The NXIVM Cult

By Leo Gura - July 26, 2025

All cults are about unconscious survival. All cults behave as they behave because their leaders and their members are not conscious of survival.

Here’s an example from the NXIVM cult’s founding document:

NXIUM’s 11th commandment: “Pledge to ethically control as much of the money, wealth, and resources of the world as possible because it is essential for the survival of humankind.”

This tells you everything. This is antithetical to true spirituality, which is the transcendence of survival. The desire or need to control the world’s resources is not spirituality, it is business as usual. It’s what all unconscious, under-developed, materialistic people do by default, without any need for education or development. The entire point of spirituality is to stop caring about your survival and the survival of anyone else or any group. Any organization trying to recruit you to promote a survival agenda is going to be corrupt, false, and a distraction from genuine spiritual work. The world is not ending and requires no saving. You are not important. You are not needed to save civilization.

The cult leader, Kieth Raniere, is now serving a 120-year sentence.