The Heart of a Cult (Book) - 10/12/2006 5:22:48 PM
One Woman's Journey
The Heart of a Cult is a captivating story about a vulnerable young woman spiriling into what she perceives to be a spiritual awakening, but what turns out to be not much more than a reality check AND enormous debt.
The narrator, Michelle, a Denver-based web site designer suddenly finds herself downsized. Facing her 30th birthday without a job (or a boyfriend), and a best friend who is so engrossed with her new boyfriend and a spiritual teacher known as "Ma," Michelle allows herself to be talked into attending a lecture in Boulder. Something clicks for Michelle when she enters this seemingly welcoming community and she ends up moving to Boulder and investing an enormous amount of money she doesn't have to a lecture series. Further, she volunteers her time to create a web site for Ma, a project she'd normally charge $5000 to complete.
The style Lena Phoenix presents feels more like memoir than fiction, and this makes it easy for the reader to not only believe everything that happens, but also to understand it. Instead of getting upset with Michelle for handing over more cash and more hours, and for rationalizing so many of the inconsistencies in Ma's teachings, I found myself saying, "yes, I can see how easy it is for a person in this situation to behave like this and believe these things."
The writing is easy to read, several typos notwithstanding, and I recommend for readers who enjoy reading first novels and for anyone interested in learning more about how and why people get involved with cults or alternative spiritual quests.
