a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
"the cult of St. Olaf"
a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
"a network of Satan-worshiping cults"
synonyms:sect, denomination, group, movement,church, persuasion, body, factionMore
a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.
"a cult of personality surrounding the leaders"
synonyms:obsession with, fixation on, mania for,passion for, idolization of, devotion to,worship of, veneration of More
Well, I don't actually believe in cults. Cults are just life. Most of us are born into one cult or another. Cults are a way of life. They are the rule, not the exception. The fear mongered everyone into this idea of a cult. A cult is just everything. Who isn't in a cult? The United States is a cult. The corporation you work for is a cult. The church down the street from your house is a cult. Your family is a cult. Your band is a cult. School is a cult. Everything is a cult. Your life is a cult. My butthole is a cult. You see? This word cult is bogus. The human mind is the mind. It functions a certain way. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Cults are a structural part of the conditioned mind. They are a part of human psychology. People naturally form in-groups and out-groups in all walks of life. People everywhere hero worship. People everywhere follow things unquestioningly. People believe things just because authority figures say it. People look to others to validate them and verify them. This is part of the mind. In general parlance or the media, the term cult basically means a group that we are afraid of for one reason or another. You may think the reason for being afraid is valid or invalid, but it is immaterial. If we all agree that it's a cult, it's a cult. How cultish.
I had to get a definition of this word to be able to reply. I believe all of us have a cult of worship for something or someone. I suppose we are all trying to elevate our sense of worship to something higher and more worthwhile. So our definition become more meaningful and less shallow. I remember seeing people at the mausoleum when i went to see Paramahansa Yogananda's crypt. They were mostly there because Micheal Jackson was buried there also. From a Buddhist prospective it would be easy to say that I was making a cult of Yogananda and perhaps I was. But being there at the crypt seemed to help me and my meditations. I believe I recieved a miracle there. I think we learn thru our hero worship and our veneration for certain people as well. I have learned that it is important to let many of these strong attractions go. It is because of theses attachments that have caused much suffering.
The most important figure to follow is our true self but we often get a picture of what this is through our contacts with others we admire and venerate.
