It’s odd
I know. It’s odd to start a blog on Mastermind Groups by talking about seemingly unrelated stuff. However, I like to cultivate a broader perspective on Mastermind Groups. Bear with me …
Sign of the times
I think Mastermind Groups are a characteristic of the new millenium, a phenomenon of our current time. That’s why we’ve seen a renaissance of Mastermind Groups in the last years. It has something to do with the whole idea of connecting people, the internet, and also caring for each other in new ways . Look at the raving success of social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Xing, and even Twitter. People love building communities, and the internet encouraged connecting with each other long before these sites appeared on the screen. They are just the last step in the evolution of how we use the internet for creating bonds and exchanging ideas. And maybe the internet is only a step towards something bigger and more important.
Anonywhat?
But I’m getting ahead of myself. I would like to point out a fabulous example for where the networking on the net leads to more than just idle chatting and surfing. Where it changes the world in other ways than in occupying time slots that we could use better otherwise. My example is about the feud between the Church of Scientology (if you want to call it a church), and a group who call themselves Anonymous . Scientology has always been controversial since its beginnings, and the organisation has laso always been making a lot of enemies along the road. In the US and in other places they are recognized as a religion, and are therefore tax exempt. However controversial their teachings might be, in a world with freedom of religion and free speech, they are of course welcome to teach and believe whatever they want. So far, so good.
Mayday on Cruise
If you are at all interested in celebrity news, you couldn’t escape the fuss about Mr. Tom Cruise, the actor, and a video he is appearing in, titled "Tom Cruise on Tom Cruise, the Scientologist". For an Scientology insider, this video is probably extremely inspiring , for somebody outside, it can look mildly insane, or more so . Somehow this got onto the internet in January of this year. If you haven’t seen it or you long for a refresher, click the arrow and enjoy:
If I’ll ever get to be in a traffic accident, my last hope must be that Mr. Cruise might pop by, since he’s the only one who can really help. I took that one away. Whooof! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! *laughing really hard*
PR Flap
Somebody at Scientology HQ must have woken up for a moment and realized that they better keep this gem under wraps, so they tried to use copyright infringement claims to have it takeen down, but it didn’t work. And here’s where it got interesting . A group of young people on the internet took offense and felt that Scientology were trying to censor their space , the world of free online speech and expression. They thanked scientology for the perceived intrusion by making prank calls to Scientology’s offices (’orgs’) and even by hacking their website. But that was just the beginning…
Being fair here …
Once Scientology was again in the limelight, it became apparent that censorship wasn’t the only thing worth critisizing about the organisation. In the last decades, indivduals like Bob Minton and Mark Bunker have been pointing out that Scientology engages in fraud, crimes, lying, brainwashing, human rights abuses, forced abortions, money grabbing, character assasinations, family disconnection, and other unsavory habits. It seems that the founder himself, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (’LRH’), created policies that make these behaviours part of the daily Scientology routine. If you dare to criticise the Church, you might be treated with what Scientology calls ‘Fair Game ‘. In 1976 Scientology founder Hubbard said that outspoken critics of Scientology (= Suppressive Persons or SPs)
"[...] may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."
How nice of you, Mr. Hubbard. What a wholy and helpful policy indeed! Although the current church claims this isn’t in use anymore, all evidence speaks otherwise.
Mark Bunker has been exposing Scientology for years. He has been dubbed Wise Beard Man (WBM) by Anonymous and has become somewhat of an icon to the movement.
Enter Anonymous . Those aforementioned brave individuals who protested the CoS had collected and published enough documents and evidence online for this group of young people ‘Anonymous’ to get upset and start picking on the church. Already long before they had given themselves the speaking name Anonymous, and made their antics public (a pic or vid, or it didn’t happen!). A bearded man called Mark Bunker from the Lisa McPherson Trust in Clearwater/Florida addressed Anonymous and pointed out that the church poses a serious thread to people, and instead of prank calling and stuff, it would be better to bring all the sinister activities of Hubbard’s creation to the light and the public. The rest is history, as they say. Anonymous immediately changed their strategy, and as far as I can tell, have developed a generally very grown-up, and decent moral code in dealing with a their challenge. Challenge ? And what kind of challenge is that?
