A Quick Overview
I was raised as a member of the "Americana Leadership College," (ALC) created by Francisco Coll. This group is also known as the "Inner Peace Movement" (IPM), which is now a part of ALC. I am no longer a member of the group, although there is no formal membership in the first place. I am now an Atheist, Skeptic, and Humanist. I hope that information on the group I was once a part of will be helpful to others, particularly those that are considering joining ALC.
The following description of the group comes from the cover of the book "Man and the Universe" by Francisco Coll; the book which describes the basic beliefs of the group:
The Americana Leadership College, Inc., Ltd., Pty. was founded in 1967. It is one of the first colleges in the world that will help you clarify your spiritual life... It is a college of experience."ALC has no accreditation that I know of. There are no professors with credentials earned from reputable institutions. This is a New Age religion with a number of unorthodox beliefs. Here is a short, non-exhaustive list of topics that I witnessed being discussed in the program:
- Guardian Angels
- Prophecy
- Ghosts
- Possession by ghosts
- souls
- "Astral Traveling"
- Channeling
- Balance of "Thinking" and "Feeling"
- Karma
- Energy flow
- Alternative healing
In further posts, I will explore the thinking that I witnessed as a member. I hope to examine the thoughts and "revelations" provided to the members of these groups with a critical eye, without bashing the individual members.
Interesting view. Must have scared the crap out of you!
ReplyDeleteBut then you say little of yourself and why you believe the way you do.
How long were you there and what time period? Where did you attend? Who taught the classes and many other questions.
Sorry, I've ended up busy with a lot of other commitments, so I haven't actually been able to post much content. I will probably have a post on some of issues that occured since I started this blog, since many are to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wasn't terrified while I was a member of the group. I was literally raised in the group, as my parents became members before I was born. My mother recalls me sitting in on the introductory lectures she would give in her living room, and me reminding her of any parts she forgot (this was when I was only three - four years old). If anything, my greatest terror came when rejecting the beliefs. In the end though, I found myself much more relieved afterwards.
I'll try to offer a little more information about myself in my next post, specifically, my background beyond simply having been a member of the group. However, I wish to remain anonymous for the time being. In many ways, I'm still trying to figure out for myself where my experiences in ALC fit in my life. I first started this at the behest of my wife, who believed it would be good therapy for me. I don't think it was the right time, as I had only separated myself perhaps six months prior. Even now, I tread with caution because I seem to be in uncharted territory, in a quadrant labeled "Here be Dragons."
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DeleteI hope you are still feeling good about your decision to leave this destructive cult. Francisco Coll (Monge) bled a relative of mine dry for decades, with my relative desperately trying to achieve a level of so-called Inner Peace that can't be obtained within a pyramid scheme designed only to take your money. Its sad to see many of their members still buying into this con, but many people are searching for something they can't find and IPM gives them just enough love-bombing sustenance to make them feel vital and part of the world when in reality they're being divorced from the world, alienated from friends and family and never really fitting-in anywhere because if you fit in elsewhere, you'd no longer have need for their so-called 'wisdom', and they'd no longer have access to your finances. I can only hope is that your mother and father have left IPM and regained their independence. I'm actually surprised that you have a relationship, although I'm not sure that was made plain in your post. I could be assuming, because I know Francisco Coll Sr. once told my relative that he was no longer his children's father. Instead, he was their "friend" or some such nonsense. They were no longer permitted to call him their Father. For years and years this went on, and it took its toll. All because some charlatan named Francisco Coll said so.
DeleteThe 'guru' of IPM/ALC is Francisco "Tiger" Coll, the 44 yr old son of a snake-oil salesman, self-help charlatan and pyramid schemer named Francisco Coll Monge who with his ex wife Mary -- not at all unlike Scientology fraudster L. Ron Hubbard, who they dubiously claim to have rejected -- tried to start a for-profit religion in the 1960s, albeit to much more modest success. "Tiger" continues the family tradition of targeting spinsters, the elderly, and the emotionally adrift then selling them on empty 'wisdom' largely plagiarized from other sources, mashed together and repackaged as his father's own. The Coll family business masqueraded as a 'church' since the early 70s to avoid taxation while going by many different names including ALC (Americana Leadership College) IPM (Inner Peace Movement) and 'Wayshowers College'. Their main source of income is selling 'certifications' to instruct seminars. To become certified, you pay to attend their exorbitantly priced lectures where you absorb a lot of aforementioned nonsense, after which they encourage you to go out and help build their pyramid scheme by 'teaching' the lectures in public -- but only if you kick back most of the profit to the cult's administrators such as Tiger Coll, owner of a $700,000 home mortgage in Florida (as well as other properties including a large-acreage compound in Osceola, Iowa) while many of his followers live on social security checks. The kicker? Your 'certification' that you pay thousands of dollars to obtain is like a carton of milk, with an expiration date stamped right on it. So after a year or two (usually depending on how much you forked over to start with), you are required to go back and absorb their 'wisdom' all over again, from scratch. Even if you haven't forgotten what they 'taught'. And, of course, you'll need pay the Coll family thousands of dollars more, or else your prior knowledge is worthless. That's their hustle. After the elder Coll died in 1999, the estate and administration began suing each other for a slice of the Inner Peace pie, while the estate was sued by people who had paid Coll fortunes for personal instruction they never received. No doubt Coll planned to show them the ways of 'Trance Tables'...where they conjure the dead (9 out of 10 times its famous people i.e. Abraham Lincoln or Atilla The Hun...) and allow their spirits to speak through the cult members' bodies while they hold their hands over a bowl of tap water. Francisco Coll Monge was fat, lazy, greedy and parasitic but he wasn't altogether stupid...even he could see that L. Ron Hubbard's space alien schtick was too far fetched to be believed...so he went with ghosts, instead. If you've never heard of these people, its because the Coll family has always liked it that way. Tiger Coll like his father before him is only interested in being visible enough to attract a new follower here and there and thereby keep the checks rolling in. Somebody has got to pay his mortgage and he'd rather it was you, and you, and you, and you.
