I just got a call from someone I used to be very close to in cult-land. One of the folks we joined up with died of cancer (I'm not clear on what type, just that it was reproductive). She never got out. She had two sons who are grade school age now. She died poor and without healthcare. I remember her as having chronic illness issues back when I lived on the farm. And now she's gone.

I've never met a sicker bunch of people than the hare krishnas. Everyone who has been in it long seems to have some kind of chronic illness. Including me. And it seems like a disproportionate number of devotees die of cancer. I think it was Alice Miller who talked about trauma leading to the body completely turning on itself that way. The cultists call it "Krishna's mercy," when they suffer, that Krishna is helping them remember him and lose their attachment to the body and the material world.

Advice from an ex-cultist: Run far, far, far away from any group that glorifies suffering. They will do you violence and then stand back to admire their handiwork.

Good-bye, Gopi-Lila. Lisa.