Passionate Journeys: Why Successful Women Joined a Cult

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f1\ftech\fcharset0 Symbol;}{\f2\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f3\fswiss\fcharset0 Courier New;}{\f4\ftech\fcharset0 Wingdings;}}{\colortbl\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\red128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green128\blue128;\red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\s1\sa100\sb100 Normal;}{\s2\sbasedon1\snext3 Definition Term;}{\s3\sbasedon1\li360\snext2 Definition List;}{\*\cs4\i1\additive Definition;}{\s5\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\b1\fs48\kerning36\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel1 H1;}{\s6\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\fs36\b1\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel2 H2;}{\s7\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\fs28\b1\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel3 H3;}{\s8\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\b1\fs24\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel4 H4;}{\s9\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\fs20\b1\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel5 H5;}{\s10\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\fs16\b1\keepn\snext1\outlinelevel6 H6;}{\s11\sbasedon1\i1\snext1 Address;}{\s12\sbasedon1\sa100\sb100\li360\ri360 Blockquote;}{\*\cs13\i1\additive CITE;}{\*\cs14\f3\fs20\additive CODE;}{\*\cs15\i1\ulnone\additive Emphasis;}{\*\cs16\cf1\ul\additive Hyperlink;}{\*\cs17\cf11\ul\additive FollowedHyperlink;}{\*\cs18\f3\b1\fs20\additive Keyboard;}{\s19\sbasedon1\f3\sa0\sb0\fs20\tx0\tx959\tx1918\tx2877\tx3836\tx4795\tx5754\tx6713\tx7672\tx8631\tx9590 Preformatted;}{\s20\f2\snext1\shidden\qc\fs16\v1\brdrt\brdrdb\brdrw6\brdrcf0 z-Bottom of Form;}{\s21\f2\snext1\shidden\qc\v1\fs16\brdrb\brdrdb\brdrw6\brdrcf0 z-Top of Form;}{\*\cs22\f3\additive Sample;}{\*\cs23\b1\additive Strong;}{\*\cs24\f3\fs20\additive Typewriter;}{\*\cs25\i1\additive Variable;}{\*\cs26\v1\cf5\additive HTML Markup;}{\*\cs27\v1\additive Comment;}}{\*\listtable{\list{\listname ;}\listid1{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li720\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'00.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li1440\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'01.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li2160\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'02.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li2880\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'03.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li3600\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'04.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li4320\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'05.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li5040\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'06.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}{\listlevel\levelstartat1\leveljc0\levelnfc0\li5760\fi-360{\leveltext\'02\'07.;}{\levelnumbers\'01;}}}}{\*\listoverridetable}{\info}{\*\userprops{{\propname HTML}\proptype11{\staticval 1}}{{\propname DocumentEncoding}\proptype30{\staticval windows-1252}}}\margl1440\margr1440\margt1440\margb1440\sl-240\slmult0\deftab720\headery1440\footery1440\fet2\pgwsxn12240\pghsxn15840\viewkind5\ansicpg1252\pgwsxn12240\pghsxn15840\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\marglsxn1440\margrsxn1440\plain\fs24\i1 Passionate Journeys\plain\fs24 explores the fascinating stories behind the Bhagwan Rajneesh phenomenon of the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on women who left families, careers, and identities to join the community of Rajneeshpuram. Rajneesh was a spiritual leader for thousands of young Americans. He attracted such a following at his ashram in Pune, India and in the United States that he and his devotees were able to take over an entire town in rural Oregon and establish a thriving community there. Sociologist Marion Goldman's extensive interviews with women who participated in Rajneeshpuram, whether on or off the compound, provide a fascinating picture of the cultural and social climate that motivated successful, established women to participate in such a movement.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24 While talking with and studying the women of Rajneeshpuram, Goldman comes to realize that their responses, while extreme, can shed light on our understanding of how women in general experience love, work, and spirituality. While the women who followed Rajneesh are intriguing in themselves, Goldman contends that they also mirror the ways in which women with fragile senses of self often seek confirmation in achievement or in intense relationships. Readers will learn that the origin of these women's attraction to cults or new religions may not be much of a deviation from their own behavior or that of their friends and many American women: the relentless search for confirmation in the eyes of others.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24 In their quests for spiritual meanings the women embodied the great shifts which took place in America's religious marketplace during the 1970s and 1980s. Their searches for significance, value, and positive senses of self reflected their early family experiences and their fragile identities, as well as their social locations. More than ten years later, the Osho/Rajneesh movement continues, and almost all of the women have cemented their identities through the movement or others that resemble it.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24\i1 Passionate Journeys\plain\fs24 is written in an engaging, lively style that makes it an unusually engrossing ethnography for a wide range of readers. It is also meticulously researched, theoretically complex, and carefully argued and will appeal to specialists in feminist theory and women's studies, sociology, religious studies, American studies, and the history of the Northwest.\par\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24{\field{\*\fldinst HYPERLINK "http://www-vms.uoregon.edu/\u126 ~mgoldman/index.html"}{\fldrslt\pard\s1\sa100\sb100\li0\plain\fs24\cs16\cf1\ul Marion S. Goldman}}\plain\fs24 is Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon. Her previous book is \plain\fs24\i1 Gold Diggers and Silver Miners: Prostitution and Social Life on the Comstock Lode\plain\fs24 .\par\pard}