This is Part 16 of the Lauren Salzman series as we continue to analyze her role in Nxivm. Part of our study concerns whether Lauren is more victim or more perpetrator. She will soon be sentenced.
Lauren is on the witness stand. She is being examined by AUSA Tanya Hajjar and she is testifying against Keith Alan Raniere at his trial.
The date is May 20, 2019.
In this post, we shall see that there was a DOS book, rather like a bible – and that Lauren, who helped write the book following Keith’s micro-guidance and direction, is asked to read sections of it and explain its meaning.
In this respect, we are getting a rare glimpse at the philosophy of DOS as it was created by Raniere and explained to the slaves.
In essence, this is Raniere’s mindfucking of women. This is the technique he used not only in DOS but throughout the years. It was the same technique – only the wording and the specifics are different.
In this case, he plans to enslave them and abuse them and he paints a picture of it being for their highest welfare and good.
Of course, any sane person could see through his bullshit and manipulation. But Lauren and the other DOS slaves are not sane.
And that was the type he was always looking for – insane women. And that’s all he ever got.
Tanya Hajjar is examining Lauren Salzman. Her answers are often inarticulate, filled with Nxivm asshole jargon [i.e internalized experiential understanding] and she is a queen of the run-on sentence. But through it all, I think the reader will see the essence of Raniere’s self-serving, horrendous and deceptive philosophy. He was making women slaves, not for their gain but for his – not for their welfare but to their detriment – and he knew it.
Tanya Hajjar
Lauren Salzman
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Q You testified about the DOS book and your efforts with the DOS book; can you explain what that was?
A The book was, as I understood it, was the philosophy of the concepts of why have a master, why be a slave, like what are the benefits of doing that, why have a sorority or a group all collateralized, you know, with each other — with their masters and with each other, why — what it meant that you were making this commitment to serve a master and ultimately like that your master was supposed to be your highest priority and that your main job as a slave was to always be thinking about them and thinking about how to move their life forward and that should be the highest priority always above all other things.
Q Who created the context of the DOS program?
A Keith created it…..
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Q Did the defendant [Raniere] ever tell you what his plans were for the DOS book, what he intended for it?
A I think he wanted it to be like a — like what was — he compared it to some of the other things that existed in like the field of like yoga, so it could be something like that, like understanding how to have a relationship with your guru or, you know, those type of yoga practices but the book would be very pretty and it would outline the philosophy, people could go and they could study the book but the book was supposed to be secret and that he had envisioned that it would be kept in like a secret location and that people could go but they would have to be like basically checked that they wouldn’t record anything, they wouldn’t copy it, they wouldn’t take any pictures of it, you know, like screens to be able to go in and that the book could be like maybe chained to the wall or something, it would be secure so they couldn’t take it, they couldn’t copy it, there would be no evidence of it but they could go to these places and they could study this book.
Q …. did you have an understanding of where the book would physically be?
A We talked about the idea of [DOS] getting bigger and having different areas that would have chapters.
***
[Lauren is now asked to read sections of the DOS book]
Q Can you read the first text that appears under “Furtherance, Honor and Gratitude?”
A “Your sole highest desire must be to further your master from whom all good things come and are related. You must honor and hold your master and lineage above all others in every way.”
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Q Can you read the highlighted text, Ms. Salzman?
A “I believe something must be so, I allow for no excuses. It is the ultimate foundation.”
Q Was this concept, the concept of no excuse in DOS, a common one?
A Yes.
Q Can you explain that?
A Well, the concept came — I mean came first from I think SOP, the men’s curriculum, and possibly also Jness, the women’s curriculum within our NXIVM umbrella but the idea was in any circumstance because of the way that men are brought up and raised they have life experiences and certain cause and effect — a relationship to cause and effect that women don’t have and so that in any circumstance men have two options, they can either do the thing that’s required or take a consequence for it but that women because of the way that we are raised and coddled by society and by men in particular, we have a third option, we can do the thing, take the consequence or victimize ourselves, make an excuse and get off the hook and so this idea that women need to get rid of the third excuse was something that was — we had already been spending time interacting with in — within our community and curriculums.
So then the idea that we wanted to become these women who were self-reliant and who were willing to be able to do what it took to be responsible, participating, contributing members of society that the men in our lives felt they could depend on and count on and respect, we wanted that and so the idea of no excuses was like get rid of that third option and learn to do whatever it takes to show up and do the job.
Q Do you have a view on that concept now?
A Well, it started to become problematic when there were things that were valid concerns that were being raised and then we were told it was us making excuses and so things that were valid and of concern were turned back around and we were told it was our issue, you know, and that this is — we’re just being women, you know, and largely — I mean in part there was this idea that we were having some kind of democratic process but the truth was if we had objections to different viewpoints, it was always because we were being women or we were having issues because men wouldn’t have objections, they would just do it but that’s not a democratic process and so that became difficult.
