Well, anybody can fall into the trap of a cult even those who pretend the contrary. I have a friend who nearly fell into the scientology, but the good thing is he had no money or nearly no money so he could not afford to pay all the books of “self development”. He is a karate black belt, very grounded. But there was a moment of vulnerability in his life and he was approached by some disciples. The first things were free so he said why not, and then a lot of psycholigical pressure and phone calls to push him to continue etc. He stopped and the phone calls continue for several months.
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In a political party, mainstream religion you can leave the institution freely. In a cult it can be extremely dangerous to leave and often you need the help from outside for your escape. The objective of the guru is to suck your money . So you cant compare a cult with a church or association or political party etc except maybe if you are in a totalitarian country 
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The sad thing is that gurus are actually supposed to be the exact opposite of what we think of them now. But again, it really depends on the party or religious group. For example it is most likely you will have found friends in the party/religion. This makes it harder by itself. Now imagine if the party is tending more to the left/right side of extreme. Or the religious group is more fundamentalist/traditionalist orientated.
The worst case would be growing up in such circumstances and everybody expecting from you to think and behave the same way.
Btw even the word “cult” in its original form means something completely different from what how we define it now, just as guru. It really is a shame.
What I am saying is that everywhere where people meet you can, if you will, somehow somewhere find “cult-like tendencies”. Everywhere. Take us for example.
An outsider could easily think this was a cult and that Saint and Fire are the focus point we all worship.
You really can find a cult in anything, if you want.
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Saint and Fire are not pushing us to buy their product even though there are hype thread 
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You are correct @anon3072973 when u say guru is not used in the original meaning. In the country I am living, guro is a teacher, like guru in sanscrit. But it has also a negative meaning, the self centered, self fish guy who has a lot of influence on his disciples, often very charismatic and highly materialistic. Money is the key point in a sect/cult with the negative meaning
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Avengers68 - I think you missed my original point and just went off on a different tangent, which is fine, but you seemed to imply that there was some issue with what I was stating and that you were addressing it.
My point was that there is a psychological tendency for people to go all in on an ideology, religion or person and treat it as a sort of panacea. Obsessing over an idea, person or thing as the one right answer. This is also a psychological feature of cult mentality.
I think this is something to look out for in one’s psychological tendancies and extirpate.
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Do you not think their could be a core truth in which different spiritual groups point to in their own ways, making it effectively productive to follow them fully?
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It’s not the road that’s the problem; it’s the way we drive on the road.
similarly,
It’s not the truth that’s the problem; it’s the unacknowledged power dynamics, agendas, and compulsions that we enact in the expression of the truth.
We’re humans and that’s what we do.
Being a healthy member of ANY group requires maturity, humility, and personal responsibility. But quite commonly, people mistakenly decide that a profound or beautiful ideal can be an acceptable substitute for personal responsibility. It can’t.
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Do you know Mindvalley ? What do you think of it ? I have a lot of ads from them on Youtube
Mr. Dan Peña speaks…
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I love it every time he says “Look at you!”
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Brilliant video, I agree with every word. I love it when he calls the audience “worthless pieces of shit”. 
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Surely if you set specific goals with a pass/fail state along the way of your journey of PD, than you can measure your progress in relation to your desired endpoint or “someday goal”.
IDK what am I not seeing here? he is the fifty billion dollar man after all.
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I guess he means something that can be objectively measured by someone else, like numbers or facts.
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He is right and wrong at the same time.
He is right because people spend endless money and hours on self-development without actually achieving something, but they feel like they do because they put so much effort into it. In another video he says before personal development there was personal success. For him, today’s self development is too vague, not delivering actual results.
What he is wrong about is that there are certain aspects in humans that just need time and can’t be measured. It is just like with the bamboo which roots you cant see and then one day you can watch it grow rapidly.
What is also important to know about him is that he is a very strong advocate of taking action. So you could say the way to make self development measurable is by taking action and measuring the results.
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@Avengers68 MindValley has some really good products. And their programs tend to be very structured giving you a clear step-by-step idea of what to do.
Of course, you’d have to commit to going through the program as they don’t come cheap. Like most things, I consider them a luxury-product that you could opt to do if you can spare the money, not something that is essential to your future. And be critical, much like something like Udemy, there’s good stuff and not so good stuff. So do your research.
They have good marketing, hence the many ads and the apparent abundance of professional models leaving reviews. 
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Well if you can sell someone a dream then they are going to want to buy it
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The guys sounds like a complete idiot to be honest. Why would you shout at your clients\audience and call them worthless pieces of shit ?. Great way of destroying someones self esteem.
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It’s Dan’s unfiltered style of telling it like it is, no-bullshit, very military bootcamp vibe I get from him. Sometimes that’s what people need, you just can’t take it personally. I can see how that might not work for some people.
He made his money in the oil business (not my favorite biz), but he’s also taught many of the popular self-help guys like Jason Capital, Dan Lok, and Brian Rose.
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