What is also particularly disturbing to me is that there are numerous licensed clinicians who are members of this cult, and who see no harm in recommending the MKP to their clients. Even with the best of intentions, this is highly suspect and unethical–and probably illegal in most states. Yes, there are people out there who claim that it changed their lives and made them better people. But you don’t need to join a mind control organization to improve your life and make yourself a better person.

WRT the original point of the article: my husband went on the weekend about a month ago. I’m very unhappy with the commitment he made to them / they extracted from him about keeping everything secret without discussing how I felt about having secrets in our marriage.

It’s actually quite fuzzy, they said, “You can share your personal experience,” (which most people take to mean the GUTS work) “…but no details.” Unclear on what exactly that means, he’s shared only maybe 1 hour of his 2-1/2 day weekend.

I’ve been EXTREMELY upset since then and have spoken to several of the men involved locally. Quite a few are surprised that all the details aren’t posted on their web site, so word of this must have gotten around. Of course if you look you’ll find a worthless 1-page FAQ and that’s it. So it has never been implemented, and men are both told to keep it a secret “especially [from] women, they wouldn’t understand mens rituals”, and required to sign what is essentially a non-disclosure agreement before they can attend the weekend.

Not a Christian, but sure as hell not happy either…

I want to strongly discourage, in a most serious manner, everyone reading this from participating or joining in the Mankind Project.

At the graduation ceremony, I ignorantly told people, “Don’t walk, but run to MKP.” Now I’m begging you, “Stay away from this group.”

If you’re currently a “Christian” member of MKP, I pray that you’ll reconsider your affiliation with them. MKP rituals, ceremonies, and spell-casting does NOT harmonize with Christianity in anyway. Please be advised.

Truly,
Greg

Keep in mind that I do not believe in a Higher Power or Higher States of Consciousness. I don’t believe in any Hierarchical system outside of the organization of people and the greater society. I view all religions and forms of spirituality as a falsehood and I don’t feel that I need a group of SEARCHERS to help me find my way towards an enlightened life. I ride alone, on my own path and control my own destiny.

There’s nothing for me to learn from MKP, no anger I need to get in touch with, no wounds I am not already working on to heal myself and no reason for me to compartmentalize my battles into rituals. For me, every day is a ritual, a celebration and a test. I live for the moment and express my feelings and desires when I have them. Mankind Project doesn’t serve me because I am an individual. If I error and my own actions fail me and those I love, I learn from them and try my hardest not to repeat them.

MKP unfortunately would be redundant for me and if anything a clear example of going about the wrong way to find the right answers.

My own goals may share a great deal of commonality with the core of MKP’s mission but I do not agree with the path they are taking.

Therefore, I shall not follow that path and will carve my own. No matter how hard it may be, at least I know it’s mine.

I am by far upper middle class anything. I’ll pay for your weekend. Let me know what center and training. I’ll have the deposit there the day you sign up. I will even fly out there and staff the weekend.

It’s the upper class members that support the finances and help others attend. I went 10 years ago and was sponsored in by other members I didn’t know. I will return the favor.

The only stipulation is that you go with an open mind. Bring all the judgments you want.

Hey this sort of thing may float your boat and be beneficial to you and others like you but considering that MKP’s secrecy policy is now defunct, there’s a lot of info about the retreat, it’s methods and it’s effectiveness. There are a great deal of men who found this retreat to be ineffective and if anything, fraught with Pseudo-Psychology and New Age Spiritualism.

You know, at first I thought this retreat was a good thing and very much what Men in this hyper-feminized society need. But, after doing extensive research and talking to a few MKPers about it and knowing their current lifestyles, I now see what it is all about.

Mind you, I never once called MKP a Cult. Those are your words, not mine.
It’s not a Cult. Far from it! It’s the kind of Postmodern group therapy that runs rampant in the New Age Spiritualist Community.

To be specific, I personally know 5 men who attended MKP and all of them are still living basically the same life they lived before attending and participating in MKP. The only difference I have seen is that they now have a few buzz terms to justify their lifestyles. Wow, big whoop!

Next time one hires a prostitute, cheats on his wife, cheats on his boyfriend or lies to his family, friends and lovers about his lifestyle I’ll be sure to know that MKP has helped him lead a life of integrity and honesty because now he has an honest acceptance that those dishonest actions are a part of his nature.

Sorry, that just doesn’t fly with me!
You can bang on drums, meditate all you want and participate in as many rituals as you like, but if you don’t take accountability and change certain ways you are living which are destructive to he relationships of those closest to you, you really aren’t making any progress towards being a better man.

FYI – I grew up surrounded by all of these New Age ideas and know first hand the major gap in what these practitioners think and how they act.

I also don’t think that MKP is some seriously dangerous thing. I’ve been through Basic Training and MKP doesn’t even come close to that. It’s just a series of symbolic and ritualistic events crammed into a weekend retreat.

Yeah, and it costs on average $650.00 to attend! Already, with that kind of price tag it excludes the majority of the male population. So convince me that MKP isn’t a luxury for the upper middle class who have time and money to spend on this kind of “self help” and I will begin to take it seriously.

After every weekend there is a homecoming ceremony. In your area, after the next weekend, instead of bashing something you know nothing about, go to the homecoming and tell the 30 men there that it was a useless cult. Than listen to how it saved or changed their lives. Than you will have the opportunity to hear their families thank them for having the courage to go.

Gay and straight. Than maybe you could mention your partner and his struggles after the weekend.

Your right…you have zero evidence to prove any of that. It doesn’t exist.

Sorry, I will rephrase. His ex boyfriend is a longtime MKPer and the course, network, etc has done nothing to change him positively either. In ways he’s worse than my boyfriend because of his predilection for male prostitutes and generally negative and vampireal personality. MKP did not make him a better man.

Bradjmx4,

You cannot assume that I don’t support my partner from anything I stated in the prior message. Further, I am confident enough in my support of him to not even bother justifying myself to you in regards to it.

The fact is, MKP is a fraud! Just like Scientology is a quasi-psychology, so is MKP. You cannot reprogram yourself in one weekend. Sure, you can learn how to make even better justifications for your actions by claiming that you now know the right way, but any actual positive change has to happen from you and you alone. For one, you have to see that being a man with integrity has just as much to do with your ability to be honest about your nature as it does, making steps to improve upon your nature.

Another great misconception about MKP I’d like to clear up is that it’s Ani-Gay.
It couldn’t be further from. If anything it’s a network of upper middle class Homosexual men. If any Hetero man is under the assumption that MKP will be like a real bootcamp, he’s wrong. It’s more like Body Electric and all those other Homo Wellness groups.

Even though I have ZERO evidence to prove this I’d guess MKP is also a screw fest. Considering that I have met several men over the years involved with this who all seem to be of a similar ilk, Gay Sex Charged New Age Yuppie/Hippies with money and time to waste on these silly half baked self help programs.