Anger

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 129 of 447 · 20 per page

• From Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)

  Her voice was pitched low, but the words sounded so intense I came to the door. I watched Mama go down the stairs while Reese led Raylene inside to see how well she’d done her paint-by-numbers clown face. Once Granny had told me how Mama carried me down to the courthouse after I was born and fought with the man there about the way they had made out my birth certificate. Telling me that story, Granny’s eyes had glittered and her mouth had turned up in a fierce smile. “You don’t know how your mama loves you,” she had said. “You can’t even imagine.” Like Alma loved Annie, maybe, like Ruth loved her sons D.W. and Dwight and Tommy Lee, so much that she made Travis swear not to bury her until they got home. I chewed on a fingernail and watched Mama walk away, wondering if she still loved me and what I would do when we went back to Daddy Glen. Raylene had brought some of her home-canned blackberries with her. She and Reese made a skillet cobbler the way Raylene said she had learned when she was with the carnival. She dropped lots of little butter slices on the bottom of the skillet, sprinkled brown sugar over that, then poured her blackberries, more butter, and a handful of white sugar over everything. Unsweetened biscuit dough made the top crust, and the cobbler was ready to eat in half an hour. It wasn’t as good as Aunt Fay’s pies, but Reese gorged on it, eating almost half the pan by herself. Afterwards, she leaned forward lazily on the table, almost asleep, her blue-stained lips slightly parted. Aunt Raylene looked through the paintings and picked up the Japanese mountain scene I had not bothered to finish. She waved it at me. “Reese tells me you won’t give this to her, even though you don’t want to finish it.” “It’s mine. I might finish it sometime.” “Uh-huh.” Raylene put the cardboard drawing back. I waited for her to say something more, but she turned away and started cleaning up the kitchen. It was still early. I went out on the landing to watch the cars pass by, people from the nearby housing development on their way out to the new discount grocery, a few trucks with men coming home late from work, a bus from Bushy Creek Baptist with flat-faced children pressed against the windows staring at me hatefully. I glared back at them. Anger was like a steady drip of poison into my soul, teaching me to hate the ones that hated me. Who do they think they are? I whispered to myself. They piss honey?

• From Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)

  Now Aunt Raylene folded some of Uncle Earle’s clean underwear and put it in a paper sack while her face flushed red with anger. “They get into any more trouble, the law won’t have to send them away. I’ll send them so far they’ll never find their way home.” “Shit you will.” Granny slammed a basket of food down on Aunt Raylene’s kitchen table. “You’ll visit them every month and take them sweet cornbread, just like you do Earle.” “You’ll see what I’ll do.” “I’ve seen it already.” I waited for them to really start fighting. Instead Granny leaned over and kissed Aunt Raylene right on the mouth, her lips pressing Raylene’s with an audible smack. Aunt Raylene gaped in surprise, and Granny laughed until the tears came. “Oh! Oh! Look at you. Raylene, I finally got you. Oh Lord! I enjoyed that.” She dropped down on a kitchen chair and wiped her eyes. “Well, never mind, you just tell Earle that I love him. And then tell him if I’d beat his ass more when he was a boy, he wouldn’t be where he is today.” “Nothing you could have done would have stopped Earle from his fighting.” Raylene was trying to recover from the shock of Granny’s kiss. “Earle had a spirit of meanness in him when he was born.” I watched Aunt Raylene push her gray hair back up into her hairpins. Did I have a spirit of meanness in me? I wondered. It felt like it. It had felt like it for weeks. Maybe I hadn’t been born with it, but I’d come to it, as Granny would say. I’d come to it soon enough. Earle was a little skinnier and a little grayer around the eyes. His hair had grown back some, into a short black brush that stuck straight up all over his head. He kept running his hands over the top of his head as if he couldn’t believe his thick wavy hair was gone. Still, when we settled down on the grass for our picnic, he had gifts for everybody—key tags and belts for all the boys and coin purses and hair barrettes for the girls, all of them hand-tooled and elaborately decorated. Aunt Raylene got a handbag as big as her lunch basket. For Mama he had a leather wallet stenciled with rose vines. “You give her that, and tell her I think of her all the time.” He laughed his black laugh. “I think of her biscuits. These cooks here can’t make a biscuit a man can eat.” I played with the wallet and watched the other families on the grass. All the women had leather handbags with stenciled roses. Little tooled leather vines wrapped around the shoulder straps, the edges of the wallets.

