Maharishi, Transcendental Meditation, Book, NXIVM, Legal
Iowa Public Radio: Claire Hoffman On Belief, Meditation And Growing Up In 'Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving A Transcendent Childhood'
"... Part of this book is sort of about separating the past and the history and the dogma of the religion you grew up with and trying to find value in it and the things that mean something to you and for me that is meditation. It was always this gift for me and an ability to separate off from the chaos of the world around me and find peace and tranquility and really connect to myself. Over time so much got layered on top of that experience that I rejected it. By the time I was a teenager, I was not really meditating.
It is a work in progress. For me, my connection to TM is the ability to hold contradictions and have these two opposing ideas. I feel a lot of disappointment and sadness about Maharishi and the people who still live there who struggle to make ends meet because of the cost of his programs and yet I meditate every day, just once a day. It is something that feels very much my own and not a part of that. It is a quiet, personal experience. It is holding those two opposites, letting go of the part of me that is critical, cynical and judges the past of the movement and sort of staying connected to some sense of spirituality."
"Allison Mack was sentenced before a federal judge in Brooklyn earlier this summer, more than two years after pleading guilty for her involvement in NXIVM.
"TV actor Allison Mack, who played a key role in a scandal-ridden, cult-like upstate New York group, reported to prison in California to start her sentence early, according to a spokesperson for the correctional facility.
"We can confirm Allison Mack entered the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on September 13, 2021, at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin in Dublin, California," a spokesperson for the prison said. "Ms. Mack's projected release date will be calculated in accordance with federal statutes and Bureau of Prisons policy."
FCI Dublin, according to its website, is "low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp." The correctional facility, which only houses female offenders, currently has 727 inmates.
Mack was sentenced to 3 years in prison on June 30 after pleading guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group's spiritual leader.
Mack — best known for her role as a young Superman's close friend on the series "Smallville" — appeared in Brooklyn federal court for her sentencing earlier this summer. She's expected to seek credit for cooperating against NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and taking responsibility for helping him create a secret society of brainwashed women who were branded with his initials.
Devoting herself to the self-improvement guru "was the biggest mistake and greatest regret of my life," she wrote in a letter filed with the court last week."
"Allison Mack, the TV actor convicted of coercing women into becoming sex slaves in the cult-like group NXIVM, surrendered herself early to the Dublin Federal Correctional Institute Monday.
As inmate no. 90838-053, the "Smallville" star becomes the East Bay prison's latest high-profile inmate, following TV stars Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman who both served time there for their separate roles in the college admissions scandal. Mack is expected to serve three years in federal custody for her involvement in the NXIVM case.
Mack, who gained fame playing a young Superman's close friend, Chloe Sullivan, in the superhero-inspired WB series, was sentenced in June. The actor, 39, was first arrested in 2018 and pleaded guilty in 2019 to allegations that she used her celebrity to manipulate women into joining a secret society of brainwashed women. The cult was created by multi-level marketer Keith Raniere."
"A Boise man has been sentenced to 28 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for sexually abusing a child, according to Idaho's U.S. Attorney's Office.
Joseph Anthony Lee, 38, pleaded guilty in March to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor as part of a plea deal, according to a news release. He was sentenced on Monday.
The investigation started when a 13-year-old girl reported that Lee had abused her for years, the release said. Boise Police Department investigators searched Lee's residence in January 2020 and seized his cellphone, and they found "explicit images and videos that Lee had produced of himself sexually abusing the victim," according to the release. It noted that police "also located numerous files of child pornography depicting other children."
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