ADAPTIVE MOVEMENTS |
Adaptive Movements are those which employ radical means to support or expand contractual organization and lifestyles
Adaptive Movements include movements such as
New Age movements
Wicca
Transcendental Meditation
Erhard Seminar Training
Lifespring
Church of Scientology
Orientation of Adaptive Movements – Create radical contractual
forms as the basis for both contractual and covenantal relationships. Permit
limited covenantalism within predominantly contractual organization
Myth
Construct myths that challenge and replace the myths that legitimate existing institutions
Therapy – Established therapies are depicted as creating control under the guise of healingConstruct myths that create dramatic discontinuity between the transcendent and everyday realms by creating discontinuity between the “true self” and the “present self.” Salvation is the direct experience of the true self.
Religion – Established churches are depicted as enforcing social conformity under the guise
of spirituality and morality
Family – Traditional families result in the repression of individual self-expression under the guise
of fulfillment and happiness
Bureaucracy – Established organization is depicted as creating regimentation under the guise of
efficiency, justice, and service
Technology – Conventional technologies are employed as mechanisms of social control under the
guise of liberation
Demonize group control over self-expression
Construct myths that make strong uniqueness claims for prophetic revelations
Construct myths that employ symbols that are compatible with contractualism
Construct myths that destabilize the present by envisioning a moment of dramatic societal transformation
Construct myths that challenge the legitimacy or effectiveness
of state authorization of major institutions
Ritual
Construct rituals that replace the old, dependent self with a new, independent self
Construct rituals that create dramatic moments of spiritual agency that are liberating and empowering to the individual and are regarded as violating “natural laws”
Construct rituals that are organized in ways compatible with contractualism
(workshops, training, clinics, classes, franchises, fee-for-service relationships)
Social Organization
Construct organizations that sharply limit covenantal support networks
Construct organizations that are “quasi-religious”