deconstructing Oomyungdoecult.com part 3
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OneMindOneSpirit
Aug 8, 2012, 1:20:59 PM8/8/12
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Cult Practice: Mind-altering practices
(such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions,
and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress
doubts about the group and its leader(s).
OYD answer: Oom Yung Doe offers meditation techniques as part of martial arts training. People familiar with the martial arts and sports in general understand the concept of “visualization”. Scientific studies have proven that athletes who visualize going through the motions of their sport actually perform better than if they had not done so. Meditation is taught as a method to settle the mind and provide metal clarity, just as they are in Yoga classes. Students practice meditation on their own, not in groups; many do not meditate at all. There is no religious association, and students should never be pressured to meditate.
Truth: The meditative aspects of OYD increased in importance to this school as the years went by. Towards the end of my time, it was the focus of many of the special lessons and courses. Claims of being able to "purify" yourself were commonplace...which may be fine for the student if that is what they want, the student would have to simply ask themselves if their material was worth the continued cost to pay and learn. While it is true that there were no pressures to meditate, what is most striking is that OYD has yet again sought to answer claims about their organization by zeroing in and focusing on only one thing brought up, thus framing the question. What I mean is this--while a student was not pressured to meditate, there was an constant and ever present demand that the student simply accept any and all claims that OYD's founder and instructors would make. One did not need to do any meditation at all--this demand of TOTAL acceptance was already built into the system. Don't believe that kim could jump off a multistory building and float down unharmed? Don't believe that he could cure cancer? Don't believe that he could walk on water? You WERE denounced as "missing". Such raising of questions could even result in physical violence and intimidation.
The biggest cult-like element I'd like to focus on here, which was NOT addressed in OYD's response, was the issue of debilitating work routines mentioned above. This would not be so familiar to the average OYD student but any OYD instructor knows this cult technique all too well. In short, OYD wanted a literal monopoly of your time. Long lessons followed by endless meetings and "conversations" (OYD's term for a denunciation session) were the norm. There was an unspoken rule that all instructors were not allowed to leave the school until the highest ranking instructor left first. This would usually happen on the once a week instructor's lesson--after teaching all day (in many cases for little or no pay), instructors would have their own lesson followed by very lengthy meetings on how to "handle" each individual student (i.e., how to get that student to sign up for more lessons/courses). This kind of thing was not limited to the lessons, as very lengthy meetings could happen at any time during your day running the school via personal visit by a "higher belt" or by phone call. A group of us were personally instructed to "put a fence around the water", i.e., actively ignore a student in class and showing more attention to those who were on a more expensive course, in an attempt to shame that ignored student into signing up and paying for the higher course as well.
The lower ranking instructors, following the pattern they were seeing did try to instil the implied demand of commitment on the students. I personally sat with two instructors who were praising one of their students who decided to forgo his visitation with his daughter (who according to the custody agreement was to see every other weekend) and rather spent his time doing work for OYD on one of their weeklong trainings. This man was praised for not spending time with his daughter and was seen as "having the right mind" for "checking to see if anything needed". These two instructors went on to complain to each other that the rest of their students are "not building anything", as in, they weren't as committed as the first individual was.
In a story I often repeat due to the sheer hilarity and audacity of it, I was criticized harshly for walking by an OYD school and not stopping in to "see if anything needed". In another instance, I was questioned as to why I was not showing up to work on remodeling one OYD school location in the late evening hours after all the lessons were over. Needless to say, my response that I was working a job and also attending college were not acceptable. This any many other things, such as me not practicing manipulative tricks to get more students to sign on to ever expensive courses, above and beyond what they had already paid, labeled me as "missing" as well as I am sure many other name calling labels not said to my face.
Instructors will also readily remember the long talks with John Kim--these speeches of his would often start very late at night to begin with and could continue for many hours. Long rambling talks with no focus in a hard to understand tone while in a fatigued state could be expected. This would give kim the mystical presence he sought to instil. There are almost too many stories of this to be mentioned. And as to be expected, if you were caught nodding off at 3 in the morning in the middle of one of his long talks after being up all day, you were severely reprimanded.
OYD may defend their practices of long work schedules by comparing themselves to any entrepreneur or professional working long hours. That would be reasonable if it were merely that. A salaried employee working long hours is reasonable, an instructor teaching for free while spending his every waking moment in service of an OYD school under threat of verbal and physical intimidation is not. Attending a long lecture is reasonable, kim applying the cult technique of sleep deprivation on his members is not.