ReplyDeleteHave long had suspicions that two male members of IPM during the 1970s carried out child murders in Rochester NY, Oakland County MI, Camp Scott OK, Washington DC and Atlanta GA. But like you say there is no formal membership.
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ReplyDeleteI saw a lecture in the 70s. It seemed ok. But I didn't buy into the crazy prices for that stuff like you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI don't want argument. Personal business social. My experience with the college. In 1986 as a back seat passenger in a car accident I had what is called a out of body near death experience. During the drive I saw a group of people of different nationalities on the side of the same road 3 times.as a traffic light clipped my head I saw them again. In the afterlife I saw them numerous times in many places beyond your imagination all they would say is get back into your body you know who we are it's not your time. When I eventually did it was under the direction of Jesus. For years after the crash I kept having daydreams and I kept scribbling a particular stickman. To cut a long factual story short. Alc is spirts business.
ReplyDeleteFrom the training I received. And now since 2013 I have been of service with zarus and the sentinel killing those dogs that come out of hell and with morrighan releasing Islamic state individuals to her. See you there guys.when you receive chills and shudders you have been reassured by youre guardian angels . And here to the seraphim. And cherubim Imogen . You have no idea what's going on in the worlds God created first.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience the spirits business may not help everyone in or on this physical plane . I can promise you in the afterlife on youre journey back home you will be very happy you were told what the source is behind those chills and shudders. And you better hope it's youre time to be there permanent.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this information. I'm currently investigating them due to a spread of spiritual infestation: a deceptive, manipulative parasitical being which seems to originate from the ALC.
ReplyDeleteHi, I had a brief experience with ALC. I'd love to hear more about your work.
DeleteIf we say "we have free will" The opportunity to make our own decisions then the Americana Leadership College sits perfectly with everyone because you and I make your own choices, to believe or not to believe, to experience or not to experience, to participate or not to participate. This is a simple truth. Anything that stops/detracts from this, which includes many of the comments above, falls into the arena of dogma and forced belief systems. What this blog is about is one man’s rediscovery of himself. He is at odds with what his parents imbued in him, which is the same as 10,000's of people that have unwound their religious or dogmatic upbringing. Mr Ericson was not given a choice and he maybe only now rebelling against it; we can also assume he has lessened his ties with his mother as she is the instigator of his current unhappiness. Without Mr Ericson divulging why he has come to his current perspective, we his blogging audience, are left to his whims and prejudices and the ability to add our own whims and prejudices to the script of his blog - which to me does not lead to him or us objectively discussing any topic. There is a truth in the statement 'If I am being upset then I either don’t understand what is going on or I have been hurt and I don’t know why I have been hurt'. With this starting point I recommend Mr Ericson and anyone that feels upset or hurt really really digs into the deep underling cause of the issue. I put forward an assumption, Mr Ericson's mother has passed away or is estranged, his feeling of loss has caused him to find a way to explain it to himself which has led him to his early up bringing where his mother, heavily participate in an activity that took her attention and perceived love away from Mr Ericson. Yes it is an assumption that only Mr Ericson can correct with his reasoning for having the conversation in the first place because this blog, like most other blogs, is a forum for Mr Ericson as only he has the right to veto and remove any and all posts that he does not like or agree with (note there isn’t a statement on what is accepted and what is not).
ReplyDeleteI discovered this blog by accident as I was looking for the ALC website because some of my family and acquaintances are involved, some have dipped their big toe into the organisation others have leapt in and swam about for over 30 years, others have just discovered it.
What I have observed is serious thinking people, professional, politicians, tradespeople, husbands and wives, everyday people have taken the time to evaluate what the ALC offer, experienced it for themselves, found that it works in their lives and it has added to their own belief system. Sure they talk about Master Souls, Guardian angels etc BUT they (ALC) also provide an avenue of each individual to test and challenge this and from what I have experienced they are on to something in regard to the communicating with a higher self or guardian angels. There are other subjects Mr Ericson has highlighted I know a little about but not enough to comment with purpose on in this forum.
To end we all, need to clarify the motivation of the blogger/s because we all see with rose coloured glasses and we can assume from the blogs taken down some people have very strong beliefs and attitudes towards others.
As an adult I have free will to make my own choices; yes they will be biased by social morays and family up bringing but I must accept my choices until I discover what I don’t know I did not know because if I don’t I will not sit well in my own skin, I will be uneasy and possibly unhappy and this is not a productive way expand my consciousness and become a better person.