How To Not Be A Cult | Protecting Your Autonomy in Spiritual Communities

How To Not Be A Cult | Protecting Your Autonomy in Spiritual Communities

From For the Love of Yoga with Nish the Fish by Nishanth Selvalingam

June 7, 2026 · 1h 47m · Season 8 · Episode 266

About this episode

The episode discusses the emergence of hierarchies in spiritual communities and the importance of protecting individual autonomy.

It is very, very easy even in a community centered around anti-establishment revolutionary values for hierarchies to emerge spontaneously: its usually the weirdest, most eccentric clown that rises to the status of outcast king of the clowns in a circus gathering of weirdo outcasts that we call "sangha". And after all, what is a spiritual community but a gathering of weirdo outcastes for whom community and sense of belonging have been withheld by mainstream society? Its this very need ...

People in this episode

Host: Nishanth Selvalingam

Topics covered

  • spiritual communities
  • autonomy
  • anti-establishment
  • hierarchies
  • sense of belonging

Keywords

  • cult
  • spirituality
  • community
  • hierarchy
  • autonomy
  • belonging
  • anti-establishment

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