• From Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)

  I’m gonna wave at you from the roof, and then you can tell me I’m crazy.” He did it too, tied a good long rope to the chain dangling off his hook and swung it around and around until he got it high enough, and launched it at the house. The barbs dug right into the wood below the roofline and gouged deep enough to support Grey’s weight, though once he climbed up there, he couldn’t swing around to get a leg over the roof’s edge after all. Garvey tried it next, forgetting that they had been arguing, but he had the same problem. He did manage to hang on to the ridgepole while he worked the hook loose and tossed it down. Then he slid down after it, by some miracle not breaking any bones. Neither of them saw me grab Garvey’s abandoned hook and start edging toward the side of the house. “We’ll aim it at the roof this time,” Garvey told us. “Get it on the roof itself. Then we’ll be able to climb over the top by pulling up on the rope.” “You’ll do no such thing!” Aunt Raylene had come up behind me while we were all looking at Garvey. She grabbed one hook out of my hands and the other from Grey. “You trying to kill one of these children?” She looked up then and saw the holes the hook had gouged in her wall. “Oh my Jesus!” Her left hand snaked out and slapped first Grey, then Garvey. “You digging holes in my house! You planning to just walk off and leave it like that, I suppose. No matter that it’s gonna let the rain in and rot my wall.” The chain dangling from one fist knocked against the skirt of the print dress she’d worn to go into town. “I’m surprised you an’t killed each other already. No.” She shook her head and spat snuff juice to the side. “No. What’s surprising is that I an’t killed you already.” “It an’t that deep a hole,” Grey tried to tell her. “It an’t gonna let the rain in.” The color rushed into Aunt Raylene’s face, and her eyes went glassy. I thought for a moment how Uncle Beau said Aunt Raylene moved out to the river after she got in trouble on the carnival circuit and cut a man up for trying to mess with her. Now she looked like she was going to swing one of those hooks at Grey’s belly. The other kids took off at a run, and Grey stumbled back out of her reach. “Aunt Raylene,” he pleaded, sweat breaking out on his face, “Aunt Raylene, now, Aunt Raylene, wait…” “You crazy little bastard,” she hissed at him. She caught his arm in one hand and shook him back and forth like a fish on a pole. “All of you. Don’t you know what this is?”

• From Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)

  Don’t doubt that. She loves you more than her life, and she an’t never gonna forgive herself for what she’s done to you, what she allowed to happen.” Aunt Raylene gripped the steering wheel fiercely and stared at me. “I shouldn’t talk so much. I’ve said enough.” She wiped her mouth. “We need some time. You need some time. You know what you look like, girl?” I turned away. I knew what I looked like. At the hospital when they had left me alone in the bathroom for a minute, I had looked at myself in the mirror and known I was a different person. Older, meaner, rawboned, crazy, and hateful. I was full of hate. I had spit on the glass, spit on my life, not caring anymore who I was or would be. I had wanted to laugh at everyone, Raylene and the nurses, all of them watching me like some fragile piece of glass ready to shatter around boiling water. I was boiling inside. I was cooking away. I was who I was going to be, and she was a terrible person. “Ruth Anne,” Aunt Raylene whispered. “Girl, look at me. Stop thinking about what happened. Don’t think about it. Don’t try to think about nothing. You can’t understand it yet. You don’t have to. It don’t make sense, and I can’t explain it to you. You can’t explain it to yourself. Your mama…” She stopped, and I looked back at her. “Your mama loves you. Just hang on, girl. Just hang on. It’ll be better in time, I promise you.” I promise you, she said. My mouth twisted. I stared at her hatefully. Raylene looked at me as if my rage hurt her, but she said nothing, just climbed heavily out of the truck. She moved slowly, hugging her old purse to her bosom and stopping only to give the panting dog a quick pat on the head before she went up and laid the purse on the steps. She came back and took me up again as easily as if I weighed no more than that purse. She carried me inside the house, the dog following, and put me in her bed. The dog settled himself on the rug, comfortably. I lay still, ignoring Aunt Raylene’s movements but thinking even so about the woman she had loved, the woman who had loved her child more. It was too much for me. I’d have to think about it some other time. The dog turned to me with hopeful brown eyes, his tongue hanging down as if he wanted me to invite him up on the bed.

• From Bastard Out of Carolina (1992)

  I hate you.” “I’ve prayed for you to die,” he hissed between set white teeth. His hand caught the front of my blouse and dug into the material. “Just die and leave us alone. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d have been all right. Everything would have been all right.” He sobbed and dragged me forward so that I was up on my knees swaying in his grip until my blouse tore, and I fell back under him. He grabbed for me again, and something hit me hard between the legs. I screamed. His boot or his leg? He dropped down on top of me. “You’re not going anywhere.” He laughed. “You think you’re so grown-up. You think you’re so big and bad, saying no to me. Let’s see how big you are, how grown!” His hands spread what was left of my blouse and ripped at the zipper on my pants, pulling them down my thighs as my left hand groped to hold them. I tried to kick, but I was pinned. Tears were streaming down my face, but I wasn’t crying. I was cursing him. “Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! God will damn you!” He reached with one hand to shove my pants down almost to my ankles and with the other to open his britches. “You’ll shut up. I’ll shut you up. I’ll teach you.” He ripped my panties off me like they were paper. Then he jerked me up a little and spread my legs. “You fucker!” I punched up at him with my almost useless right arm. “You little cunt. I should have done this a long time ago. You’ve always wanted it. Don’t tell me you don’t.” His knee pushed my legs further apart, and his big hand leisurely smashed the side of my face. He laughed then, as if he liked the feel of my blood on his fist, and hit me again. I opened my mouth to scream, and his hand closed around on my throat. “I’ll give you what you really want,” he said, and his whole weight came down hard. My scream was gaspy and low around his hand on my throat. He fumbled with his fingers between my legs, opened me, and then reared back slightly, looking down into my face with his burning eyes. “Now,” he said, and slammed his body forward from his knees. “You’ll learn.” His words came in short angry bursts. “You’ll never mouth off to me again. You’ll keep your mouth shut. You’ll do as you’re told. You’ll tell Anney what I want you to tell her.” I gagged. He rocked in and ground down, flexing and thrusting his hips. I felt like he was tearing me apart, my ass slapping against the floor with every thrust, burning and tearing and bruising. “God!”

