Zendik

Yeah, I really think that place has lost what little charm & integrity it had. Looking at the website, somehow Zendik seems more cult-like now than in the late 90s when I spent some time there - I can't place it, maybe it's the lack of people in the pictures who aren't kids, or maybe it's that cleaned up look: the place no longer even appears funky, just conservative really. All hint of funk has been purged along with most of their long-time residents. I think we need to tell them that they've joined the "deathkulture" now as mini "money monarchs," so get off your high horse and start another real estate developmemt.

 

Or should that be "stop bitching, start another real estate development"?

 

That's funny!

 

Interesting diatribe about Zendik can be read at

http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2003/zendikhead.html

 

Loved the article!

 

Actually I have read a lot of articles about Zendik over the years and I have to say that is the most paranoid and incorrect one I have ever read. Sorry guys, but I don't think that anything they said was at all accurate. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty wrong with what is going on with Zendik these days, but the stuff in that article didn't address any of the legitimate arguments that I and others who have actually been there have against the place. In fact, it only made me, and I am sure others who spent any amount of time there, realize just how uninformed, paranoid and idiotic the person who wrote it was. I don't post about Zendik here very often anymore, but I had to put in a few words on this one since that article was a giant pile of crap. If you really want questions answered about Zendik then sent me an email and I will try and help you out. Just don't ask me if you should go there or not. Running your life is not my job.



Rasha



hi_rob@email.com

 

Actually the article described Zendik exactly the way I was told about it by people who were there when they were in TX. I sent the link to my friends that have been there and they agree.There are a lot of people on the outside of the commune that do see the zendiks out and about and do make fun of them and laugh about the music etc.Seems you took that article a bit personal rasha...peace

 

Finally a response to Eddie Prestige's diatribe. I'm certainly not saying that the guy's right, but what the article does show is how Zendik is perceived by some. Yeah, he's mostly talking trash, but I think he hits the nail on the head whan he describes Zendik marketing techniques.

 

First I do not take anything about Zendik personally. As I said, there are allot of reasons for why I would not advise anyone to go to Zendik. My main point was that the article that was being touted as a good description of what goes on at Zendik and that was not true, just like most other information that is written about them (both good and bad). It was, I agree, a very good example of how people may perceive what life is like at Zendik, but as far as containing much real truth about what is going on there, it failed miserably. Yes there were one or two points that are close to being accurate (yes the stuff about selling the mags and cd as well as his opinion about the music I would agree with), but they were few and far between. I was there for almost 3 years. I am curious as to how long your friends were there. I have heard many rumors about what really goes on there. One guy I met insisted that he had been there and that they did not even have electricity or running water, and that they spend all the money they get on crack (and yes he was totally serious). My main point is that if you are going to criticize Zendik you should at least get it right, not buy into the rumors that surround any community that is doing things against the established ideas of society. If you want to talk bad about the place, there is plenty of ammunition, you don’t have to make up stuff just so you sound like you know what you are talking about (not anyone here, but rather they guy who wrote the article).



Rasha

 

had to edit that.......zendik supporters creamed their twinkies over it.......

 

OMG........some of you people(michellel) need to really get a grip.If you are that offended when someone laughs at zendik then maybe you should try to act in a different way instead of sending me hateful messages and proving to me that you are stupid.Why am I not allowed to post on this forum?You don't own me,you don't pay for my internet service.I think it's funny how someone sends me hateful messages and says zendik is wonderful blah blah...then why aren't you there now? get your panties out of a wad and go take some midol.At first the things told to me about zendik disturbed me, most still do.I feel sorry for those that went through the things they did.But now,those of you that are too cowardly to posts things to the public and whine and complain to me about how hateful I am to zendiks and that I better hush,etc,etc........well I think you are just morons and yes, I laugh at you.peace.........

 

i'd just like to add my perspective on zendik. i've never been there. but we've hosted their road crew at our sassafras co-op house and they all seem very nice and happy with their situation. a good friend of ours has been living there for many years and likes the place. he would not be staying if it was a bummer, he has plenty of other places where he could live if he didn't like it there. personally i know it is not the place for me because like people have pointed out it is too rigid and single minded and too focused on the cult of personality of wulf zendik and their music sucks. in those ways it is like another religion or many other communes. but they don't kidnap anyone and if you don't want to live there you don't have to. you can start your own community. but it takes work and serious dedication. but it can be done. i'm not that much into communes because there is too much of a tendency to try to make everybody the same. the yashuas are the same way but they are religious focused. i used to see both groups on dead tour a lot because they found a lot of idealistic young people looking to live in community and they were established communities that you could just move into as long as you followed their rules. but if you don't want to follow their rules then start something else. we're meeting some good people thru this forum and we'll be helping some of them start communities in different areas of the country. the 1st ones we're helping get started are rabbit and willow who posted a thread yesterday about the community they are starting in CA. so check them out. or check out our newworldrisingforum@yahoogroups.com for other options. there is a new world in birth and you are it. peace nwrfred

 

Rasha: I think the many readers (numbered in thousands) who read this thread might be interested in hearing some of your experiences at Zendik, and to hear, specifically, why you left & how you feel the place has changed over the years.

