Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
GTD 'cult'
duus | Sep 5 2006
so a friend of mine sent me this message. I am a big fan of GTD and find it very useful. I'm just puttin' this out there. [INDENT] Uh-oh. "J-R" seemed like it might stand for John-Roger -- the controversial cult leader and spiritual guru. And it does. http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/msia.html David Allen, his wife, and many of his employees are ministers in the MSIA (Movement of Spritual Inner Awareness), John-Roger's church: http://www.ndh.org/template.php3?ID=65 http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Ana_Maria_Gonz%E1lez/article14.html (employee quoting John-Roger) Anti-cult websites accuse GTD of being part of a program to recruit people into MSIA. Their view seems paranoid to me, but you can read it for yourself: http://forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?t=2193 http://forum.rickross.com/viewtopic.php?p=15025&sid=e3195755a2185f9b4710580921d3f527 Now, I'm not saying that Getting Things Done isn't a good book about priorities and organization. David Allen may have very good advice about that stuff. But I am saying don't go to a David Allen seminar, get mixed up with the David Allen Company, or get too involved with the hard-core GTD crowd -- at least not without taking some anti-brainwashing measures. Seriously. This John-Roger character and his followers are not a joke. I learned about John-Roger a long time ago, as it happens, because in high school I read a self-help book called "Life 101" that he "co-wrote" with Peter McWilliams, the poet and anti-drug-war activist. In 1994, not long after I read "Life 101," McWilliams wrote an expose called "Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You." McWilliams left MSIA in 1994 after 15 years of being brainwashed. It turned out that John-Roger manipulated him into giving him co-authorship in return for keeping McWilliams alive. You see, John-Roger had the power to keep McWilliams alive because -- and this will surprise you -- John-Roger claims to be the incarnation of God on earth. John-Roger has also made headlines in connection with Arianna Huffington -- who admits to being a close friend and who has been accused (though she's never admitted it) of being an MSIA minister as well. [/INDENT] 72 Comments
POSTED IN:
 Previous systems were from cult-ministers tooSubmitted by richardbushnell on July 26, 2007 - 2:24pm.
I'm interested in this topic because I used to be a member of the Mormon church. Most non-Mormons see Mormonism as a cult. A lot of my Mormon friends had Franklin planners when I was young, and thats how I got into life-organization in the first place. Franklin was a company started by Hyrum Smith, a Mormon (and actually one of Mormonism's founders' great-grandsons, as far as I remember). He then joined up with Stephen R. Covey, also a Mormon. I then read Covey's First Things First and The 7 Habits of Effective People, which are still bestsellers. Even though I no longer agree with their personal beliefs, it doesn't really affect their ideas about organization. Maybe Covey talks about principles a little too much. But he doesn't really try to get you involved in organized religion, so I don't care. On the other hand, I bought Covey's latest book, the 8th Habit, and cannot bear listening to it. It is so full of his personal biases and assumptions based on his faith that I have to turn it off. GTD, on the other hand, doesn't have much of that. The only assumption or unprovable assertion I could possibly take from it would be the overall goal of achieving a "mind like water". But as I understand from studying some non-religious popular psychology, that is quite a good state of mind to be in - one where you have banished worry and bad feeling from your emotions and mind. So even though I'm very wary of cults now, I am not at all phased by David Allen nor GTD. I don't think anyone else need to be neither. And the reality is, most people don't want to be in a cult. I didn't, and my family, who are still members, wouldn't want to be, and don't think they are. They are not trying to do anything harmful to anyone. » POSTED IN:
|
|
| EXPLORE 43Folders | THE GOOD STUFF |
