《周处除三害》有大段情节与 cult 有关。这位“尊者”五毒俱全，他主持的这个团体，确实很“邪”。

可是，作为统称，我赞成将 cult 译作“膜拜团体”，而不是“邪教”。
其实邪教的“邪”，不是“邪”恶的意思，而是异端“邪”说，即 deviant or heretical, as opposed to ‘orthodox’, ‘mainstream’ or…without putting too fine a point on it…’state-backed’! Which explains why it was important for spiritual groupings to fight for the blessing of the most powerful political/military ruler in the country at the time.

但客观地想一想，现在的主流宗教，创立之初难道不都是小众 cult 吗？

我这样定义灵修膜拜团体：

A spiritual cult is a close-knit or loosely organised grouping of people, typically with a variously named central figure, offering evidently palliative and purportedly curative care to its members experiencing the blight/bliss of spiritual awakening or existential crises (e.g. spiritual perplexity, emptiness/purposelessness and/or feeling unfulfilled), often involving mental and/or physical rituals, esoteric teachings and transcendental experiences. When a cult gains traction among a sufficiently large following, it becomes a ‘religion’.

膜拜团体的领袖，往往具有超强的人格魅力，气场能笼罩并左右追随他的人。
你追随此人后，原本灰蒙蒙的生活一下有了亮色，有了盼头。
At the end of the day, if a guru can supply a need that you have, without costing you an arm and a leg, and if you feel happy when you are in their company or when you are receiving instruction from them, then you’ve got a good deal. When you are happy and your mind is open, you have a better chance of success in whatever you do. Win-win!

That said, if the guru is serious about their followers’ spiritual well-being, LOVE and HONESTY must be the base colour that defines their cult, as is the case with any close relationship. Come to think of it, is there a closer relationship than a spiritual one?

Love and honesty are simple words, but to live by them consistently is no mean feat. When you have too much to lose, honesty is the first virtue to go. Ego, for example, is the nemesis of honesty. To be honest means to prostrate oneself before truth. When a healer with a guru status fails to heal a patient, does he or she have the humility to admit ‘failure’ and to refrain from blaming it on the patient’s receptiveness or ‘subconscious resistance’, the onlookers’ scepticism, the room’s Fengshui, or the weather being too damp?

As a spiritual teacher, never lie! If you lie, you repent and promise never to do it again. Otherwise you will do it again. It gets easier and easier, and the slippery road becomes your favourite hiking trail.

有些精神导师发心很好，跟《周》片里的“尊者”绝非同路人，但到头来还是得靠一些自认为“无伤大雅”的谎言来维持自己的地位，为何？因为他们自命不凡，出人头地心切，未得究竟，已为人师，overpromise and underdeliver, 早早给自己披上袈裟，早早有了需要维护的“地位”！当年下山时，玉壶冰心，意气风发，但到了山下，须耐得住冷落与寂寞，矢志不渝地维护自己的纯粹，难！

我到底想说啥呢？我也不知道。我为何要写这些有的没的呢？这个我知道：有位老师说过，writing is therapeutic!