Kenja the New Age Cult

Image by flavijus via Flickr

I managed to watch a new documentary on the Kenja Cult on our National Broadcaster on Sunday Night entitled Beyond our Ken. It struck me as I watched it, how similar many of the cult followers were to the more rabid followers of Christ and indeed some of the Mercy supporters I have come across through this blog.

I encourage you to go to the film web page and view the trailer above. For Australians the documentary is available through iview and on ABC 2 this coming Friday.

Compass, the show that presented the documentary summarised it as:

This film goes inside Kenja, an Australian cult accused of, among other things, sexual and emotional abuse of its members. For 25 years Kenja has fought all the negativity the world could throw at it. Its charismatic 80-something leader Ken Dyers and his wife Jan Hamilton allowed the film crew unprecedented access to the ‘spiritual evolvement centre’ they founded in 1982. This apparently utopian organisation has been accused of practising a hypnotic form of mind control. Through candid interviews and verite footage, this film explores the anatomy and ambiguity of the ‘cult’ enigma.

[source]

Watching parts of this documentary I felt distinctly uncomfortable. I could see from a mile of this man was a con (especially when he started demonstrating “Martial Arts” -albeit very badly to control a compliant male). I have had the misfortune of coming across sexual predators before and this man displayed body language and posture that sent of alarm bells within me. When he appeared with a young women who he had “schooled” in sexual energy I had to leave the room.

So all through the film I was making links with the cult aspects of Mercy and Kenja. I recommend the documentary for anyone with an interest in cult workings and anyone who has followed the Mercy Stories as there are some interesting similarities especially the demonisation of those who act against them.

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