Aesthetic Realism is a small mind-control cult group in New York City. I was a member, since I was born into the group. These days I'm telling the truth about how the group operates — and lots of other former members are joining me.
The most incriminating bits
The cult aspects of Aesthetic Realism.
From fanatical devotion to the founder to the belief that they
have the one and only true answer to world peace, it's all here.
A former high-ranking member tells it all, debunking AR's spin.
"The Victims of Aesthetic Realism". A journalist infiltrates the group and discovers how their mind-control methods work.
The transcript of a secret Aesthetic Realism meeting. It's an inquest of someone who didn't stay "cured" of his homosexuality.
Exposés elsewhere
"Dream to nightmare". A former high-ranking member spills the beans.
"I
joined NYC's most boring cult". Scathing
article about AR in Vice magazine. It's hilarious.
“Erasing Reason”. Book by former AR member Hal Lanse, Ph.D, about his experience in AR,, with a special focus on the supposed “gay cure”.
Like all cults, Aesthetic Realists believe their founder
was the greatest person ever to live, that his writings are
more important than the Bible, and that he came up with the One True
Answer for all the world's problems. The biggest sin one can
commit in the group is to show insufficient gratitude for the
founder or for Aesthetic Realism itself. Members are expected
to recruit family and friends, and generally have to cut off
relations with family members whom they can't get to join (or with
family and friends who join for a while, but then leave). The
group effectively controls every significant aspect of their
members' lives — right down to whom they can marry. But what
AR is best known for is its alleged cure
for homosexuality, which it was embarrassed into giving up
after so many of the "cured" fell off the wagon. (Bizarrely,
the cure involves professing undying devotion to the founder and his
teachings.) And like most cults, the Aesthetic Realists also
suffer from delusions of grandeur, obsessive paranoia, and wildly
hysterical reaction to any criticism.
It's not just me saying Aesthetic Realism is a cult. It's also dozens of other former members (including former leaders) whose stories are published here, well-known cult expert Steve Hassan, and a plethora of newspapers and magazines. New York Magazine and New York Native both identified AR as a cult, and Harper's referred to them as "the Moonies of poetry". You can read what all these sources say about AR on this site.
But my best evidence against the Aesthetic Realists is what
they say themselves. From their books, their
letters, their newspaper ads, their private therapy sessions, and
their secret meetings (which they blunderingly recorded to tape),
the world can see how brainwashed they really are.
None of this would be an issue if the Aesthetic Realists were just a harmless group of eccentrics, but they're not harmless: They hurt people. They hurt people on the outside who lose contact with their family members sucked into AR, and they hurt the members themselves, who have a terrifying experience on the inside, and who need a considerable amount of therapy to recover from that experience after they leave—if they're able to recover at all. As one former member said, "My study of AR was one of the factors that led to the breakup of my marriage, to my eternal sorrow."
There's lots of stuff on this site, but perhaps the most relevant are:
- The cult aspects of Aesthetic Realism
- The ultimate exposé by a former member
- An article by a journalist
who infiltrated the group to learn how they operate
“It was at that point that I began to see what Aesthetic Realism was, in fact, about. The dogmatism...the Godlike reverence his students demonstrated—these spelled out one thing: that this was no philosophy. This was a cult, genuine and bona fide, employing all the subtle and manipulative techniques of mind-control used by such masters of the genre as the Moonies [and] the Scientologists. Like all cults, Aesthetic Realism reduces the wonder and complexity of the world to a strict polarity of black-or-white reality.
"By cultivating an individual's sense of negative identity, the program weakens the ego enough to gain admittance and eventual control over a person's mind....
"In actuality, 'consultations' are slyly packaged sessions for mind-control—what Yale psychiatry professor Robert Lifton describes as 'thought-reform' or 're-education.' More bluntly stated, it's brainwashing.” —"The Victims of Aesthetic Realism"
If you're a former member, I hope you'll share your story.
If you're a current member, I hope you'll consider leaving.
If you're a journalist or blogger, I hope you'll write about this scandalous group.
