Imagine attending on a whim a life improvement seminar promising personal transformation. You decide to embrace its central teaching that you are 100% responsible for everything in your life, hoping for genuine change. You alone are responsible for the turns your life takes.

Initially, the message may feel empowering for some individuals. No more playing the victim. No more blaming others. You alone decide what happens to you. But when another member sexually assaults you in the parking lot after an evening session, the group’s philosophy turns against you.

“What made you decide to have this experience?” your coach asks. “What lesson is your soul trying to learn?”

You’re devastated, and not just by the assault but by the crushing belief that you somehow attracted the attack. Your coach tells you that people often decide to take risks, such as going out at night, to teach themselves to set firm boundaries. You hang your head, knowing that you’ve always had trouble with boundaries.

This is the trap of so-called “radical responsibility", the doctrine that there are no victims, only creators of their own reality. It is one of the most destructive forms of psychological manipulation used by destructive cults.

Groups ranging from Scientology to NXIVM to est/The Forum have employed variations of this belief system—all of them utilizing essentially the same destructive framework: You choose your circumstances before birth, your karma from past lives determines your current suffering, or you unconsciously “pull in” whatever happens to you.

In Scientology, members learn that hey........

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