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  Dr. Westcott (in his Com., p. xxxiii.): "John knew that to be with Christ was life, to reject Christ was death; and he did not shrink from expressing the thought in the spirit of the old dispensation. He learned from the Lord, as time went on, a more faithful patience, but he did not unlearn the burning devotion which consumed him. To the last, words of awful warning, like the thunderings about the throne, reveal the presence of that secret fire. Every page of the Apocalypse is inspired with the cry of the souls beneath the altar, ’How long’ (Rev. 6:10); and nowhere is error as to the person of Christ denounced more sternly than in his Epistles (2 John 10; 1 John 4:1ff.)." Similar passages in Stanley. II. The Mission of John.

• From The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study (2000)

  Few relationships are as complex as that between mothers and daughters in divorced families. The strands from both sides include love, longstanding anger, compassion, and guilt. But the fact remains that mothers and daughters in divorced families are more conflict-ridden than their counterparts in good intact families. Their relationship is less stable, fluctuates over the years, and reflects more ambivalence on behalf of both generations. The postdivorce relationship is complicated by the undiluted intensity of these feelings and each woman’s reciprocal need for love and approval. Fathers can buffer the mother-daughter relationship, helping the girl separate from her mother and move on to create her own career and new family. The stepfather can also serve this function in a divorced family. But if there is no one to play this role, the two women often engage in a prolonged push-pull, going from too much closeness to too much distance. While profoundly distressing to both, this situation also fails to help the girl resolve her conflicts and get on with her adult life. Paula spent her whole childhood and adolescence locked in conflict with her mother, which did not cool until she divorced and returned home at midnight with her child and was taken in. The two women then had the opportunity to reformulate their relationship. The mother took on an important supportive role as grandmother and the child consolidated the new bridge between mother and daughter. In general, the arrival of a baby drew mothers and daughters of divorce in this study closer together. Daughters who had kept their mothers at bay now welcomed any and all help with the child. As new mothers, they finally began to understand how much sacrifice is required to care for a baby and young child. Perhaps their mothers were not as bad as they thought. Maybe they had had good mothering before the breakup. As their anger at their moms receded, the daughters’ compassion emerged more strongly. The result was a greater understanding from which both women benefited.

• From The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25-Year Landmark Study (2000)

  I really appreciate all that he did for us.” There is great advantage in allowing natural maturation to take its course and to avoid overzealous intervention to break these alliances, which are usually strengthened by efforts to separate the allies. In this, the alliance may be akin to a moderate case of flu that mobilizes the immune system and generates antibodies. It is not a fulminant cancer requiring radical surgery or limb amputation, especially by poorly trained surgeons. However, where violence is concerned, children do need help in understanding what is wrong with such behavior. They need to be told that violence not only hurts the victim physicially but hurts people’s feelings and that the damage can last a lifetime. This is not self-evident to a child who has been raised in a family where a parent has been violent. After all, children model their own behavior after the model their parents provide. They need guidance in learning alternative ways for resolving conflict. Indeed, there are many ways that these ethical ideas can be taught. A good curriculum would include games and videos that help children learn how to deal with their own anger and how to control their impulse to hit people or destroy property. The important thing to remember is that the divorce itself has no impact on these critical issues for the child. Moreover, it’s difficult for parents to deal with these issues during and after the breakup without professional guidance. Parents and children both need help. We as a society have an obligation to provide it. When There’s No Escape B EFORE GETTING TO Larry’s adult life, I want to return to Carol and her adolescent years to help hammer home a major point about being raised in chaotic intact families. As we have seen, divorce was never an option for this family. The parents had no desire to stop their destructive behaviors. And if they had divorced, nothing would have changed for Carol and her siblings. Divorce is only a “solution” for people who want and have the ability to change. For the Carols of this world, there is far less opportunity to escape from the madness that surrounds them because there are no true adults to give them a helping hand. Carol’s voice was low and angry. “When I was a teenager, my mom would listen in on my phone calls and she’d go through my stuff. She’d ask nosy questions about me and boys. She accused me of hanging out with a bad crowd at school. All she could think about was that I was in trouble.” “Were you?” “Not really. Certainly not in the way she thought. Compared with some of my friends I wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t use drugs and I didn’t drink.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  54. Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. A reproof which exalts the meek is generally hateful to the proud man. When therefore our Saviour was blaming the Pharisees for transgressing from the right path, the body of Lawyers were struck with consternation. Hence it is said, Then answered one of the Lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. BEDE. In what a grievous state is that conscience, which hearing the word of God thinks it a reproach against itself, and in the account of the punishment of the wicked perceives its own condemnation. THEOPHYLACT. Now the Lawyers were different from the Pharisees. For the Pharisees being separated from the rest had the appearance of a religious sect; but those skilled in the Law were the Scribes and Doctors who solved legal questions. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But Christ brings a severe charge against the Lawyers, and subdues their foolish pride, as it follows, And he said, Woe unto you also, ye Lawyers, for ye lade men, &c. He brings forward an obvious example for their direction. The Law was burdensome to the Jews as the disciples of Christ confess, but these Lawyers binding together legal burdens which could not be borne, placed them upon those under them, taking care themselves to have no toil whatever. THEOPHYLACT. As often also as the teacher does what he teaches, he lightens the load, offering himself for an example. But when he does none of the things which he teaches others, the loads appear heavy to those who learn his teaching, as being what even their teacher is not able to bear. BEDE. Now they are rightly told that they would not touch the burdens of the Law even with one of their fingers, that is, they fulfil not in the slightest point that law which they pretend to keep and transmit to the keeping of others, contrary to the practice of their fathers, without faith and the grace of Christ. GREGORY OF NYSSA. So also are there now many severe judges of sinners, yet weak combatants; burdensome imposers of laws, yet weak bearers of burdens; who wish neither to approach nor to touch strictness of life, though they sternly exact it from their subjects. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Having then condemned the burdensome dealing of the Lawyer, He brings a general charge against all the chief men of the Jews, saying, Woe to you who build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. AMBROSE. This is a good answer to the foolish superstition of the Jews, who in building the tombs of the prophets condemned the deeds of their fathers, but by rivalling their fathers’ wickedness, throw back the sentence upon themselves. For not the building but the imitation of their deeds is looked upon as a crime. Therefore He adds, Truly ye bear witness that ye allow, &c.

