or are able to ask them these same questions, please include separate sets of answers for them as well. I will need quite a large sample of data to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Please take the time to answer. I don't need names, and use of the comment function below will guarantee your anonymity. Or, if you prefer, you can use the email address under my profile (top right of page) to email me directly. Either way, please give yourself a nickname so that I can record the data properly (if there are 10 different "anonymous" responses, for example, I'll not know if some were accidental duplications from the same person).
Hopefully I will receive enough responses to this survey to be able to see whether or not there is a connection between not receiving okiyome and deciding to leave Mahikari. However, if there is a connection, the data will still be open to interpretation.
I remember kanbu often stressed that it was important to receive okiyome regularly to avoid being disturbed away from Mahikari. Perhaps they had observed a connection over time, and interpreted this in the light of their beliefs.
My interpretation would be rather different. If there is a connection, my hypothesis would be that something about the process of receiving okiyome strengthens the mind control effect of Mahikari. Mind control experts say that anything that alters our mental state and produces a light trance (such as meditating, concentrating on a fixed point, chanting, etc.) makes it easier for our minds to be controlled. My subjective impression is that kneeling with eyes closed and concentrating on an imaginery stream of energy entering ones forehead for ten minutes is sufficient to induce such a state. I don't think this state is produced by okiyome (if there is such a thing) itself...even if the person supposedly giving okiyome were to get up without our knowledge and go for a coffee, then come back 10 minutes later and say "oshizumari", I expect the effect would be the same.
The results of the above survey obviously will not say how the data should be interpreted. Still, first steps first. The first thing is to collect enough data to establish whether or not there is a connection between receiving okiyome less often and deciding to leave Mahikari.
Thank you, in anticipation, for your help!
PS:[Nov. 3] Some of the initial responses to this survey (thank you very much to those people!) have indicated whether they read material critical of Mahikari before or after they left Mahikari. It hadn't occurred to me to include that in the survey, but that would be very interesting to know, too.
Could you please use 6. (optional comments) to say whether you read critical information before or after you left?
Also, since the survey results look like they might provide quite useful information if enough people respond, could you please urge any of your friends who are former members to answer this survey? Perhaps they don't usually read this blog, but they might be willing to participate in a survey. Thanks!
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
6. Any other comments? [optional]
Please answer the above questions about yourself and also, if you happen to know this information about other friends and family or are able to ask them these same questions, please include separate sets of answers for them as well. I will need quite a large sample of data to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Please take the time to answer. I don't need names, and use of the comment function below will guarantee your anonymity. Or, if you prefer, you can use the email address under my profile (top right of page) to email me directly. Either way, please give yourself a nickname so that I can record the data properly (if there are 10 different "anonymous" responses, for example, I'll not know if some were accidental duplications from the same person).
Hopefully I will receive enough responses to this survey to be able to see whether or not there is a connection between not receiving okiyome and deciding to leave Mahikari. However, if there is a connection, the data will still be open to interpretation.
I remember kanbu often stressed that it was important to receive okiyome regularly to avoid being disturbed away from Mahikari. Perhaps they had observed a connection over time, and interpreted this in the light of their beliefs.
My interpretation would be rather different. If there is a connection, my hypothesis would be that something about the process of receiving okiyome strengthens the mind control effect of Mahikari. Mind control experts say that anything that alters our mental state and produces a light trance (such as meditating, concentrating on a fixed point, chanting, etc.) makes it easier for our minds to be controlled. My subjective impression is that kneeling with eyes closed and concentrating on an imaginery stream of energy entering ones forehead for ten minutes is sufficient to induce such a state. I don't think this state is produced by okiyome (if there is such a thing) itself...even if the person supposedly giving okiyome were to get up without our knowledge and go for a coffee, then come back 10 minutes later and say "oshizumari", I expect the effect would be the same.
The results of the above survey obviously will not say how the data should be interpreted. Still, first steps first. The first thing is to collect enough data to establish whether or not there is a connection between receiving okiyome less often and deciding to leave Mahikari.
