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My wife and I recently watched The Vow on HBO Max. It’s a nine-part documentary about NXIVM (pronounced “NEX-ee-um”), an organization that claimed to provide personal and professional development training programs.
Think Scientology in its early days, when it was an unorthodox therapy program without all the sci-fi religious mythology.
Like Scientology, its true nature was much more sinister. NXIVM quickly grew into an abusive cult. Female members were referred to as “slaves” and were pressured to brand themselves, hand over nude photos as blackmail material, lose unhealthy amounts of weight, and have sex with NXIVM founder (or “Vanguard”) Keith Raniere.
The power and ease with which Raniere ensnared so many smart, successful people struck me as nothing short of demonic, but it’s nothing new. C.S. Lewis warned against following such men and their bankrupt philosophies almost 80 years ago in his book The Abolition of Man.
Two moments from the show struck me as particularly revealing.
The first is an exchange from the first meeting of Raniere and Smallville actress Allison Mack, who later became Raniere’s top recruiter of female “slaves.” If you have HBO, you can find it in the fourth episode around the 30-minute mark.
Continued below.
C.S. Lewis and the NXIVM Cult
Think Scientology in its early days, when it was an unorthodox therapy program without all the sci-fi religious mythology.
Like Scientology, its true nature was much more sinister. NXIVM quickly grew into an abusive cult. Female members were referred to as “slaves” and were pressured to brand themselves, hand over nude photos as blackmail material, lose unhealthy amounts of weight, and have sex with NXIVM founder (or “Vanguard”) Keith Raniere.
The power and ease with which Raniere ensnared so many smart, successful people struck me as nothing short of demonic, but it’s nothing new. C.S. Lewis warned against following such men and their bankrupt philosophies almost 80 years ago in his book The Abolition of Man.
Two moments from the show struck me as particularly revealing.
The first is an exchange from the first meeting of Raniere and Smallville actress Allison Mack, who later became Raniere’s top recruiter of female “slaves.” If you have HBO, you can find it in the fourth episode around the 30-minute mark.
Continued below.
C.S. Lewis and the NXIVM Cult