Q Turning to paragraph 10 in the book, can you read the highlighted portion?
A “Seeing how I can’t move the object is blame. It’s what we do internally with excuses. Women in particular are miraculous excuse finders. Why? Because it works. If a woman goes out in public and there’s some sort of problem, she needs a bag carried or something terrible is happening, she has more options in our western culture to find excuses than men do.
“If you find you cannot do something or you can’t do something, that’s not an excuse not to do it. Saying you can’t do something is an immediate denial of potency. That is a practice you want to not do. You want to practice the opposite. You want to ask how can I do things in a way that I didn’t think I could do.”
Q And the phrase “women in particular are miraculous excuse finders,” is that the same concept you were alluding to previously?
A Yes.
Q This is under the chapters — the paragraphs with numbers 11, 12 and 13; can you read the highlighted portion?
A “The most important lineage is, if you will, your slaves, your slaves’ slaves, etc, and your master, your master’s master, your master’s master’s master all the way up like that. They would say what would my master’s master’s master say. So, actually — it is actually importing what your master and the lineage would say into all of your decisions, it’s holding them above.
“Well, actually everyone is related, everyone is in my lineage. I could extend my lineage to every single person. So I don’t have to hold anyone above anyone else. Everyone is equal, everyone is perfect, everyone is the same, we’re all new age. Let’s eat some crystals and all be happy. But that’s not what this is saying, there are people who are in your lineage and directly of your concern and people that are not. People of the lineage and that lineage just like the master becomes internalized and you hold that above all others.”
Q What is lineage in DOS, what does that mean?
A Lineage is — so, there are eight lines for the eight first line masters and anybody we enrolled under us. So, Keith at the top, then me, the women I enrolled, the women they enrolled, the women they enrolled, that makes one lineage. So, there are eight of them.
Q And the phrase, “What would my master’s master’s master say,” for everyone in DOS who is that person?
A Ultimately, all the way up is Keith is the master’s master’s master’s master.
Q So, these practices that come after the — there are lessons and there are practices beneath it, what are the practices?
A There were suggestions of something that you could do to build your internalized experiential understanding of the concept that was presented in — the philosophical and theoretical concept that was illustrated in the chapter. Then there was a practice you could do so it could become practical and you could learn to be that and live that.
Q Can you read that second practice please?
A “Contemplate why your master is better than all other people, why they should be held above all others.”
Q And was that put into practice in DOS, the concept of your master being better than all other people?
A Yes.
Q So, this is under Lesson 10, “What Does Master Mean,” can you read the highlighted portion?
A “It is a conscience of fear, it is not the highest but ultimately they should be able to make a vow and it should be so distasteful to break the vow that they’d rather die than break their vow and that’s a vow for everything. This is very physical manifestation of the vow with the brand, with all of this stuff that might really be the first and only thing that represents a forever until your last breath, collateralized and on an ongoing basis more collateral is put into this thing so we have an example to build all other things from.”
Q What is this describing?
A It’s describing that your collateral should be so distasteful that you would rather die than break your promise and that initially, you’re going to have this conscience, you’re going to be so afraid that your collateral might be released that you will build a conscience about it, that you’ll remember not to break it because you couldn’t live with yourself if you did, you couldn’t live with the consequences of that because it is so scary.
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Q So, under Lesson 16: “Nature of Commitment, Nature of the Vow… Can you read the highlighted portion, please?
A “That’s why the master-slave relationship works so well. You submit, you surrender yourself to a master but it’s the deeper principle that is symbolized through that person. This vow is more than that. When you make a vow to your master or when someone makes a vow to you, this is the deepest vow you can do, maybe as close a vow as being in the military where if you try to go AWOL they kill you which happens but even that, if you are a soldier out on war and you tried to escape and they kill you, that death is not necessarily as harsh a collateral as what we ask as collateral because people should say death isn’t even a way out, …. that’s how strong this commitment is.”
Q And did you consider your commitment to be this strong, as strong as described in the DOS book?
A Yes.
Q In that same section: “Discipline is correction and obedience to that correction;” can you explain – was correction a concept in DOS?
A Yes.
Q Could you explain that?
A If we did something and we are given feedback that it was not caring or loving or considerate or mindful, we were to fix it. Anything that was pointed out should be corrected.
Q And underneath that: “Obedience, it doesn’t matter what the command is, it matters that you obey. It doesn’t matter if you understand the command, it matters that you obey.”
A Yes.
Q Was that a concept in DOS?
A Yes.
Q This highlighted text: “Making excuses about it, you can suffer about it, you can practice interpersonal games in a way that you get around it;” what is this describing?
