FECRIS A Critical Perspective

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By joe108 on Oct 9, 2008 | In Sai Baba Controversy

FECRIS And Friedrich Griess Endorsed And Publicized Psychic Psychotherapist Conny Larsson
FECRIS Conference: Brussels: Saturday 25 March 2006
“The Internationalisation Of Cults: A Danger To Human Rights In Europe?”
Guest Speaker: Conny Larsson
(FECRIS = Fédération Européenne des Centres de Recherche et d’Information sur le Sectarisme)
(FECRIS = European Federation of Centers of Research and Information about Sects)

Information About FECRIS And Friedrich Griess:
Friedrich Griess is the Catholic president for FECRIS, an international organization that seeks to disperse information about cults, cultic groups, cult leaders, sects and new religious movements they consider to employ psychological manipulation against its adherents. Further information about the agenda of FECRIS can be found on Fecris’ Presentation To The European Parliament On 24 April 2003.

FECRIS, Friedrich Griess And Psychotherapist Conny Larsson:
FECRIS takes a skeptical position towards so-called “psychics” and “spiritual healers” and is particularly critical of cult-like psychotherapists who use their titles and education to psychologically manipulate, coerce and/or influence individuals into believing they are spiritual healers and/or psychics. FECRIS’ position towards cults, cult leaders, gurus, sects and New Age groups is contradicted by the fact that they publicly endorsed, publicized and vouched for the integrity and credibility of Psychotherapist Conny Larsson, a man who happens to be a cult-like leader and Vedic mantra and meditation guru who claims to have over 10,000 “students”. Conny Larson also claims he is a psychic trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa.

Maharshi Vyasa (who is believed to be an incarnation of the Hindu God Lord Vishnu) is considered an immortal sage who wrote the sacred texts to the Vedas, the Brahma Sutras, the Mahabharata, the Eighteen Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. For Conny Larsson to claim that he is channeling the spirit of Vyasa, he is portraying himself as a self-proclaimed prophet whose words carry the authority of God and are to be considered on par with divinely inspired scriptures that are revered by hundreds of millions of Hindus around the globe!

However, Conny Larsson not only claims he is trance medium for the spirit of Vyasa, he also claims to be a spirit channeler, a pet psychic, a meditation guru, a yoga guru, a Vedic mantra guru, a devotee of Shankaracharya Swami Brahmananda Saraswati and a psychic therapist who can diagnose disease and illness by using a crystal pendulum (Ref)! Conny Larsson also runs the Vedic Master Website and publicly solicits himself with other psychics, mediums, spirit channelers and New Age practitioners (Ref).

It is very disturbing and hypocritical that FECRIS and Friedrich Griess would compromise their position against cults, cult-leaders and sects just so they could publicize Conny Larsson’s unsubstantiated smears and defamations against his former guru, Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Apparently, FECRIS and Friedrich Griess see absolutely nothing wrong in soliciting the integrity and credibility of a psychotherapist turned self-professed prophet and alleged “internationally renowned” psychic trance medium. Shame on FECRIS and shame on Friedrich Griess.

Friedrich Griess - A Long History Of Defamations:
It appears that Friedrich Griess (the president for FECRIS and Board Member of the Austrian group GSK - Gesellschaft Gegen Sekten Und Kultgefahren or “Association against Dangers of Sects and Cults”) is willing to go to great extents to sling mud at new religious movements and has been convicted for defamation against a minority religious group the following times:

Court case GZ: 17Cg 15/96d in Vienna Commercial court in Sept. 1996.
Court case GZ: 17Cg 15/96d in Vienna Commercial court in March 1997.
Court case GZ:37Cg 77/98x in Vienna Commercial court on Sept 1998.
Court case GZ: 17 O 85/98 in Stuttgart County Court in Germany – June 1998.
Court case GZ: 37Cg 19/00y in Vienna Commercial court in March 2000.
Court case GZ: 8E 3407/00 w in Klosterneuburg District Court.
Judgment procedure GZ 8F 2687/02 s-3 in Klosterneuburg District Court.
Copyright violation case in Korneuburg County Court GZ 16Cg 115/02.

Therefore, it is not surprising that FECRIS and Friedrich Griess widely solicited Conny Larsson’s allegations on their official website (dedicating no less than five webpages to him) while purposely suppressing the fact that Conny Larsson is a psychotherapist turned self-proclaimed prophet and Vedic mantra and meditation guru. FECRIS and Friedrich Griess will go to any extreme to smear groups they consider to be “sects”, even at the cost of compromising their objectives, purpose and integrity.

