Analysis Of David Sullivan's The Man Who Saves You From Yourself

Be mindful of our mind

Most of us suffer from sensory overload the moment we are born; the exhilarating excitement of our parents, the touch of the doctors patting on our backs to encourage our first breath of air, and of course the very first time we opened our eyes to the myriad of colors and the unfamiliarity around us. As we grow older, we begin to discover the complexities of our world and at the same time come to the realization that there is more than meets the eye - it is difficult to stay true to ourselves with the amount of misguided information influencing our minds, and therefore we should learn to engage information presented to us with critical thinking so that we do not succumb to malicious agenda.

The media

The fact that people can be deceptive should not come as a surprise to us. The Man Who Saves You From Yourself by Nathaniel Rich tells the story of David Sullivan, an investigator who specializes in dealing with cults. The usage of cult in the essay is largely encompassing, for Sullivan’s experiences range from doctors manipulating clients for their own sexual motives to actual cults involving large groups of people engaging in sinister beliefs. Throughout the essay, we as readers are exposed to the different forms of victimization when people get recruited into cults, with the motives often related to money, power, sex and religion, and the methods similar to “those used by con men, advertisers, and politicians” (Rich 27). In the case of the Helzer brothers, Taylor “decided that God had put him on earth to take over the Mormon church and become its true prophet” (Rich 32). Whether or not Taylor consciously made the decision by himself or he was “inspired” by God is apparently unknown. The idea that people can possibly lose their mind, without external influence or manipulation in the case of Taylor, is scary to say the least. Moreover, Taylor’s ability to recruit Godman into carrying out his “cause” and murdering several people goes to show how people with feeble minds are subject to manipulation. Before Sullivan’s assistance, Godman “still believed that Taylor was a prophet and that she would soon transcend the prison walls and reunite with him in heaven” (Rich 33). All these incidents show us horrible things will happen if we let others lead our minds astray into committing hideous crimes, sometimes without us knowing or being