This is a story I heard from someone.

According to the rumor, there is a spiritual seminar that broadens the original sales pitch and then seeks consent. For example, they advertise that they will teach spiritual techniques, but during the seminar, they obtain consent for subsequent activities and have participants sign documents. This is cleverly done because they do not mention such things at the time of recruitment. After the participant applies and transfers money, they receive a document called a "consent form," which vaguely states something like, "I will execute the assigned tasks." At this point, even though the specifics are unknown, participants are forced to sign the consent form before going to the venue. Because they have already paid the money and the cancellation deadline is close or has passed, they have no time to think about it. Even if they want to cancel, the cancellation fee is significant, and the vague description makes it difficult to justify canceling. In this way, they obtain an initial, loose form of consent. There seem to be seminars that eliminate any escape route before obtaining consent.

After arriving at the venue, participants are told that they are not seminar attendees but "disciples," which confuses the students who had not considered such a thing. Furthermore, the tone of the instructors gradually becomes stricter, and it seems to become more like a master-disciple relationship. The instructors' expressions become stern, and some participants are even crying. They are forced into a situation where they cannot disagree, even though they were not asked to become disciples, and they are treated with a dismissive attitude by the instructors. The instructors also make arbitrary demands, and when the students (who the instructors call "disciples") object, they are told in a harsh tone to "not make excuses." This caused the venue to become chaotic.

In addition to this, participants are also given unclear "assignments." Initially, these seem like minor tasks, but participants are expected to perform them without compensation. In such cases, it is important to be aware that a common mind control technique is to start with simple tasks and then gradually impose unreasonable demands. Eventually, you may become a slave who cannot refuse.

Nevertheless, it seems that they also mentioned something like, "You can quit anytime," but simply because you can quit anytime doesn't mean that they first obtain consent in a difficult-to-refuse situation, and not only verbally but also have participants sign documents during the seminar, which suggests a lack of trust and sincerity. The person felt that this organization, which claims to be about spiritual growth and a peaceful world, lacks sincerity at its core, making it difficult to achieve those goals.

It's like a deception. It would be better if they simply said the same thing in advance and allowed individuals to consent before participating in the activities. However, forcing consent after participation, creating a situation where it's difficult to refuse, is like a strange form of sales, and contracts made in situations where it's difficult to escape are usually invalid. The instructors seemed to believe that it was valid.

This is mind control, and simply put, it's a seminar to create slaves.

In this way, some organizations in the spiritual industry engage in aggressive sales tactics that force people to sign contracts by taking away their freedom.

Despite this, they seem to put their own affairs aside while being critical and mocking other spiritual organizations. Organizations that belittle other organizations seem to be of a lower level. They claim to be teaching ancient wisdom or something, but in this era, there are many books available, both classic and otherwise, so it's surprising that so many people still believe such outdated phrases.

If it's truly teachings that have been passed down from ancient times, it would be sufficient to simply teach those teachings. If it's truly amazing, there's no need for elaborate performances or putting others down. Because the instructors have that attitude, a certain number of students are also influenced by that sense of superiority, and they tend to compare themselves to other organizations and act as if they are superior.

If you've studied spirituality even a little, you should realize that such a sense of superiority is wrong, but for some reason, they only become oblivious to their own ego when putting down other organizations. In several organizations I've seen, this kind of sense of superiority, where they put down other organizations, often foreshadows that the organization is heading in a strange direction or is already in that situation.