Thank you, in anticipation, for your help!
PS:[Nov. 3] Some of the initial responses to this survey (thank you very much to those people!) have indicated whether they read material critical of Mahikari before or after they left Mahikari. It hadn't occurred to me to include that in the survey, but that would be very interesting to know, too.
Could you please use 6. (optional comments) to say whether you read critical information before or after you left?
Also, since the survey results look like they might provide quite useful information if enough people respond, could you please urge any of your friends who are former members to answer this survey? Perhaps they don't usually read this blog, but they might be willing to participate in a survey. Thanks!
posted by Anne at 4:10 PM
12 Comments:
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
-Yes.
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
-Approximately 1 month
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
-No.
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
-Yes, I ceased receiving okiyome because I was in the process of contemplating my departure from the organization.
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
-No
6. Any other comments? [optional]
-I attended dojo every day with my mother until the day I read the information regarding the organization on the internet. After that I stopped going to dojo all together.
Survey results extracted from Email 1:
1. Yes
2. Approx. 1 year
3. Yes - less time due to changed family circumstances
4. No
5. Not stated
6. At urging of a friend, read the information on the Internet, and immediately left Mahikari
1. Yes
2. Approximately 4 months
3. Yes, I began to have issues with Kanbu when I asked questions about the history of Sukyo Mahikari. They avoided my questions and told me I was spiritually disturbed for asking them in the first place.
4. Yes, and because Kanbu was constantly saying I was spiritually disturbed because I was seeking the truth.
5. No, I offered at home to my husband.
6. I heard rumors around the dojo about Johrei or SKK. I did some brief research on the internet and out of concern and confusion went to Kanbu for help. I asked them questions that clearly made them feel uncomfortable and they told me that I obviosuly had an attaching spirit and I needed to receive more light. I decided that if they wouldn't answer me I would seek answers elsewhere and thus I stopped attending and poured all my energy into reading everything I could find about SKK, SM, and Mahikari.
1. Yes.
2. 4 weeks
3. Didn't feel like receiving or giving light.
4. I was going less and less to Dojo but had not made any plans to leave SM.
5. Yes.
6. It was my intuitive feeling in the end that allowed me to see the truth. SM uses God as their cop out when they want to justify why things arent "permitted".
5.
1. Yes
2. 2 weeks
3. No. I just felt uncomfortable in the dojo.
4. No. I never discussed with kanbu my plans to leave. I just had this strong urge to get out before SM suffocated me with its air of stagnation.
5. Yes
6. It was only after leaving SM that I discovered all the lies about this organisation. I read Gary Greenwoods book and all the blogs and anti-SM material. It's a real relief to be free of all the rules, regulations and rituals of SM.
1. Yes
2. About 2 months
3. Yes - lack of time
4. No. I was still heavily involved.
5. No
6. I did not read any of the online SM information till long after I left SM.
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
- Less often than usual.
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
- Approximately 12 months or more.
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
- I travelled a lot with my job, so did not engage in the okiyome ritual regularly. I found trying to constantly cater for the pendant while on the move become quite bothersome.
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
- Probably, being away from the center, saw how bizarre SM was in the wider world and how insular and odd the SM belief structure really is.
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
- I stopped doing the okiyome ritual, it felt unnatural anyway. It was time to move on.
6. Any other comments? [optional]
- I waited until my partner was ready to leave SM before formally making the break. Also, I became weary of trying to rationalise the weird take on history and the origin of everything according to the group. I actually started to read the SM material and was surprised to learn that it was so full of really bizarre stuff.... I really didn't pay much attention to it while a member.
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
- Yes, moved and left light giving husband.
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
- About 3 months.
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
- Exchanging Light everyday with husband was our habit and it became something other than what it was supposed to be... sort of a tool of fear... if we didn't do it... our lives would fall apart or something.
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
- I just wanted to not be so engrossed and see what happened if I balanced out my life more and stopped being such an addict and freak about it all.
