Cult worshipping robots?

[songhrati]

Hey people

I find myself working for an odd organisation in South Korea, connected to Dahn Hak Yoga (which cult watch websites have likened to Scientology). The organisation has a school that teaches English to Korean children and I have been mystified a bit by its curriculum, which involves an awful lot about friendly aliens, talking animals (such as turtles) and robots. The fact that the cult's youth wing is called "The Young Earth Human Alliance" helps explain the references to aliens, while I found an article which mentions that Dahn Hak sells turtle "golden aura" amulets for $US3000, which explains the turtle preoccupation. However i have drawn a blank on why there should be so much in the school curriculum about robots. Can anyone hazard a guess on the reason for the robot fascination?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I don't have anything to actually add but this all sounds fantastic!!

Do you have any links to places with extra information?

As you have connections can't you pull in some favours and get someone to spill the beans?

 

[songhrati]

Well, there's this link http://snipurl.com/t41r which is about some dodginess at Dahn Hak yoga (which is what the cult members are involved in). It's also pretty freaky for me as I was made to attend a retreat much like the one mentioned in the article, although I came out relatively unscathed. Another reference to Dahn Hak can be found here: http://www.rickross.com/reference/dti/dti55.html

While we're at it, does anyone know what "shahqueeta" means? One of the cult members goes by this name.

i have been trying to scoop out more information but my history as a journalist has made people suspicious of my questions.

 

[Anonymous]

Robots?

Heard they are big business in South Korea, and that in South Korea children in schools are taught how to build robots.

Think I saw a feature about South Korea in The Gadget Show on Channel Five in the UK last year.

 

[Dingo667]

I love this thread!
When I saw the title though I first thought that robots existed that had been programmed to "believe" in a specific religion.
However that may be a whole thread on its own...

 

[songhrati]

Thanks for the replies. Robots may be big news in Korea but surely not to the extent that they are mentioned in the school's curriculum. One could look at the references to friendly aliens and robots in the curriculum and draw the conclusion that the cult is preparing the students for the imminent arrival of friendly aliens and their robot offsiders (there is even a section on what to say to an alien).

We also have to do a meditation session each class, which includes the line "wash your brain with clear water, wash out all the old knowledge". Surely that can't be accidental.

 

[lemonpie3]

Sorry for stating the obvious, but this all sounds well dodgy.

And really quite terrifying. How come you're working for them?

 

[songhrati]

Why am I working for them? Sometimes i ask myself that as well.

Basically, the pay is decent, I didn't know they were a cult until I arrived in Korea, the extreme weirdness of it all stops me from being bored and the journalist in me wants to find out more about the cult.

I've just realised that I haven't actually mentioned the name of the cult: Earthstar, which I presume is the Earthstar mentioned here http://earthstar.tripod.com/

The Earthstar people are harmless, if a little newage kooky. It's the Dahn Hak people that concern me.