• From Trash (1988)

  It is possible this collection would never have come about if I had not lost my temper. I read a review of a book I loved— My Mama’s Dead Squirrel by Mab Segrest, a witty, revealing collection about humor—full of stories about her family. The review was not critical, it was nasty. It made easy jokes about southerners and their “funny” families. In a rage, I called that woman who had asked me if I had a book. “I’ve got a book,” I told her. “I’ve got a book will make that reviewer’s teeth hurt.” It took me more than two years to finish the stories and let this book go. By then I had moved from New York to San Francisco, and was living month to month on what I could put together teaching and writing freelance for whoever would hire me. My temper had run its course, and my first impulse was long past. When I was correcting the galleys, I kept thinking back to that review, anticipating the criticism that would surely be directed at my stubborn girls and mean stories, regretting my temper but not the book itself. I gave the manuscript to a lover I had begun to take very seriously. All these years later she is still here, the mother of my son and the woman with whom I plan to share the rest of my life. Her review was the first. “It’s not bad,” she said. “You are the real thing.” After that, I decided to take everyone else’s opinion in stride. Why write stories? To join the conversation. Literature is a conversation—a lively enthralling exchange that constantly challenges and widens our own imaginations. A skinny guy from the Bronx told things I never imagined about growing up a Puerto Rican who has never seen the islands. A tall woman from the Midwest talked about apple farms and hiding up among the half-ripe fruit so as not to have to think about dead and lost children. God yes, I murmured. Yes. In return, I tried to reimagine the world as my great-grandmother saw it, feeling in my low back the generational impact of giving birth to eleven children in fifteen years. A little later I retold the crime I committed against a woman who loved me with her whole heart, but who, for all that love, never knew who I really was. Did she really say those things? No, but she might have. Does it feel like that? Absolutely. I try for truth, and language. Sometimes if the language works, I let detail slide. But I am a writer, and I know my own weaknesses. In the end, the stories have to have their own truth and craft. Now for a word on “trash.” I originally claimed the label “trash” in self-defense.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  BEDE. They pretended indeed, in order to win the favour of the multitude, that they were shocked at the unbelief of their fathers, since by splendidly honouring the memories of the prophets who were slain by them they condemned their deeds. But in their very actions they testify how much they coincide with their fathers’ wickedness, by treating with insult that Lord whom the prophets foretold. Hence it is added, Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute. AMBROSE. The wisdom of God is Christ. The words indeed in Matthew are, Behold I send unto you prophets and wise men. BEDE. But if the same Wisdom of God sent prophets and Apostles, let heretics cease to assign to Christ a beginning from the Virgin; let them no longer declare one God of the Law and Prophets, another of the New Testament. For although the Apostolic Scripture often calls by the name of prophets not only those who foretell the coming Incarnation of Christ, but those also who foretell the future joys of the kingdom of heaven, yet I should never suppose that these were to be placed before the Apostles in the order of enumeration. ATHANASIUS. (Apol. 1. de fuga sua.) Now if they kill, the death of the slain will cry out the louder against them; if they pursue, they send forth memorials of their iniquity, for flight makes the pursuit of the sufferers to redound to the great disgrace of the pursuers. For no one flees from the merciful and gentle, but rather from the cruel and evil-minded man. And therefore it follows, That the blood of all the prophets who have been slain from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. BEDE. It is asked, How comes it that the blood of all the prophets and just men is required of the single generation of the Jews; whereas many of the saints, both before the Incarnation and after, have been slain by other nations? But it is the manner of the Scriptures frequently to reckon two generations of men, one of the good, and the other of the evil. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Although then He says pointedly of this generation, He expresses not merely those who were then standing by Him and listening, but every manslayer. For like is attributed to like. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 74. in Matt.) But if He means that the Jews are about to suffer worse things, this will not be undeserved, for they have dared to do worse than all. And they have been corrected by none of their past calamities, but when they saw others sin, and punished, they were not made better, but did likewise; yet it will not be that one shall suffer punishment for the sins of others.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. AMBROSE. To stewards, that is, to Priests, the preceding words seem to have been addressed, that they may thereby know that hereafter a heavier punishment awaits them, if, intent upon the world’s pleasures, they have neglected the charge of their Lord’s household, and the people entrusted to their care. But as it profiteth little to be recalled from error by the fear of punishment, and far greater is the privilege of charity and love, our Lord therefore kindles in men the desire of acquiring the divine nature, saying, I came to send fire on earth, not indeed that He is the Consumer of good men, but the Author of good will, who purifies the golden vessels of the Lord’s house, but burns up the straw and stubble. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Now it is the way of holy Scripture to use sometimes the term fire, of holy and divine words. For as they who know how to purify gold and silver, destroy the dross by fire, so the Saviour by the teaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit cleanses the minds of those who believe in Him. This then is that wholesome and useful fire by which the inhabitants of earth, in a manner cold and dead through sin, revive to a life of piety. CHRYSOSTOM. For by the earth He now means not that which we tread under our feet, but that which was fashioned by His hands, namely, man, upon whom the Lord pours out fire for the consuming of sins, and the renewing of souls. TITUS BOSTRENSIS. And we must here believe that Christ came down from heaven. For if He had come from earth to earth, He would not say, I came to send fire upon the earth. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. But our Lord was hastening the kindling of the fire, and hence it follows, And what will I, save that it be kindleda? (nisi ut accendatur) For already some of the Jews believed, of whom the first were the holy Apostles, but the fire once lighted in Judæa was about to take possession of the whole world, yet not till after the dispensation of His Passion had been accomplished. Hence it follows, But I have a baptism to be baptized with. For before the holy cross and His resurrection from the dead, in Judæa only was the news told of His preaching and miracles; but after that the Jews in their rage had slain the Prince of life, then commanded He His Apostles, saying, Go and teach all nations. (Matt. 28:19.)

