"I don't care if Moon is like Hitler;I've chosen to follow him, and I'll follow him to the end!"

「我不在乎文鮮明是不是像希特勒，我已經選擇要追隨他，那我就會跟隨到最後！」

(the Believers - Meet a Former Cult Member)

(the Believers - 與前邪教成員見面)

- This was me just before being recruited into the Moonies. - Look at that!

- 這是我被招入統一教之前。 - 看看你！

Steven Hassan is a counselor, cult expert, and former cult member.

Steven Hassan 是一名諮詢師、邪教專家和前邪教成員。

We went to talk to him about his experience.

我們和他聊了他的經歷。

My name is Steve Hassan, I'm a licensed mental health counselor, and I'm an author of three books about cults, the most famous of which is "Combatting Cult Mind Control".

我是 Steve Hassan，我是執照的心理諮詢師，也是三本邪教相關書籍的作者，而其中最有名的是《對抗邪教的精神控制 》。

I got interested in this whole subject after my family deprogrammed me from a two-and-a-half-year involvement with the Moon Cult in the early '70s.

我在 1970 年代早期、入統一教兩年、我家人幫我脫離統一教後，開始對邪教主題感興趣。

The Moon Cult, or "Moonies", refers to the Unification Church founded in the '60s by Sun Myuan Moon.

明教，或稱 「統一教」，指的是世界和平統一家庭聯合會，是由文鮮明在 60 年代創立。

The group was known for its mass weddings and staunch anti-Communist beliefs.

該組織以集體婚禮和對共產信仰的堅決反對而聞名。

The world view of a member of the Moonies was very "us" versus "them".

統一教成員的世界觀是把「我們」和「他們」的關係劃分的非常清楚。

We are the chosen, we are the elite, we are gonna take over the world.

「我們」是被選中的人、「我們」是精英 、「我們」將接管世界。

Only Korean will be spoken, all other religions will be abolished.

只能講韓語，其他宗教都會被廢止。

When and why did you join?

你是什麼時候和為什麼加入的？

So, I was 19, I was gonna graduate, I was gonna be a poetry writer.

我當時19歲，快要畢業了，本想成為一名詩歌作家。

But my girlfriend dumped me, and I was lonely; three women, well, flirted with me.

但我女朋友把我甩了，那時我很孤單；然後跟三個女人曖昧。

And I remember asking at one point, "Are you part of some religious group?" and they said, "Oh, no, not at all."

記得有一次我問他們： 「你們是某個宗教團體的嗎？」他們說：「噢，才不是。」

They invited me over for dinner, and they were like, "Hey, we're going away for the weekend; it's gonna be so cool, you need to come."

他們還邀請我去吃飯，說：「嘿，我們週末要去度假；會很好玩，所以你一定要來。」

And I was very naive and trusting, and everyone was smiling and sincere and warm, and I was just like, not getting that this was a cult, this is how they operate.

而我當時非常天真和容易相信別人，那邊每個人都面帶微笑，誠懇又熱情，而我不知道這就是一個邪教，這就是邪教運作的方式。

What was your life like when you were with the group?

你當時和這個團體待在一起時生活是怎麼樣的？

A lot of recruiting or fundraising or political actionizing⏤those were the three major roles.

很多的人員招募、募款和政治活動──這些是三個主要的部分。

They... they would say you have to look three inches into people's eyes, like this.

他們會說你必須以三英吋的距離看著別人的眼睛，像這樣。

Hi, there.

你好呀。

- How are you? - Stop.

- 你好不好？ - 停。

Right, I was there for for two-and-a-half years, but I was made a leader, and that was the part of the allure, I guess?

對吧，我在那裡呆了兩年半的時間，被任命為領導，我想那也是誘惑的一部分吧？

So, when and what was the turning point that led to you leaving the cult?

那麼，導致你離開邪教的轉捩點是什麼時候，和為什麽？

Well, my last job in the cult was as a fundraising captain in Baltimore, and we were selling flowers on street corners.

嗯……我在邪教的最後一份工作是在巴爾的摩擔任募款隊長，我們在街角賣花。

Everyone on my team had to make a minimum of $100 a day, otherwise they couldn't sleep at night.

我團隊中的每個人每天都必須至少掙到100美元，否則他們晚上就沒得睡。

I would never ask of my members what I wouldn't do myself.

我絕不會要求我的成員做我自己不會做的事。

So, while I was sleeping three to four hours a night, normally, now I was not sleeping at all.

所以我本來每晚可以睡三到四個小時，但那時我根本就沒有覺睡。

And it lasted three days, and I fell asleep at the wheel of a van.

我堅持了三天，然後在一輛麵包車的方向盤上睡著了。

Woke up as I was driving into the back of a tractor trailer truck at 80 miles an hour or so.

