I just came home from an amazing program with my spiritual family in Toronto. I have been walking this path for six years now, and recently I got triggered by a new T-shirt that says: "THE BEST CULT EVER."

My first thought was: really? There are already people who think we're a cult. Why would we push the limits? Then I started thinking about what the word actually means.

What does the word actually mean?

For me, in my judgemental thinking, a cult is about control. Someone tells you what to do. You obey. And if you don't, there are consequences. Fear is used to make you comply.

So I looked at the school I've been part of for six years, to try to understand if I was ever forced into anything like that. Where is my free will being taken away? It isn't. I couldn't find any of the "bad guys" concept in my real life.

What I'm actually asked to do

In this school, I am constantly being asked to know myself. To question myself. To make my own choices. To take responsibility for my life. To develop discernment. To become more capable. To become more God — and God, as we understand it through the teachings, is good. God creates beauty. So God is everything that is good and beautiful. We learn about ourselves and the fabric of creation, we practice applicable magick, and we train mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

So why is this a bad thing?

And there is another part that stands out deeply, which matters if we are to make the world a better place:

• Service.
• Healing.
• Teaching.
• Initiation.

Using what we learn to support other human beings. So I started wondering: why would any of that automatically be bad? Is there any cult doing what we do?

What are we actually measuring?

Here is where I would actually challenge the way we use the word cult. Before you call something a cult, what are you measuring? People training together? A teacher? A lineage? Teachings, standards, commitment and discipline? Those things already exist in universities, martial arts schools, churches, professional organizations, sports teams and countless other communities — would you say those are cults?

Commitment isn't automatically control, the same way discipline isn't automatically obedience. Guidance isn't automatically surrendering your power. A teacher can challenge you without owning your choices. No one can own you if you don't allow it. A training can require commitment while still respecting your free will. And needing guidance doesn't mean you are incapable of thinking for yourself, or that you are weak. Actually, I think there is tremendous strength in being able to say: "I don't know. Teach me."

"You always need outside assistance, and you have to be confident enough that you can choose that assistance in a wise way."
— Sovereign Ipsissimus Dave Lanyon

That one stayed with me. Because I don't believe I was born knowing everything I need to know. I have fought against authority my entire life. I became an activist pointing fingers at "the bad people," society, politics — without moving a finger to actually make it better. Now, thanks to the Modern Mystery School, I have tools to create change.

I have blind spots. There are things I couldn't see about myself until someone else reflected them back to me. There are things I couldn't learn without training. And there are things I became capable of because someone challenged me beyond the limits I had placed on myself. That doesn't make me less free or less myself. It gives me more choices.

Look at the individuals

And maybe this is where I would invite you to look again, too. Don't look only at what a group calls itself, or how people throw stones at them the way they did with Jesus. Look at the individuals inside the group. Are they happy? Why?

I asked myself all these questions, and more. Am I more capable of making my own decisions? Do I take more responsibility for my life? Do I know myself better? Can I think for myself? Do I have more tools, more discernment, more strength and more capacity to serve? Am I becoming smaller, or am I becoming greater? Those are the important questions to ask.

And how free are you, truly — if:

• You don't know yourself?
• Fear makes your decisions?
• You avoid the conversations you know you need to have?
• You keep repeating the same patterns?
• You don't trust yourself?
• You believe that asking for help means giving your power away?

Know Thyself, then choose

For me, Know Thyself is at the heart of the whole thing. And maybe the most unexpected part is this: I didn't lose myself by walking this path. I found more of myself. More strength. More readiness to take responsibility. More discernment. More clarity upon making a choice. More capacity to serve. More joy and fulfillment in my life. More capacity to have healthy relationships. More understanding. More control over my mind. The list goes on.

So before deciding what this path is, maybe ask a different question: what is this path training the human being to become? Because maybe the thing you thought was a threat to freedom — in this case, "a cult" — is actually a training in how to use that same freedom.

And if this group makes me a better person, helps me create a better world, helps my own evolution, and trains me to help others — then I want to be part of the Best Cult Ever. I'm not asking you to become ignorant. I am asking you to use your own discernment, based on direct experience.

If people think we're a cult, then let's be the best cult ever. The best culture ever — with the best people, best teachings, best healers and healings, best guidance, best recertifications, best communication, the best transformations, best teachers, best warriors of light, best system, best order, with people and teachers who care deeply for your well-being. The best culture, dedicated to world peace and self-empowerment.

One tribe, one people. We are in this together.

I am forever grateful for this lineage, and the transformation it has brought to my life.

Know Thyself, then choose. That, to me, is free will.

Curious to hear it laid out clearly? Here's a short, honest look at what actually defines a cult — and how it holds up against a real training.

If you'd like to go further still, the school has written honestly about this too — in its own words, not mine:

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