Proof That FECRIS Should Be Highly Critical Of Psychic Psychotherapists Like Conny Larsson (Select Text):
In a FECRIS article entitled Psychotherapeutic deviation: The use of psychotherapy in the case of cult influence, Psychiatrist J.F. Armogathe and GEMPPI Chairman Didier Pachoud wrote an article that was highly critical of psychotherapists who use their titles and education to psychologically manipulate, coerce and/or influence individuals into believing they are spiritual healers and/or psychics. Some select quotes from the article:

Psychotherapeutic deviation
The use psychotherapy in the case of cult influence

Cults are in the process of massively investing themselves in the health and well-being sector, particularly in the psychotherapy niche. According to some people, this is a result of the profession having no legal controls in most European countries, and when there is some form of regulation, it is not able to compensate for problems arising from some kinds of abuse, particularly mental manipulation, made easier by this type of activity. For others, this phenomenon arises from the fact that some countries give support to alternative medicine (it is sometimes strange when they are not considered superstitions), through the creation of State Certificate, or through granting them legal status.

All commentators point to their growing success, singling out a technological pseudo-Buddhism or pantheism known under the New Age label. In this kind of scenario, the master or guru often bears the title of psychotherapist. They adorn their “New Age” doctrine and beliefs with scientific and psychological vocabulary. This is usually a kind of psycho-sectarianism using psychological principles known throughout the profession, mixed in with superstitious or religious beliefs. Generally speaking, this is about making a connection between the soul of the patient-follower, easily mixed up in their mind, and a universal energy or awareness. This higher energy is supposed to be capable of granting knowledge, well-being, power and complete cures.

However, access to this energy is virtually impossible for non-believers, who are “overly conditioned by their education and by society, too mentally polluted to gain an awareness of its profound reality” and to reach this other dimension of life (an illusion often put forward to be Maya Hindu). But success is guaranteed when directed at a total holistic insider, a channel, a mediator for transcendental reality. Whether he puts himself forward as a guru or a psychotherapist, he claims to have complete knowledge of what we are made of – body, mind and soul – and he therefore knows how to resolve problems with neuroses, psychopathologies and other illnesses… For him, medicine and psychotherapy do not treat symptoms. He treats real, deep-seated causes. These “true” causes are supposedly spiritual, astral or psychic.

The “guru-therapist”, often alone in his view on things and in his doctrine, therefore becomes essential, as these “initial causes” are generally unknown to scientists. It would be more honest for these holistic therapists to put themselves forward as healers, clairvoyants, etc.

Cults and healing gurus often use several psychotherapy techniques simultaneously (see below) and add occult and magic practices to them, such as Reiki and alternative medicine and very fashionable things such as kinesiology, which claims to be able to interpret stress and psychological moods by touching muscular tensions. (On the subject of Reiki, please see GEMPPI bulletin no. 43)

When an incompetent psychotherapist does not understand the information supplied by transference or uses counter-transference badly – or doesn’t use it at all; when a psychotherapist uses his patient’s transference for non-therapeutic ends (financial gain, the flattering of his own ego on a psychological and/or sexual level); when a pseudo-therapist uses transference – and encourages it – in order to manipulate a weak patient with a view to steering them towards a cult or small pseudo-therapeutic group.

Some psycho-cults or forms of psychotherapy occasionally misused or which easily lend themselves to sectarian deviations:

Bio-energy – bio-energetic analysis:
Method created by Alexander Lowen, who drew his inspiration from Wilhelm Reich. According to Lowen, a fundamental energy is present in the body, manifesting itself in the form of psychic and somatic phenomena: bio-energy. Some exercises consist of hitting the couch with the feet, while shouting. This goes some way towards Janov’s primal scream. More recently, Lowen added an idea of spirituality into his body/psyche equation, which paves the way for cults.

Biofeedback:
In the USA during the 1960s, New Age, a powerful mystical trend threw itself into yoga, meditation and relaxation techniques. Some movements such as Transcendental Meditation (listed as a cult by MPs in 1995) mixed together spiritual beliefs with psychological techniques, offering huge success (leading names in show business were great converts) with methods for modifying the frequency of certain brainwaves.

Channelling – a new version of spiritualism:
This represents a return to good old-fashioned spiritualism brought up to date by a modern, catchy vocabulary. This concept is all about communicating with the hereafter (the deceased, angels, extra-terrestrials, entities, etc). While in a trance, the channel-medium appears to relinquish their body to a spirit who speaks through their mouth. One of the best known of these mediums was Edgard Cayce. Other people have also exploited the system, such as the Maguy Lebrun groups (whose A.P.R.E.S. organisation was listed as a cult in the parliamentary report of 1995). But where is the therapy in all this? In fact, the therapists are the entities or spirits which, through the channel-medium, prescribe treatment or ways for psychological calm to follow.

Glaudianism (catharsis):
This is a form of psychotherapy invented by Albert Glaude which aims to "revive blacked out periods responsible for ill health…using a symbolic tunnel", but in fact, this method very often culminates in suggested false memories regularly and arbitrarily diagnosing parental rape or sexual abuse in the first months or years of life as being the cause of psychological problems. (see GEMPPI bulletin no. 56)

Lying and past lives:
A method more spiritual than psychological. This is used by a number of cults, such as Scientology, which draw their inspiration from the religions of the Far East. Members regress into the history of their past lives. These so-called past lives are particularly suited to suggest false memories and therefore to give orders on therapy or how to lead your life.