A It is describing making excuses not to just obey, not to stay and uphold your word to keep everything completely confidential and be in this vow of obedience.
Q Are these the same excuses that you were describing earlier?
A Yes.
Q Can you read what’s under Chapter 2?
A “Your greatest joy is to surrender completely all things in all ways without reservation completely exposed to your master and master’s will. The best slave derives the highest pleasure from being her master’s ultimate tool independent of use. By joyously offering all your decisions to be made or used by your master, you surrender your life… mind, body and possessions for unconditional use.”
Q Did this text under Chapter 2 have a role in the ceremony involving the branding that you described earlier…?
A Yes, we specifically said that in the branding ceremony, that “my greatest joy is to surrender completely all things in all ways,” almost word for word this whole thing we read; “I surrender my life, mind, body and possessions for unconditional use.”
Q And this practice underneath that chapter of “asking your master for permission with the greatest feeling of joy. Challenge yourself to do that. The most valuable decisions would be the ones you’re most afraid they’ll say no to” — was that also a concept in DOS?
A Yes, regarding like asking for permission for something and you should ask permission about the stuff that you feel most specifically attached to, so that if they say no, you know, you were willing to surrender it even if they said no. That’s how you know it was really particularly committed and obedient and surrender, that is the hardest thing and you’re willing to give it up.
Q In Lesson 4, “Without Reservation Completely Exposed,” the text under that reads: “So completely exposed means completely vulnerable without hiding anything, that there are no closets that are unopened, no little boxes, nothing unexposed, truly an open vessel.”
A Yes.
Q What did you mean by those words, “an open vessel”?
A An open vessel, like totally open to be able to serve any purpose or any function no matter what it is without evaluating the function, without judging the function, without reacting to the function, just being willing to do the function.
Q Is that the DOS slave?
A Yes.
Q Under the practices under this chapter, there’s a practice involving “sharing deepest fears, fantasies, secrets and thoughts;” was that part of DOS?
A Yes, some parts.
Q Can you explain that?
A That practicing sharing, that is a type of rooting out of pride or finding areas of fear and so exposing those would in theory being freeing and so that was a practice done to confess something, to be vulnerable and to be willing to be totally exposed to your master.
Q And looking back now, do you have a different view of this practice of confession, of sharing deepest fears?
A Well, I think it — I mean it makes you particularly vulnerable, you know, in situations. It makes you … specifically vulnerable and more susceptible to be taken advantage of if abuses of power happen, but also I mean some of those things too go back to the — a lot of the things — it didn’t always have to, but I think in general too that also it took a sexual connotation at different times.
Q What do you mean?
A Your fantasies, like sometimes took a — what are your — like sexual fantasies component.
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[End of Lauren’s testimony for Part 16]
Lauren Salzman
Very good. When Keith wanted women to tell their secrets, he was thinking of their sexual fantasies. This was what he really wanted to know.
And none of these women had an inkling that their Vanguard did not have their best interest at heart but was seeking his own selfish pleasures. Were they stupid, insane or both?
Just like Lauren read from the DOS book, it is hard to think of them as victims. That does not mean they are necessarily perpetrators.
There is something so vitally lacking in these women to buy into this nonsense – this easily discernible nonsense – that intelligent women – as these women appeared to be – should have easily seen it for what it was – disastrous to them.
That they didn’t, reveals they are lacking in something essential, something inherent in most people – the instinct to survive and do what is best for oneself.
And the common sense to know the difference between what’s good and what is not.
It is pretty clear to me that had Lauren and Keith not been arrested, she would be following him today, thinking she is ‘making excuses because she is a woman’ for not doing some insane thing he wanted – then doing it anyway – and going through life as his slave as he punished and tortured her in his sadistic way.
And she would be thanking him and thinking of him, her master, as the highest being of all.
This may be a personality type – albeit rare – the perfectly selfless moron.
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Earlier posts in the Lauren Salzman series.
Part 1: How Lauren Salzman Described Her Branding Session
Part 3: Lauren Salzman Describes Collateral She Got From Her Slaves, After Lying to Them About DOS
Part 5 Lauren Salzman and Her Slaves Got Bare-Ass Paddling
Part 6: Lauren Salzman Manages Her Slaves – With Cruelty and Insanity
Part 8: More Insanity: Lauren Salzman Touches Man at Volleyball; Keith Says ‘No Avatar Baby’
Part 9 Lauren Salzman Sent to Mind-F–k Gay Woman Who Did Not Want Keith as a Sperm Donor
Part 11 Lauren Salzman Explains Raniere’s Creepy Readiness Drills
Part 12 How Lauren Salzman Was Cheated Out of Motherhood by Keith Raniere and DOS
Part 13 Lauren Salzman Names Inner Circle and Keith’s Relationships With Them