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  She says, “Since most cults use a drastic change in diet, sleep deprivation, over activity, assaults to the body in other ways, it is highly likely that the former member has potential physical consequences.”1183 Other studies of former cult members seem to confirm a similar pattern of results regarding the negative effects cultic involvement produces. One such study included sixty-six former members of Rev. Moon‘s Unification Church and was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry . It found that 36 percent of the former members experienced emotional problems after leaving and that 61 percent said church leaders had “negatively impacted” their lives.1184 1185 A study of the American Family Foundation (AFF), now known as the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA), yielded a similar pattern of results. The AFF/ICSA study included 308 former members of 101 groups called “cults.”1186 About 67 percent experienced emotional disorders including depression, 76 percent were angry with their former leaders, and 83 percent had lower self-confidence. These results are quite comparable to those previously reported through the surveys Conway and Siegelman took.1187 Mann notes that “the scant research we have is anecdotal and consists of former members’ self-report.” She warns about unfounded assumptions. “I think the most troubling problem is twofold: (1) assuming everyone from a particular group is always traumatized at all or in the same way; and (2) presenting specialized counseling as the only solution.” Mann concludes, “This is problematic because it strikes at a person’s ability to make informed choices about counseling and because counseling does not work for everyone.”1188 It is important to keep in mind that destructive cults and leaders often present themselves as the single solution. Those hoping to help former cult members must not impose their assumptions or solutions on them as the cult once did. Instead, information must be transparently shared about various alternatives and choices regarding recovery. Singer said, “Most persons leaving cults are not severely mentally ill, but those occasional ones who are should, of course, be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist knowledgeable about cults.”1189 A persistent myth concerning cult involvement is that it can be explained by some preexistent and underlying mental illness or condition. In fact, the overwhelming majority of cults reject those who are mentally or physically ill and are interested only in recruiting high-functioning, healthy, and therefore potentially useful people. Singer observed, “Most cult veterans are neither grossly incompetent nor blatantly disturbed. But they report and their families confirmed cognitive inefficiencies and crucial changes that take time to pass. Ex-cultists often have trouble putting into precise words these inefficiencies, which they want to explain.” Singer characterizes this temporary cognitive disability as a combination of both the “blurring of mental acuity” along with “uncritical passivity.” 1190 When someone leaves a cultic situation, confronting him or her with criticism, a judgmental attitude, or blame is unwise. It is also incorrect to assault him or her with negative attacks concerning his or her former group or leader. Instead, be a good listener.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The German peasants were the beasts of burden for society, and in no better condition than slaves. Work, work, work, without reward, was their daily lot, even Sunday hardly excepted. They were ground down by taxation, legal and illegal. The rapid increase of wealth, luxury, and pleasure, after the discovery of America, made their condition only worse. The knights and nobles screwed them more cruelly than before, that they might increase their revenues and means of indulgence. The peasants formed, in self-protection, secret leagues among themselves: as the "Käsebröder" (Cheese-Brothers), in the Netherlands; and the "Bundschuh,"565 in South Germany. These leagues served the same purpose as the labor unions of mechanics in our days. Long before the Reformation revolutionary outbreaks took place in various parts of Germany,—A.D. 1476, 1492, 1493, 1502, 1513, and especially in 1514, against the lawless tyranny of Duke Ulrich of Würtemberg. But these rebellions were put down by brute force, and ended in disastrous failure.566 In England a communistic insurrection of the peasants and villeins occurred in 1381, under the lead of Wat Tyler and John Balle, in connection with a misunderstanding of Wiclif’s doctrines. The Reformation, with its attacks upon the papal tyranny, its proclamation of the supremacy of the Bible, of Christian freedom, and the general priesthood of the laity, gave fresh impulse and new direction to the rebellious disposition. Traveling preachers and fugitive tracts stirred up discontent. The peasants mistook spiritual liberty for carnal license. They appealed to the Bible and to Dr. Luther in support of their grievances. They looked exclusively at the democratic element in the New Testament, and turned it against the oppressive rule of the Romish hierarchy and the feudal aristocracy. They identified their cause with the restoration of pure Christianity. Thomas Münzer. Thomas Münzer, one of the Zwickau Prophets, and an eloquent demagogue, was the apostle and travelling evangelist of the social revolution, and a forerunner of modern socialism, communism, and anarchism. He presents a remarkable compound of the discordant elements of radicalism and mysticism. He was born at Stolberg in the Harz Mountain (1590); studied theology at Leipzig; embraced some of the doctrines of the Reformation, and preached them in the chief church at Zwickau; but carried them to excess, and was deposed. After the failure of the revolution in Wittenberg, in which he took part, he labored as pastor at Altstädt (1523), for the realization of his wild ideas, in direct opposition to Luther, whom he hated worse than the Pope. Luther wrote against the "Satan of Altstädt." Münzer was removed, but continued his agitation in Mühlhausen, a free city in Thuringia, in Nürnberg, Basel, and again in Mühlhausen (1525).

