The Cult in my Grandmother's House

A cult always creates an atmosphere of hostile confrontation between the outside world (“them”, “they”, “not one of us”) and its own little world (“us”, “we”, “one of us”). Those who are outside the cult are by definition sick and wrong, and the task is to cure them and teach them how to do it right.

Cults “decorate” their teachings with elements of esotericism and mysticism, some kind of secret knowledge accessible only to select people, so that its members believe that, despite the inconvenience, they are still special and chosen and part of a certain higher circle, the only ones who understand the true essence of things.