cult members, while leaving them with little time to think for themselves and reconsider their devotion to the group:
Survivors living inside communes are tightly scheduled to ensure that they are deprived of sleep and remain constantly active while awake. They eat a diet high in sugar and other stimulants such as caffeine. In combination, these factors create a buzz that one former Survivor described as, ‘Living in a cheerful fog’. Unfortunately, lack of sleep, poor diet and high activity levels can have a disastrous impact on a person’s long-term health. The most common reason given for leaving the Survivors by ex-members is that they burned out with exhaustion.
*
To avoid idleness and the lowest depths of hell, James was given a detailed timetable mapping out his entire life. By the time he’d thrown his possessions into the cupboards and slipped the white bead on to his necklace, it was 8:30 a.m. James quickly studied the Saturday timetable, as Paul urged him to run for morning service:
SATURDAY
6:45 Rise
7:00 Morning Run/Physical Activity
7:45 Shower and personal care time
8:10 Breakfast
8:35 Morning Service
9:00 Work Assignment
12:45 Lunch
13:30 Afternoon Service
14:00 Fundraising Activity
17:40 Dinner
18:20 Evening Service
18:50 Sporting Activity
20:30 Shower and personal care time
20:50 Late Service
21:15 Retire to dormitory
23:00 Lights out
The Survivors kept their services small, upbeat and fast. James sat beside Paul in the outer circle. The all-male congregation joined hands to form a barrier against the Devil, while a grey-haired woman known as Ween strode into the centre of the circle. She sat and placed a set of tom-toms on the floor between her legs. She called everyone to silence, then began energetically thumping her little drums.
‘We thank you God for choosing us to Survive. We thank you for our shelter. We thank you for protecting us from devils. The circle starts here.’
Ween pointed out someone at random, who thanked God for forsaking his son Jesus Christ. Everyone chanted Thank you Our Lord. Then the next person thanked God for his beautiful children and everyone chanted, Thank you Our Lord again. Ween drummed madly, as each person in turn gave thanks.
James couldn’t think what to say, and finally blurted, ‘We thank you god for making me an angel.’
Everyone appreciated this and James received the loudest Thank you Our Lord of the whole ceremony. After going around the two circles and thanking God for thirty different things, Ween put aside her drums and told everyone to stand up and jiggle their hands and feet.
‘Breathe deep,’ Ween said softly. Then immediately afterwards, ‘Exhale.’
James had read about breathing exercises, but this was his first encounter: the simple act of taking forced deep breaths for a few minutes raises the level of oxygen in the blood and produces a slight feeling of elation. Miriam had taught him to defeat the forced breathing technique by taking normal breaths, while making dramatic gestures to make it seem as if you are doing the same as everyone else. However, the technique was harmless in small doses, so James decided to see what it was like.
The group breathed and exhaled rapidly for three minutes, while Ween soothed her congregation, urging them to relax their muscles and imagine God’s love warming their hearts.
‘Now,’ Ween said, returning to her normal voice. ‘Find somebody to hug.’
James turned to Paul and the two boys wrapped their arms around each other.
‘You’re a beautiful human being and God loves you,’ Paul said, with complete sincerity.
James couldn’t help smiling. ‘You’re pretty amazing yourself, dude. I’m sure god loves you too.’
Ween picked her drums off the floor, stepped between the pairs of hugging men and left the room. James and Paul were two of the last out. James felt happy. It reminded him of the sensation you get after you’ve rocked out to a good tune, or pulled off some amazing feat in a Playstation game.
As they headed along the mall corridor, James reflected upon how easily a skilled cult member like Ween could take a roomful of people and manipulate their emotions.
‘Do you like services?’ James asked.
Paul smiled. ‘Yeah, they really make you feel alive, don’t they?’
James nodded, before looking down at his timetable. ‘So,’ he said, ‘what’s Work Assignment?’
A little of the post-service glow dropped out of Paul’s expression. ‘That’s the one thing I don’t like about weekends.’
‘What do we do exactly?’
Paul smiled. ‘Let’s just say that after four hours as a picker, you’ll never want to see another Survivors book or DVD.’
19. PICKING
The Survivor warehouse was directly across the road from the mall. It was a giant, single-storey box built from