A Good Heart, and Masks of Revenge
Anonymous said they are not going against Scientologists or their faith or believe. Their only true goal is to stop the abuse of fellow humans that they observe. This is remarkable! I love this! Anonymous doesn’t come to destroy stuff in the first place, but to bring some more light to the planet. If the Scientologists can cease hurting people and keep their church working, according to Anonymous that would be fine. There are occasional calls from Anonymous members to bring Scientology down, but only if the dark policies are so deep within the heart of the organisation, that the heart must die as well.
Anonymous members wear masks. All kinds of masks, but mostly those Guy Fawkes masks made popular by the movie "V for Vendetta ". The #1 reason for the masks is of course the ‘Fair Game’, the chance that Anonymous members are being harrassed by the Church of Scientology for their peaceful protesting. And as we hear from Anonymous members, this is already taking place in many forms and shapes. But it’s hard to get to Anonymous, because they work world-wide, are losely organized, and there are no fixed organizational structures or leaders -- there are inspirers though. Although Anonymous say there are there for the party and ‘the lulz’ (laughs), they do some serious research and invest serious efforts as well.
Sign of the times ….
Alright, it’s time to bridge over to our main topic, Mastermind Groups. The common theme I see here is one of caring for each other more than visible in the last decades. On the one hand, the world as whole seems be getting more controlled and totalitarian by the day. There’s an undeniable movement towards surpressing free speech, e.g. by branding it as ‘hate speech’, collecting data, haunting ‘terrorists’, i.e. anybody who disagrees, etc. This may sound paranoid to some, but only if one doesn’t focus on the data. Politics today is very much steered by betting on one primary emotion: fear . On the other hand then, there are groups like Anonymous, who are not afraid . They stand up for people they don’t even know, and wouldn’t have to care about at all. There could be an underlying idea of ‘We are one’, and ‘what you do to them you do to us’. In the end, if there’s a large group of people whose main intentions in life are creating freedom, joy, acceptance, and mutual help, that should be some kind of paradise.
Coaching
OK, sounding like an idealist might be one of my specialities. But maybe I’m not so foolish after all when entertaining this thoughts. Another sign of the times is the immense growth of the coaching industry in the last years. I’m a certified professional coach myself, and during my certification phase I met and worked with dozens of coaches. Surely they hope to make a living from coaching, and a good one for good measure. But actually they are very much all about helping other folks. I see more people accepting the idea that they don’t have to do everything alone but can accept help from others. There’s more bonding, more creating of small spontaneous ‘cells’ of people supplementing each other’s strength to form something powerful .
Mastermind Groups
And this is exactly why Mastermind Groups are coming into focus now. People are searching for ways to bundle their strengths and profit from the bundle. Mastermind Groups do not work in the long run if they are not based on accepting and supporting each other. Social Darwinism doesn’t work at all, and it’s not en vogue any more. It’s more the ‘We’re in this together’ thing where I profit when I help you get what you are looking for, and that includes no less than acceptance, support, and love.
Fun
And let’s not forget a lesson that Anonymous are teaching us. Effectiveness doesn’t mean that there is no fun. On the contrary fun seems to be a spice that we always want to cultivate and add to all ventures we undertake. With Mastermind Groups, being playful and ready to give and receive a laugh is the best way to keep success working (’KSW’).
I am not a Scientololgist but have been following it’s rise for
since the 1970’s. Their use of the web is really quite brilliant
in the way they use viral video and short mini movies to
communicate their message.
I have been using the concept of the Mastermind for over 20
years and am currently involved in a Mastermind group that
has five members living in four countries. We have been together for
several years and have used web posting and conference calls
to communicate with each other. It is completely democratic
and has no leader other than the group conscience.
I highly recommend the use of the principle of the Mastermind
and am anxious to see what this new site / destination can do to
further my exploration and journey in this growing area of
personal and group involvement.
Best of luck!
Great stuff Frank – on a number of levels.
The Scientology stuff scares me too but I particularly like the legendary golf commentator David Feherty’s view on Tom Criuse. For many years Feherty has suffered from depression and alcoholism. It’s been a lengthy battle but he’s in pretty good shape now and he had this to say about Cruise’s line that there is no such thing as depression and it can all be cured by exercise:
“Tom Cruise says there’s no such thing as depression, that you can get better with physical exercise. Well, maybe he’s right—beating the shit out of Tom Cruise would be physical all right, and it would fu-kin’ cheer me up, and a whole lot of other people.”
Genius – I think you’ll agree.
In relation to the Mastermind thing – as you well know I think masterminding is an incredibly effective tool and I’m delighted that you’re working so hard to make people aware of it and providing such great tools.