Ex-Morninglanders

Guru’s Ego

Some spiritual communities claim that a spiritual guru has no ego or they would not be able to embody such a large spiritual body of light and be free from emotions. Then there are similar claims of gurus having no personality, which is why they were able to achieve the said enlightenment in the...

What Makes a Group a Cult

Cult survivors and writers Karla McLaren and Janja Lalich PhD (author of Take Back Your Life) outline the following four components that, in their opinion, create a cultic group: charismatic authority, transcendent belief system, and systems of control and influence. Another cult expert and...

Transparency – Life in Morningland in the 2000s

Transparency builds trust and encourages accountability. Those who use secrecy and deception to build trust know very well that if they revealed their workings, very few people would join or even trust them. If Morningland were transparent, their full history would not be a taboo but would be fully...

Donato’s Past & Private Investigator

Donato’s Marriage(s) This image is labeled August 29, 1968, however their marriage certificate is dated July 15th 1964 in Los Angeles County Below are pictures of Patricia and Donato at Disneyland. That’s Linny/Rada-Amie (their daughter (they also have a son Mark)) peering in from the left of...

Category - Blog

What is a cult? Is Morningland Community in Long Beach a cult? Who joins cults, and why is it so hard to leave? Thinking critically about our experiences.