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  We agreed that no one else would attend the intervention, with the possible exception of a former babysitter, who was very close to their daughter. We decided that the babysitter wouldn’t attend the first day of the intervention but might participate later with their daughter’s consent. Our concern was not to overwhelm the daughter by having too many people present at the beginning. We also discussed the importance of temporarily blocking communication between the boyfriend and the daughter during the intervention. That is, the parents agreed to shut down any potential means of contact. This specifically meant shutting down all Internet access and putting away in safekeeping any devices in the house. We discussed the necessity of asking the daughter to agree to a temporary suspension of communication with the boyfriend. This agreement would be in effect until our discussion was concluded, which might be a period of three days. I emphasized that by the end of the first day, she must agree to surrender her cell phone or any device she might potentially use to contact her boyfriend. I repeatedly focused on the importance of parental supervision to maintain this commitment during our preparation meeting. The parents couldn’t physically enforce such an agreement, but they could remind their daughter and persuade her to keep her promise. We also discussed the possibility that their daughter might suddenly panic and leave the house, perhaps in the middle of the night, and then contact the boyfriend. I advised them that throughout the intervention, particularly between each of our daily sessions during the evening, they must be vigilant. That is, they must maintain constant awareness of where their daughter was and what she was doing at any given time until we were done. If she insisted on leaving the house for some reason, they must accompany her to make sure she didn’t use that time as an opportunity to contact her boyfriend. The first day after their daughter arrived, there was a birthday celebration. She also took some time to visit with old friends. The following morning I arrived at the family home. The daughter had no idea that my visit had been planned, and it was a complete surprise. Her parents began the discussion with the simple explanation that they felt overwhelmed by recent events and were so deeply concerned that they had decided to consult a professional. The mother and father then introduced me as the professional they had consulted, and I quickly entered the conversation and began facilitating further discussion. At first the daughter was visibly upset and somewhat angry. She didn’t appreciate being surprised by such a sudden meeting. But despite that initial negative reaction, the discussion moved forward and continued, with everyone in the room actively engaged in dialogue. I introduced myself and said I wasn’t there to provide any form of counseling or therapy; I was there only to deliver educational information based on my expertise.

