It is not often we get to read and review Keith Raniere’s published writings, especially those written in Spanish.
Readers are in for a treat, courtesy of my friend, Juan Alberto Vazquez, a long-time journalist for Mexican media and author of the upcoming book, Nxivm, La Secta Que Sedujo A Mexico. He has kindly translated the article below for us.
Juan Alberto Vazquez
Of course, Raniere himself did not speak or write in Spanish, but he had one of his students, Ivy Nevares, write the article in Spanish, based entirely on his concepts.
The article below appeared in Conocimiento Magazine in June 2007. In it, Raniere reveals a lot about himself in a gripping and truthful way – although, of course, he is not ostensibly referring to himself but speaking of himself in the third person – as a psychopath or Luciferian.
This is well worth studying for it is reported that psychopaths enjoy giving clues about their being psychopaths.
Here is a famed cult leader – an extremely successful one for more than 20 years – whose place in history may not yet be understood [I think he will rank above Charles Manson as the preeminent cult leader of the modern era]. He is writing about psychopaths – and, while doing so, describing himself – at about the midpoint of his cult career – 2007.
Yes, he knows the mind of the psychopath well – as you can see in his article. That is because he is one himself.
“Sympathy for the Devil”
By Keith Raniere
Start by imagining that you have very low self-esteem, similar to a spoiled child who “grows” and becomes an individual who feels entitled to things: You expect everything; you are not willing to give anything, and because of that, you feel great bitterness.
Nothing in life seems to come out as you want, you constantly feel you are a victim of others and of circumstances, and the only time when you feel good is when you are satiated through carnal vice [sex].
Ultimately, you know that that kind of satiating doesn’t do you any good, but you can’t imagine spending more than a few moments without it.
And the idea of engaging in activities that bring self-esteem (which of course requires effort, and because it requires effort, it can be painful), is not only ruled out: it is unpleasant!
So the more you sexually satisfy yourself, the worse you feel. The worse you feel, the more you feel you need to satiate [through sex]. With every decision you make supporting this ominous pattern, you unknowingly fortify it and, soon it grows inside you like a cancer.
Now imagine that you reach a point where nothing (not even satiating yourself) can ease your discomfort.
It is not about not seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel”. In this case, you don’t even know there is a tunnel: you are surrounded by darkness and endless desolation. You feel worse than ever in your life: depressed, upset, disgusted, unpleasant, and, more than anything,
hopeless.
You have already given up on yourself and the world; the only thing left is apathy. Having reached what you perceive is the lowest point of human existence, the last hope dies in you that you could ever feel good and alive again.
By losing all hope, you lose all fear. Consistent with those who are truly depressed, you also lose the fear of dying. Then suddenly, in your darkest moment, you see something wonderful.
After days of a kind of famine, you try the first drop of an exquisite nectar. In this unfortunate state, this single drop is the greatest delight you have ever tasted.
This drop, an initial act of pure destruction against humanity, marks its first divine glimpse of anti-conscience (MR).
As with Lucifer, the happiness and successes of others remind you of your own pain. In calculated reactions, you attack, by purging such happiness and successes from people in your surroundings and in doing so you experience something beyond mere relief.
You discover that there is, beyond a mere drop, more than the nectar itself: You find an infinite amount of nectar – which is what you want – and the more you taste, the better you know everything.
In contrast to the past, it cannot be filled: you are not satiated; It is never enough.
What develops is the deepest addiction with the most intimate roots. The drug that runs through your veins inducing ecstasy – is power; particularly, the power to destroy the happiness of others – the destruction of that which is painful.
The basis of this power is to have gotten rid of your conscience, which gives you the ability to dominate all those who still have it.
You now respond to power as a cat responds to catnip. At first, the cat gives a few blows to the grass, and as the catnip takes effect the cat goes into a frenzy, and the greater the frenzy, the more it affects the grass.
Comparable to the first dose of heroin or crack, testing anti-conscience (MR) for the first time causes the deadliest change: It is to go beyond the point of no return. They say that the first dose of these drugs alters the human brain. This virginal alteration of the brain can never be repeated (otherwise it would not be “virginal”). Some believe that heroin addiction or crack addiction is a futile attempt to repeat this unrepeatable brain experience.
Once you have accepted the anti-conscience (MR) feeling – power consumes your life. With the destruction of your conscience, you lose all hope and when you lose hope, you lose all humanity. Without humanity, there is no guilt. You don’t care about others. You don’t care about lying, cheating, stealing or any other form of destruction. It is possible to be the greatest Machiavellian in the world.
********************************************************
Keith Alan Raniere around the time he wrote the above article.