OYD answer: Oom Yung Doe offers meditation techniques as part of martial arts training. People familiar with the martial arts and sports in general understand the concept of “visualization”. Scientific studies have proven that athletes who visualize going through the motions of their sport actually perform better than if they had not done so. Meditation is taught as a method to settle the mind and provide metal clarity, just as they are in Yoga classes. Students practice meditation on their own, not in groups; many do not meditate at all. There is no religious association, and students should never be pressured to meditate.
Truth: The meditative aspects of OYD increased in importance to this school as the years went by. Towards the end of my time, it was the focus of many of the special lessons and courses. Claims of being able to "purify" yourself were commonplace...which may be fine for the student if that is what they want, the student would have to simply ask themselves if their material was worth the continued cost to pay and learn. While it is true that there were no pressures to meditate, what is most striking is that OYD has yet again sought to answer claims about their organization by zeroing in and focusing on only one thing brought up, thus framing the question. What I mean is this--while a student was not pressured to meditate, there was an constant and ever present demand that the student simply accept any and all claims that OYD's founder and instructors would make. One did not need to do any meditation at all--this demand of TOTAL acceptance was already built into the system. Don't believe that kim could jump off a multistory building and float down unharmed? Don't believe that he could cure cancer? Don't believe that he could walk on water? You WERE denounced as "missing". Such raising of questions could even result in physical violence and intimidation.
The biggest cult-like element I'd like to focus on here, which was NOT addressed in OYD's response, was the issue of debilitating work routines mentioned above. This would not be so familiar to the average OYD student but any OYD instructor knows this cult technique all too well. In short, OYD wanted a literal monopoly of your time. Long lessons followed by endless meetings and "conversations" (OYD's term for a denunciation session) were the norm. There was an unspoken rule that all instructors were not allowed to leave the school until the highest ranking instructor left first. This would usually happen on the once a week instructor's lesson--after teaching all day (in many cases for little or no pay), instructors would have their own lesson followed by very lengthy meetings on how to "handle" each individual student (i.e., how to get that student to sign up for more lessons/courses). This kind of thing was not limited to the lessons, as very lengthy meetings could happen at any time during your day running the school via personal visit by a "higher belt" or by phone call. A group of us were personally instructed to "put a fence around the water", i.e., actively ignore a student in class and showing more attention to those who were on a more expensive course, in an attempt to shame that ignored student into signing up and paying for the higher course as well.
The lower ranking instructors, following the pattern they were seeing did try to instil the implied demand of commitment on the students. I personally sat with two instructors who were praising one of their students who decided to forgo his visitation with his daughter (who according to the custody agreement was to see every other weekend) and rather spent his time doing work for OYD on one of their weeklong trainings. This man was praised for not spending time with his daughter and was seen as "having the right mind" for "checking to see if anything needed". These two instructors went on to complain to each other that the rest of their students are "not building anything", as in, they weren't as committed as the first individual was.
In a story I often repeat due to the sheer hilarity and audacity of it, I was criticized harshly for walking by an OYD school and not stopping in to "see if anything needed". In another instance, I was questioned as to why I was not showing up to work on remodeling one OYD school location in the late evening hours after all the lessons were over. Needless to say, my response that I was working a job and also attending college were not acceptable. This any many other things, such as me not practicing manipulative tricks to get more students to sign on to ever expensive courses, above and beyond what they had already paid, labeled me as "missing" as well as I am sure many other name calling labels not said to my face.
Instructors will also readily remember the long talks with John Kim--these speeches of his would often start very late at night to begin with and could continue for many hours. Long rambling talks with no focus in a hard to understand tone while in a fatigued state could be expected. This would give kim the mystical presence he sought to instil. There are almost too many stories of this to be mentioned. And as to be expected, if you were caught nodding off at 3 in the morning in the middle of one of his long talks after being up all day, you were severely reprimanded.
OYD may defend their practices of long work schedules by comparing themselves to any entrepreneur or professional working long hours. That would be reasonable if it were merely that. A salaried employee working long hours is reasonable, an instructor teaching for free while spending his every waking moment in service of an OYD school under threat of verbal and physical intimidation is not. Attending a long lecture is reasonable, kim applying the cult technique of sleep deprivation on his members is not.
Manik Jamai
Aug 8, 2012, 2:20:27 PM8/8/12
to oomyungdoe...@googlegroups.com
| I hope people are reading this....IT'S THE TRUTH ABOUT OYD. Present instructors/students, former, whoever. --- On Wed, 8/8/12, OneMindOneSpirit <mindf...@gmail.com> wrote: |
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