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  Wang’s outburst was described as a “banshee shriek.”817 The Epoch Times tried to distance itself from any potential embarrassment due to her inappropriate conduct. An official spokesperson for the newspaper acknowledged, “Dr. Wang attended this event on Epoch Times press credentials” but then added the caveat, “However, her actions…were her own. In protesting in this manner, she didn’t act on behalf of the Epoch Times .”818 It seems that whenever Falun Gong practitioners engage in unflattering fanatical behavior, the movement attempts to deny any connective culpability and accepts no responsibility. We can see Wang’s protest at the White House as little more than a carefully staged and scripted climax, capping a series she wrote that was run in the Epoch Times regarding alleged “organ harvesting in China‘s labor camps.” Chinese officials have repeatedly characterized such sensational claims as “sheer lies.”819 Harry Wu, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government who now lives in exile, expressed skepticism concerning the extreme claims made in the Epoch Times . Wu told the press that he doubted the anecdotal accounts Falun Gong recounted about organ harvesting. He characterized the alleged witness statements offered as “unreliable” and concluded that such stories “may be intentionally fabricated.”820 Sixteen Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in China during 2013 for attempting to fake torture photos. One of the suspects reportedly admitted that the group used a concoction of cola and tomato paste to simulate blood.821 The Shen Yun dance troop, which is primarily composed of Falun Gong practitioners, is seemingly also intended to be used as a promotional media tool. Once again, Falun Gong seems to be embracing a tradition set by Rev. Moon. Moon funded the so-called Kirov Academy of Ballet as one of his “cultural enterprises.”822 Falun Gong seems to be funding Shen Yun. The dance company has appeared at the Fox Theater in New York and other large venues in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Performances of Shen Yun, however, have not always been well received. One London review said, “What I really object to is that such a politically motivated performance is being smuggled on to stages around Europe in the name of family entertainment.” The reviewer further noted, “I am reluctant to welcome the teachings of a man who believes that aliens live among us and that homosexuality and mixed-raced marriages are degenerate.”823 A New York review stated that the audience had been “duped…into paying outrageous sums of money to watch a half-baked advertisement for Falun Gong,” which was labeled as an “unconscionable piece of religious propaganda.”824 Freedom of Speech Falun Gong supporters have characterized criticism of their conduct at Chinese New Year parades and the refusal of community leaders to allow them to participate in future events as discrimination.825 The group has repeatedly been criticized for using such high-profile public parades as a vehicle to hand out their literature, including anti-China tracts. This sort of behavior has both angered and alienated many Chinese Americans.

• From Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out (2014)