6. Any other comments? [optional]
- I am finding that I am not monitering my behavior constantly which is a huge relief. Anger is actually a beneficial emotion at times... but sometimes I do feel sad when I realize I have lost a whole bunch of friends... I just left not too long ago. It is hard to go through this process.
Hi Anonymous,
Your are right. The leaving process IS hard. Especially at first. Do you have any former members around you who you can talk to? That does help. Feel free to email me, if you want.
Anne
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
Yes
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
Approx. couple of months
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
No practical reason – just didn’t want to
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
Probably so
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
Definitely – didn’t give or receive
6. Any other comments? [optional]
The last time I went to monthly ceremony I didn’t give or receive light and, unusual for me, just decided that I wanted out of there and went home. I did read Gary Greenwood's All the Emperors Men before my decision to leave SM.
1.Yes
2.A few months
3.Yes. I no longer believed in the fear inspired rhetoric about being the only "righteous path" to the creator, and if I left my whole world would mysteriously implode or I would be struck down by a bolt of lightning driven karma.What a load of B.S. (incidentally the same fear techniques are used by all religions and mind control organisations, that there is safety within their strict parameters but not outside of them)
4. Yes i just no longer wanted anything to do with them.
5. Definitely! I abandoned the practice altogether.
6. I gave back the gold coated plastic pendant that is supposedly more valuable than our own lives (what a joke); to signal I no longer wanted any involvement. How do I know the 1st one is plastic a friend of mine opened their's before destroying it. Incidentally the primary one (which is all I had) has a piece of paper inside it with the "okada" name in japanese on it. Yep that's right not the name of god but okada's name.
For those of us who got out I wonder do you feel "lighter",(no pun intended-well maybe) now that the burden of man made crap is no longer foisted upon your shoulders?
Also what fuelled my own desire to leave their control was my own experience of discovering "god is within" and not the property of any organisation to sell for their own convenience and massive profit.
Really, for those of you who are parents do you wish nothing but disaster and suffering for your children if they exercise their own unrestrained freedom of will? Of course not! Surprise, Surprise neither does the creator.
1. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you (for whatever reason) receive okiyome less often than usual?
=I realised that the more I receive okiyome or listen to their false teachings the more disempowered I become so I decided not to receive okiyome at all.
2. If "yes", roughly how many weeks passed between starting to receive okiyome less often, and leaving Mahikari?
=approx. 2 years
3. If "yes", was there a practical reason for receiving okiyome less (eg. a change in circumstances which meant you had less time, lived further away from dojo, etc.)?
=living almost next door to a dojo it was taken for granted for me to be there whenever anything needed doing and help out and being of service (a slave) to them.
4. If "yes", did you receive okiyome less often because you were already thinking of leaving Mahikari?
=Yes I did not want to be investigated and downloaded with unwanted spiritual entities that had nothing to do with me.
5. Over the weeks immediately preceding your decision to leave Mahikari, did you give okiyome less often than usual?
=Yes, not at all.
Why doesnt this Mahikari light heal? What kind of Light is "mahikari light"????? The TRUE LIGHT of the ALL IS ONE always heals in all aspects of life.
6. Any other comments? [optional]
= I am a Intuitive Healer and like to share with you the following :
Aprox. three Years ago at a time when I used to go to the centre and monthly ceremonies on a regular basis and I quite enjoyed observing everyone's auric field and watch with great joy a bright blazing Divine Light flowing freely and very brightly from most peoples hands.
I could see the Light flowing into the top of the head, filling there hearts with love and then flow from the hand in a blazing stream of golden Light. I just recently had the opportunity to observe a group of mahikari members purifying an area and was absolutely horrified to see that NOT A SINGLE SPARK OF LIGHT came from any of the peoples hands. What was so scary about it was that I could see on each of them a dull physical auric field and none of them had (not even a hint of) a Spiritual or Divine Aura.
The Divine Light shines in and out of all of us who follow and believe in the Divine Truth!
With Love and Light
snoopy
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