Thanks for stopping by. — Michael Bluejay, editor
Emails from former members
"Words can't do justice to describe how excellent your site is in both purpose and content....Your site really can do enormous good on the level of human happiness. Just think of the countless people who will NOT get messed up in AR because they viewed your site before ever getting sucked-in. And then there are those who are in the thick of it and just needed a little more courage or reality-based perspective to break free and quit. You are doing a great service to people. Your site has the power to spare a lot of people a lot of anguish from a group of misdirected souls."
"Just want to thank you for your continued excellent work on this website. I seriously think of you as an American hero for standing up to the bullies at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation. I realize other people helped you by contributing their experiences and want to take a moment to thank them as well. I guess we will never know how many people were saved from being manipulated by ARs twisted logic but I'm sure its thousands of people (and likely many more than that) if they had their way in spreading their sick message unencumbered. I myself had not realized how much they had manipulated me until their tactics were explained here, suffice to say I am very grateful."
"There is a very interesting and rather warped dynamic among the students who left. To varying degrees, we're all wounded and in varying stages of recovery."
"Your site is a great source of comfort and excitement to all of us, probably more than you can tell from the silence of most."
What’s on this site
About AR
What is
Aesthetic Realism?
An explanation about both the AR philosophy and the group that
promotes it.
Cult aspects of Aesthetic Realism
Fanatical devotion to the leader, cutting off relations with
families who aren't also believers -- it's all here.
AR supposed "gay cure"
The AR group used to try to "cure" people of being gay. They
stopped that in 1990 because high-profile success cases kept
deciding they were gay after all and leaving. They still
believe that studying AR can "cure" gayness, they just no longer
conduct the conversion therapy sessions themselves.
AR Deatchwatch!
We track the downward spiral of the group.
How AR compares
to other cults
Most cults are surprisingly similar.
How AR uses mind control
Described in this
article by New York Native, and our
article about AR's favorite trick for brainwashing.
AR's founder killed himself
AR's founder Eli Siegel killed himself, but the AR people
have been trying to hide that fact. They can't hide any more,
since enough former students have come forward to confirm the
truth.
Attempts to recruit
schoolchildren
Some AR members are public schoolteachers, and yep, they do try
to recruit in the classroom.
Five reasons you can't trust an
Aesthetic Realist
One reason is that most people who were in AR eventually woke up
and got out. See more about this, plus four other reasons.
Lies Aesthetic Realists tell
They say they never saw homosexuality as something to cure. They
say the leader didn't kill himself. They say my family left the
group when I was an infant. These and more are debunked here.
Hypocrisy of the Aesthetic
Realists
It takes some serious brainwashing for the members to not
realize that they're guilty of what they accuse others of.
List of AR members who have
passed away
We take no pleasure in the passing of individual
Aesthetic Realists. I maintain this list only for the
historical record (and because, ironically, the AR people
themselves usually don't bother to memoralize the passing of
their own).
Aesthetic Realism glossary
We explain the real meanings behind the loaded language that
AR people use.
AR in their own words
Actual AR advertisment
The AR people spent a third of a million dollars for a
double-page ad in the NY Times to tell the world that
the press' refusal to cover AR is just as wrong as letting
hungry people starve to death.
“Letter
of Regret to the American Press”
Somehow the ARists thought it would be a good idea to show
exactly how batsh!t crazy they are to hundreds of media outlets.
Ad for the gay cure
AR bought huge ads in major newspapers to trumpet their
ability to "fix" gays.
Ad in the Village
Voice from 1962
The AR folks try to deny that they're a cult in this ancient ad
-- showing that people were calling them a cult as far back as
1962!
Secret internal meeting
The AR people blunderingly made a tape recording of a secret
meeting they had, where they lambasted a member who had
supposedly been "cured" of his gayness, but then found to still
be cruising for gay sex. Their screeching hostility towards him
is matched only by their fear that the secret will get out.
Actual AR consultation
For the first time the public can see what really happens in an
Aesthetic Realism "consultation" (thanks to a former member
sharing his tape with us). In the session the AR counselors
tried to help the member not be gay, explaining that the path to
ex-gayness was to express deep gratitude to AR and its founder.