Metamorphics (techniques):
Techniques with close links to reflexology and invented by Robert Saint John, who drew his inspiration from Chinese beliefs, philosophy and medicine. A lot of therapists and healers work in this field, concentrating on "life force" or "energies".

Reich Wilhelm – Reichian Therapy:
Therapy founded by Wilhelm Reich, who broke away from Freudian philosophy. Reich made the sexual orgasm the prototype for the functioning of the body, which goes from tension to relaxation, from bio-energy charge to release. He named this concept: orgone. This orgone appears in the body, in plants and in the atmosphere (it is easy to imagine the interest this theory presents for psycho-cults that advocate pantheistic and tantric beliefs). All psychosomatic problems arise from orgastic dysfunction. The establishment of full orgastic powers can therefore bring about the healing of mental imbalances. For Reich, sexual repression (social, moral, education) lies at the heart of orgastic dysfunction. The prevention of neuroses is therefore accomplished through sexual, cultural and political revolution. This sexual revolution causes not only a barrier for the personality, but also the creation of a barrier for muscular tension. This barrier, this muscular stiffness contains the whole story and meaning behind the origins of each of us. The orgastic way of thinking must therefore be re-established by first of all identifying the seven zones of bodily inhibition (representing the seven chakras of yoga) in order to enable the orgone – orgastic energy – to circulate properly. Massages are performed, accompanied by breathing exercises. Finally, Reich tried to directly affect bodily energy concentration through the use of orgone accumulators meant to catch and store atmospheric orgone (atmospheric vital, or sexual, energy). These accumulators were boxes made up of alternate layers of metal and organic materials. To try and find a cure for cancer and to attract this mysterious Orgone, he carried out experiments on nuclear irradiation, which caused him and his collaborators to develop serious illnesses. Obviously, science has not recognised the existence of any Orgone. Reich did, however, inspire lot of creators of various forms of psychotherapy. Tantric-inspired cults were to find justification for their practices in Reich's way of thinking. We can see a particularly close link between this psychological doctrine and kinesiology, which is very fashionable at the moment.

Transpersonal (psychology):
This provides a bridge between all sorts of human disciplines: the body, the mind, the conscience and eventually the soul. Generally speaking, this is about using and interpreting mystical states or occurrences. During the 1960s, users of hallucinogenic drugs and Carl Gustave Jung thought along these lines. Conversely, Freud defined these states as "oceanic experiences", or "regressions to the mother’s womb". These practices are similar to those performed in Raja yoga Brahma Kumari, another cult listed in the parliamentary report of 1995.

Astral voyage – leaving the body:
These techniques are much more spiritual than psychological, and are used by many movements listed as cults (the followers of Samaël Aun Wéor, for example). These therapists mimic Hindu beliefs, while caricaturing them, consisting of making the spirit or the astral body break free of the physical body. This is what some New Age followers believed when they experimented with psychedelic drugs (LDS, magic mushrooms) as was the fashion in the USA during the 1970s. South American hallucinogenic plants are currently coming back into fashion in certain cults, which claim to have an initiatory practice using these drugs, like shamanism. There are plenty of shaman-therapists or psychotherapists on the psycho-spirituality market at the moment. Inspiration is drawn from both Native Americans and Tibetan lamas. But some people who have tried the astral voyage had the painful surprise of not recovering their mind and stayed in distress in the ethereal world (a psychiatric hospital, for example). There are certain connections between these methods and techniques of assisted waking dreams – therapy based on the patient’s imagination.

Reference

Ironically, this FECRIS article describes Conny Larsson perfectly and leaves one to wonder why FECRIS would take a critical position against psychotherapists turned psychics yet wholly dismiss and ignore their arguments when it comes to Psychic Medium Conny Larsson.

Conny ‘The Con’ Larsson:
Did Conny Larsson con FECRIS by purposely suppressing the fact that he is a psychic medium, trance channel for the spirit of Vyasa, Vedic mantra guru and meditation master? It would appear so. Conny Larsson conned the Anti-Cult expert Rigmor Robert into writing the preface to his Anti-Baba book and conned the Indian rationalist, skeptic and atheist Basava Premanand into publishing his Anti-Baba book in English. Basava Premanand happens to believe that psychics like Conny Larsson are frauds, liars and cheats and is willing to pay anyone who can demonstrate alleged psychic abilities 100,000 Rs (Ref). Why are all these Anti-Cult, Anti-Guru and Anti-Sect people and organizations endorsing, publishing and promoting Conny Larsson? Did self-professed “multi-millionaire” Conny Larsson pay for these endorsements?