 

I spent two 10 day stints there a year apart (so twenty days total). While they are not exactly a cult in the pop-culture sense of the word, they most certainly are a "follow the leader" religion. Wulf himself was dead-set against any religion and many times wanred against deifying the dead. He never claimed to be a god, prophet, or messiah. However, since his death Arol his life partner (she's not his widow since they were not married) has commanded that he be worshipped. They pray to Wulf, thought they will tell you that it is not prayer but requests for psychic guidance, and do research into his fullfilled prophcies.
Now Wulf never claimed to have made any prophcies, his followers explain this away with the claim that they were secret hidden prophcies that he wanted people to discover after his death.
Anyhow, mostly they are nice kind folks, a little drone like perhaps, but nice. Creative too, especially in the areas of architexture (sp?) and music. Arol (currently the great leader guru person) is by far the creepiest, scariest person I have ever met and probably ever will meet, but the rest are friendly and nice. They will let you live there and become one of them just as long as you argee to be a believing member of their religion. They are not muich different from other religions in that respect. It's kind of like a monastery of sorts.

 

thanks professor, that seems like an objective analysis and presentation. though i must say my impression of arol was not so negative. but i haven't seen her in action at her home base since she is now in charge. i just met her at an earth day program about 10 years ago. it is important to be objective in our analysis of different groups so we can decide what we like and what we don't. because we're all learning and learning from mistakes, both our own and those of others, is important if we want to learn to do things better. developing community is not so easy. and it doesn't do much good to demonize others even if we disagree with them. peace

 

Yeah, I have heard (and this is just heresay mind you) that Arol was fine up until Wulf died but then she went a little coo-coo. Anyhow, I forgot to mention that they have very tasty food, and lots of friendly animals to pet.

 

(Professor, that Stalin quote is fantastic!)

It's important to understand that the Zendik Farm experience is very different for those who are only staying for a visit and those who express intentions to stay forever (the commitment, as I've said, is similar to the concept of marriage). Once you begin to prove that you are committed-- ditching your "square" clothing and books, handing over cash and property, expressing the desire to change your name, submitting to group humiliation, etc.-- you gain a sliver of trust from the Zendiks and their treatment of you becomes quite.. er.. intense. Casual contact with the Zendiks won't give you a reliable picture of what it would be like to live with them indefinitely-- to "become" Zendik.

Have I mentioned that the Zendiks hate hippies? Making vicious fun of "rainbow people" and deadheads was something of a communal pasttime on the Texas farm. This has deeper implications (the Zendiks' refutation of history) that I've now hinted at without enough computer time left to extrapolate. I do so yammer on..

 

Okay, I've got a few more minutes..

And speaking of refutations of history, has anybody read Arol's new essay on the Zendik site? It's on the homepage (where her article on the election used to be). Intense self-mythologizing-- her personal history presented as having diverged from the whole of human culture somewhere near the discovery of fire. As if modern history is of no consequence, does not concern or influence her. A very strange and revealing essay, for all its seeming incoherence. The bit about how we're "just starting to get mad" ignores the entire history of social struggle (as old as history itself). Jesus, man, even Jesus (or at least some of his friends) fought the Man, man.

Then there is the matter of Zendik Farm's history, what it came from-- the American counterculture of the 1960s/'70s. Studying the commune movement of that era shows that Zendik Farm was one of hundreds of such groups, the bulk of which held common goals and used similar tactics.

Without considering its historical context (then and now), Zendik Farm seems like a laughable anachronism-- or worse-- something new.

Of course, I'm running out of time again..

 

It's interesting that the Zendiks have adopted such seemingly enlightened ideas (cooperation, cosmic cause & effect, environmentalism (supposedly), truthfulness, etc.), yet they seem to lack the critical ability of self examination. It's always Arol & friends TELLING us what's wrong with everything, but they never seem to take a genuine look at themselves, such as evaluating the history of their own movement, as Red Lentil points out. I think the Zendik's lack of a sense of history stems from their anti-intellectualism. They can't or won't try to understand their place in history, in society, or in the economy. They see themselves as separate and above everything & everyone else and refuse to admit that they're as dependent on the "death culture" as the rest of us, heck they barely even farm anymore. I think that it's this blindness that is causing their downfall. Imagine that instead of kicking people out, they actually tapped their potential. What a powerful force they would have created. Instead they insulate themselves from the world psychologically while depending more and more on it physically.

 

Added some stuff to my last post. It's much better now.