Hysterical letters to New
York Magazine
When a theater critic barely dissed Aesthetic Realism in New
York magazine, the AR people responded with hundreds
of angry letters, calling his article "a crime against
humanity".
Actual AR lesson
I had a lesson with the cult leader, Eli Siegel, when I was two
years old, which, like everything else, they made a tape
of. The highlight is Siegel taunting me with "Cry some
more, Michael, cry some more!"
AR responds to
this website
The AR people have tried to rebut this website with their own
site called Countering
the Lies, whose title ought to win some kind of award for
irony. Here we explain the story behind that site.
What former members say
"Dream to nightmare." One of the former leaders of the cult tells how she got involved, and how she got out.
Aesthetic Realism
exposed
The ultimate statement by a former member, who was involved
for well over a decade.
A tale of getting
sucked in.
This former member describes exactly how he initially got
drawn in, and how he then kept getting more and more involved.
Growing up in a cult. An ex-member who was born into AR tells what it was like growing up in the group, and how she got out.
Aesthetic Realism ruined his marriage. "I consider my 'study' of Aesthetic Realism to be one of the factors that led to the eventual breakup of my marriage, to my eternal sorrow."
On having all the answers. A former member explains how AR members think they have all the answers, and feel qualified to lecture others about how they should view personal tragedy.
Kicked out for remaining gay. Former students describe how they were kicked out of AR because they couldn't change from homosexuality. Ron Schmidt and Miss Brown.
"My parents disowned me.". One of the original teachers of Aesthetic Realism explains the cultic environment inside the group, and how she got out.
"If I disappointed them, then I now consider that a badge of honor." A former member tells how AR try to change him from being gay, and convinced him not to spend Christmas with his family.
"...people were controlled and humiliated if they stepped out of line...". The experiences shared with us by a member from 1974-80, now a Fortune 100 executive.
"I want Ellen Reiss questioned!" This former member wonders why there hasn't been a class-action lawsuit against the foundation yet.
They took his consultation tape. Describes how the AR people kept his consultation tape with his most intimate thoughts on it, and told him he couldn't study any more unless he incorporated AR more radically into his life.
"There isn't any
question: Eli Siegel killed himself."
A former member who had sought AR's "gay cure" explains how the
group's leaders admitted that the founder took his own life.
Confirms all the criticism. A former member from 1971-80, confirms that AR students don't see their families, are discouraged from attending college, and shun other members. He also offers that he was mistaken when he was involved about thinking that AR had changed him from homosexuality.
Michael Bluejay's experience. Your webmaster describes his own family's involvement.
Members interviewed in Jewish Times. This lengthy article in Jewish Times quotes former students of Aesthetic Realism extensively.
NY Post article. A series of articles in the NY Post quotes many former members who are now critical of the group.
Aesthetic Realism debunked. A former student explains the cult aspects of AR. Posted on Steve Hassan's Freedom of Mind website.
Other Goodies
AR described as a cult in the media
NY Mag called AR "a cult of messianic nothingness" and Harper's
referred to them as "the Moonies of poetry". We've got reprints
of articles, plus some help for journalists researching AR. (And
here are shortcuts to the landmark articles in New
York Native, the NY Post
and Jewish Times.)
Thinking of leaving AR?
If you're thinking of leaving the group, you're not alone. Let's
face it: Most people who have ever studied AR have left -- and
not come back. There's got to be a reason for that. Curious
about what they figured out? Worried about the fallout if you do
decide to leave? Here's everything you need to know.
Recovering from your AR
experience.
People who leave cults often need special therapy to cope with
what they went through. Whether you decide to seek counseling or
choose to go it alone, here's what you need to know.
How cults recruit
new members.
Explains how a rational person can unwittingly get sucked into a
cult group.
How AR appears to a normal person. A reader with no experience with the group checks out both AR's website and ours, and concludes that AR is absolutely a cult.
Site News / Blog
Here's some news and commentary that I add from time to
time.