What does it feel like when an entire room seems to turn to shimmering gold, and you are certain you have just witnessed a miracle, only to later discover it was a hypnotic illusion? On this episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion, I sit down with my longtime friend, former client, and now colleague, filmmaker Jim Picariello. Thirty years ago, Jim was a devoted follower of Zen Master Rama (Frederick Lenz). His family hired me to help him leave the group, and together we unpacked how hypnotic suggestion, phobia indoctrination, and social pressure created those “supernatural” experiences and kept him trapped in a high-control cult.
In this conversation, Jim walks us through his recruitment as an anxious college student, the engineered “golden light” experiences that convinced him Rama was enlightened, and the fears that cut him off from friends and family. We also talk about how his parents and I worked together to reach him ethically, how a single powerful hypnotic demonstration helped break the spell, and what it took for him to rebuild his identity and life on the outside.
Today, Jim is a multi-award-winning filmmaker turning his story and decades of cult education into a dark romantic comedy feature called The Cult of Us, about two young people in different cults who fall in love and try to “rescue” each other. Along the way, we explore how fiction can teach people to recognize undue influence, authoritarian leaders, and coercive relationships in a way that is funny, moving, and truly life-saving. If you care about freedom of mind, rising authoritarianism, and how people actually wake up from destructive groups, this is an interview you will want to listen to and share.

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