So Keith truly reveals a lot about himself. Let us recap what he wrote in the article without the thinly veiled disguise that he is referring to someone other than himself.
He admits he was a spoiled child [Raniere was an only child] and grew up feeling entitled. As a young adult, he expected everything and was not willing to give anything in return. He began to feel bitterness and developed low self-esteem when he found that kind of lifestyle doesn’t work well.
Raniere began feeling nothing in life came out as he wanted, and believed he was a victim of others and of circumstances [instead of his own selfish behavior].
He admits the only time he felt good is when he was satiated through sex. Intellectually, he knew sex addiction didn’t do him any good, but he was so addicted that it was on his mind constantly. He had to always arrange to have sex. He couldn’t even imagine spending more than a few moments without sex. This is why he always had to have a harem.
For Raniere, the idea of engaging in activities that provided self-esteem (which of course requires effort, and which effort can be painful), he ruled out because it was unpleasant.
It was a vicious circle. The more he satisfied himself with sex, the worse he felt. The worse he felt, the more he felt he needed to have more sex. He reached a point where even sex couldn’t ease his discomfort.
At a point when he felt worse than ever: depressed, upset, disgusted, unpleasant, and apathetic, he gave up hope that he could ever feel good and alive again. He lost all hope, and fear, even the fear of dying. Then suddenly, in his darkest moment, Raniere saw something wonderful. He compares it to nectar – the greatest delight he ever tasted: the desire to commit acts of pure destruction against humanity.
He was always resentful of the happiness and successes of others since it reminded him of his own pain. Now, he had the answer. He used his intelligence to attack others’ happiness and success – and, in doing so, he experienced something beyond mere relief.
He found that unlike sex, which can become exhausting, he could never be satiated with the joy of destroying others.
He admits he developed the deepest addiction. The drug that ran through his veins, inducing ecstasy, is power; particularly, the power to destroy the happiness of others.
The basis of his power, he knew was that he had gotten rid of his conscience. This was his secret as the Vanguard and the reason he created his cult – without a conscience, he had the ability to dominate all those who still had a conscience. [I think he also worked to destroy the conscience of his closest followers.]
He uses the analogy of the cat responding to catnip: as it takes effect, the cat goes into a frenzy, and the greater the frenzy, the more it hurts the grass. As Raniere enjoyed more power, he affected the grass [his followers] more and more deeply.
This was his delight. Feeding into power consumed his life.
With the destruction of his conscience, he lost all humanity. He had no guilt. While pretending he was the Vanguard leading an ethical mission – coaching others and trying to bring about their success – he was secretly plotting the destruction of their happiness or worse.
He did not care about others. The record shows that almost all of his followers were miserable and unhappy, He kept them semi-starved and sleep-deprived. He stripped them of their money and had them work as slaves. He even set up a sorority to brand them with his initials. A women’s empowerment group that required them to be slaves.
He didn’t care about lying, cheating, stealing or any other form of destruction. It was possible in his mind that he could be the greatest Machiavellian ever. He could build a whole life-coaching organization with famous and wealthy people – and 16,000 people taking courses over 20 years and hundreds of people who considered him their mentor, guru or teacher – when all the while he had only one goal: to destroy their happiness.
Knowing this about him – can we doubt that he may have murdered Gina Hutchinson, raped Rhiannon, killed Kristin Snyder, helped cause the cancer in women who lived with him and ruined his followers one by one – all the while the great Machiavellian was pretending he was the best teacher, ethicist, lover, boyfriend and mentor in the world?
It is funny – and deeply appropriate – indicative also that there is such a thing as karma – Raniere is in prison – and others now control his happiness.
A judge, prosecutors, the Bureau of Prisons, his victims who will send or read letters to the judge regarding his sentencing, prison guards and even prisoners have been granted the ability to destroy his happiness.
Some may enjoy destroying his happiness as much as he did to others.
The lesson to be learned from this, I think, other than a study of our great psychopathic cult leader, is that he found that both sex addiction and the addiction to feeling the power to hurt others – provides no lasting pleasure. In the end, you wind up like Raniere – in a dank and dirty cage – and right back where he started from – depressed, upset, disgusted, unpleasant, apathetic, and without hope that he can ever feel good and alive again. Because he can’t. He is to spend the rest of his days in a cage.
Too bad he did not make the effort years ago – when on the precipice of despair through his madness of sex addiction – and work at things that would have built some self-esteem for himself.
It seems running deep in Raniere, through everything he did, was fear – and this made him unhappy. He was the most abject coward.
Too bad he never learned that fearlessness brings happiness in a moment.