接著車子以每小時80英里左右的速度開到一輛拖車的後面時，我醒了。

That accident put me away from the group for a few weeks⏤sleeping, eating away from the constant indoctrination,

那個意外讓我離開了這個團體幾個星期──睡覺、吃飯時能夠遠離不間斷的思想灌輸。

which led to me reaching out to my sister, who is the only person who hadn't said I was in a cult and I was brainwashed.

因此我去找了我姊姊，她是那時唯一一個沒有說我加入邪教然後被洗腦的人。

So, she lured me to her house, basically, didn't tell my parents who had been wanting to find me to help me.

然後她基本上就是把我哄到她家去，她也沒有跟我父母說，我父母一直很想找到我然後幫我。

- So, it was actually the near-fatal accident that saved your life in the end? - Yeah.

- 所以這場差點致命的事故實際上最後救了你的命？ - 對。

Have you been in contact with anyone since the day you left?

你離開後有沒有和任何人聯絡過？

So, as soon as I woke up, I wanted to get all the people I recruited out.

當我一醒來，我就想要讓那些被我召進來的人都退出。

Obviously, naturally, I felt ashamed and embarrassed and guilty.

看得出來，我自然而然地感到羞愧、尷尬和內疚。

And I've reached out to them all, but nobody wants to talk to me⏤they think it's too wrong.

我和他們所有人都聯絡過，但沒有人想和我講話，他們都認為那樣做實在是大錯特錯。

What was it like to reintegrate back into wider society?

重新融入社會的感覺是怎樣的？

It took me months to admit I was in a cult and speak out publicly.

我花了幾個月的時間才承認自己之前身處邪教，並公開發表了看法。

It took me a year before I could kiss a woman and not have the indoctrination in my head.

我花了一年的時間才可以在沒有被思想灌輸的情況下親吻一個女人。

It was very traumatic.

這是很痛苦的事。

Is there such a thing as a benign cult?

是否有善意的邪教？

Definitely.

一定的。

Yeah, of course.

是的，當然了。

I believe in there are positive religions and that spiritual experience is a great thing.

我相信有一些正面的宗教，而靈修也是一個好的體驗 。

If people know what they're getting into, if people are free to leave, if people are allowed to read whatever they wanna read and talk whoever they want.

如果人們知道他們要做什麼，如果人們可以自由地離開，如果人們能夠閱讀他們想讀的東西、與他們想交談的人交談。

What are we getting wrong about people who've joined cults?

我們對加入邪教的人有什麼誤解？

Nobody joins the cult to deceptively recruit it.

沒有人加入邪教是為了騙別人而加入的。

Citizen of the world look at someone in the cult and says there's something wrong with them.

大家看著加入邪教的人然後說他們有問題。

They're weak, they're stupid, they're this, they're that, instead of going...

他們很軟弱的、很蠢、很這個很那個，而不是說……

Wow, there was a very systematic mind-control regime that was implemented on them, and they just didn't understand what was happening to them, so they got programmed.

哇，邪教對他們實施了一個非常有系統的精神控制術，而他們只是不明白他們身上到底發生了什麼，他們只是被控制住了。

What techniques do cults use to recruit and influence followers?

邪教使用什麼方式來招募和影響追隨者？

They use deceptive recruitment so people don't know what is happening to them, thought-stopping, loaded language, totalist black-and-white ideology.

他們使用欺騙性的招募，所以人們不知道在他們身上發生了什麼，思想僵化、煽動性話語、總體主義的黑白意識形態 。

Those are the universal techniques.

這些方式很普遍。

As someone who's being in a group that has been called a cult, how do you help people in those same situations?

作為一個被稱作邪教團體的其中一員，你要怎麼幫助其他身處同樣情況的人？

My influence campaign is oriented to empowering people to think for themselves and give them information to reality tests so they can actually make a choice.

我的影響運動是賦予人們獨立思考的權利，並提供他們資訊來進行現實測試，讓他們可以真正做出選擇。

I can tell you what you shouldn't do is say, "You're in a cult!" and try to argue the person rationally out of it

我可以告訴你，你不該做的就是說 ：「你在邪教裡！」並試圖從理性上和這個人爭論。

because they've already been programmed to expect prosecution from people who are ignorant.

因為他們已經被洗腦到會料到那些無知的人的指控。

What it isn't is a quick fix.

它不是一個快速的解決方案。

I'm very grateful that I was rescued by my family, and I wish everybody had family who cared as much as mine and had the means to be able to help.

我非常感謝我被我的家人所救，我希望每個人都有像我一樣關心自己的家人，並且有辦法來幫助他們。

And most people don't.

但大多數人沒有。