  Even when his wife threatened divorce, the husband remained adamant about his group commitment. The intervention was a failure. The couple soon separated and later divorced. Looking back at this intervention effort, I see there was more than enough time to share the necessary information and discuss relevant concerns in considerable depth. But in my opinion this effort failed largely because the husband felt deeply invested in the group and enjoyed the personal attention he received. The leader made him feel very special. And his group involvement conferred on him a sense of esoteric status and empowerment. Through the group the husband felt that he had reached an elite level of awareness and was recognized as a philosopher. He seemed to think that without the group he would lose this special status. After years of personal and financial investment, the husband also appeared to have a sense of equity in the group. In my opinion it was his perception of what has been called “exit costs”1173 that basically blocked any serious consideration of leaving the group. Sociologist Benjamin Zablocki sees such exit costs as an important facet in the calculations of cult members. That is, such exit costs, as cult member perceive them, are “disincentives for leaving.”1174 In most cases the more time during an intervention is allotted to discuss concerns, examine research, and compare the parallels between a particular group and other groups called “cults,” the more likely it is that the intervention will end in success. But there are situations, despite the time spent, that may still end in failure. Each individual involved in a cult or cultic situation must ultimately face his or her personal exit costs based on his or her emotional needs and history. Runaway Another intervention centered on a nineteen-year-old girl. Her parents had been long-time members of a well-known cult when they decided to leave it. But they had raised their children in the group for many years. The couple’s minor children willingly left the group with little problem, but their older sister refused to leave and was legally considered an adult. The parents’ cult departure caused a rift. Their eldest child left their home and moved in with another member of the group. Communication became strained, but the daughter continued to regularly call and visit with her family. The parents retained me to undertake an intervention. The intervention took place in the context of a family visit with relatives in a neighboring city. Participants included the mother, father, an aunt, and an uncle. We all met in a hotel room where the family was staying. The uncle and aunt lived in town and also attended the initial meeting. The intervention was difficult, and bursts of anger largely consumed the first day. Frequently the daughter angrily walked out of the hotel room and came back only after her uncle pursued her and persuaded her to return. Such interruptions occurred several times throughout the day.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THEOPHYLACT. But our Lord shews that the Jews have inherited the malice of Cain, since he adds, From the blood of Abel, to the blood of Zacharias, &c. Abel, inasmuch as he was slain by Cain; but Zacharias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar, some say was the Zacharias of old time, the son of Jehoiadah the Priest. BEDE. Why He begins from the blood of Abel, who was the first martyr, we need not wonder; but why, to the blood of Zacharias, is a question, since many were slain after him even up to our Lord’s birth, and soon after His birth the Innocents, unless perhaps it was because Abel was a shepherd, Zacharias a Priest. And the one was killed in the field, the other in the court of the temple, martyrs of each class, that is, under their names are shadowed both laymen, and those engaged in the office of the altar. GREGORY OF NYSSA. (Orat. in Diem Nat. Christi.) But some say that Zacharias, the father of John, by the spirit of prophecy forecasting the mystery of the immaculate virginity of the mother of God, in no wise separated her from the part of the temple set apart for virgins, wishing to shew that it was in the power of the Creator of all things to manifest a new birth, while he did not deprive the mother of the glory of her virginity. Now this part was between the altar and the temple, in which was placed the brazen altar, where for this reason they slew him. It is said also, that when they heard the King of the world was about to come, from fear of subjection they designedly attacked him who bore witness to His coming, and slew the priest in the temple. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Geometer.) But others give another reason for the destruction of Zacharias. For at the murder of the children the blessed John was to be slain with the rest of the same age, but Elisabeth, snatching up her son from the midst of the slaughter, sought the desert. And so when Herod’s soldiers could not find Elisabeth and the child, they turn their wrath against Zacharias, killing him as he was ministering in the temple. It follows, Woe to you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge. BASIL. (in Esai. 1.) This word woe, which is uttered with pain intolerable, is suited to those who were shortly after to be cast out into grievous punishment.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  I rebuked him the other day and he hath ill performed that which he promised me; wherefore, as well for that as for this that he hath newly done, I mean to warm his ears[158] for him after such a fashion that methinketh he will give thee no farther concern; but do thou, God's benison on thee, suffer not thyself to be so overcome with anger that thou tell it to any of thy folk, for that overmuch harm might ensue thereof unto him. Neither fear thou lest this blame anywise ensue to thee, for I shall still, before both God and men, be a most constant witness to thy virtue.' The lady made believe to be somewhat comforted and leaving that talk, said, as one who knew his greed and that of his fellow-churchmen, 'Sir, these some nights past there have appeared to me sundry of my kinsfolk, who ask nought but almsdeeds, and meseemeth they are indeed in exceeding great torment, especially my mother, who appeareth to me in such ill case and affliction that it is pity to behold. Methinketh she suffereth exceeding distress to see me in this tribulation with yonder enemy of God; wherefore I would have you say me forty masses of Saint Gregory for her and their souls, together with certain of your own prayers, so God may deliver them from that penitential fire.' So saying, she put a florin into his hand, which the holy father blithely received and confirming her devoutness with fair words and store of pious instances, gave her his benison and let her go. The lady being gone, the friar, never thinking how he was gulled, sent for his friend, who, coming and finding him troubled, at once divined that he was to have news of the lady and awaited what the friar should say. The latter repeated that which he had before said to him and bespeaking him anew angrily and reproachfully, rebuked him severely of that which, according to the lady's report, he had done. The gentleman, not yet perceiving the friar's drift, faintly enough denied having sent her the purse and the girdle, so as not to undeceive the friar, in case the lady should have given him to believe that he had done this; whereat the good man was sore incensed and said, 'How canst thou deny it, wicked man that thou art? See, here they are, for she herself brought them to me, weeping; look if thou knowest them.' The gentleman feigned to be sore abashed and answered, 'Yes, I do indeed know them and I confess to you that I did ill; but I swear to you, since I see her thus disposed, that you shall never more hear a word of this.' Brief, after many words, the numskull of a friar gave his friend the purse and the girdle and dismissed him, after rating him amain and beseeching him occupy himself no more with these follies, the which he promised him.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  Tofano was nowise moved by these words from his besotted intent; wherefore quoth she to him, 'Harkye now, I can no longer brook this thy fashery, God pardon it thee! Look thou cause lay up[350] this distaff of mine that I leave here.' So saying, the night being so dark that one might scarce see other by the way, she went up to the well and taking a great stone that lay thereby, cried out, 'God pardon me!' and let it drop into the water. The stone, striking the water, made a very great noise, which when Tofano heard, he verily believed that she had cast herself in; wherefore, snatching up the bucket and the rope, he rushed out of the house and ran to the well to succour her. The lady, who had hidden herself near the door, no sooner saw him run to the well than she slipped into the house and locked herself in; then, getting her to the window, 'You should water your wine, whenas you drink it,' quoth she, 'and not after and by night.' Tofano, hearing this, knew himself to have been fooled and returned to the door, but could get no admission and proceeded to bid her open to him; but she left speaking softly, as she had done till then, and began, well nigh at a scream, to say, 'By Christ His Cross, tiresome sot that thou art, thou shalt not enter here to-night; I cannot brook these thy fashions any longer; needs must I let every one see what manner of man thou art and at what hour thou comest home anights.' Tofano, on his side, flying into a rage, began to rail at her and bawl; whereupon the neighbours, hearing the clamour, arose, both men and women, and coming to the windows, asked what was to do. The lady answered, weeping, 'It is this wretch of a man, who still returneth to me of an evening, drunken, or falleth asleep about the taverns and after cometh home at this hour; the which I have long suffered, but, it availing me not and I being unable to put up with it longer, I have bethought me to shame him therefor by locking him out of doors, to see and he will mend himself thereof.' [Footnote 350: _Riporre_, possibly a mistake for _riportare_, to fetch back.]