For thousands of years Taoists have observed that cults do not spiritually serve either their leaders or followers. Groups that operate from manipulation, dishonesty, and sham are cults, rather than spiritual groups. The aim is to make the followers totally dependent on the group leader. There will always be a small minority of individuals who become cult leaders to deliberately manipulate and exploit people for their own benefit. However, many corrupt spiritual leaders, especially those with smaller cults, begin with some integrity and pure motivations, but over time turn to the dark side for a multitude of reasons.

Students need to look honestly and deeply at their own motivations in order not to become subject to a cult leader's manipulation. Because the human desire to belong to a group is both powerful and natural, the true motivation of many aspiring spiritual students is to find a social group to belong to, rather than to find a teacher who can genuinely help them to belong to themselves. For many students, the primary focus is on style over substance. Yet a spiritual teacher's externals should not be taken all that seriously. His or her inner essence, knowledge, and integrity should be the prime concern. When students become trapped by externals, the danger exists that they will sooner or later divert their internal efforts away from meditation and into mimicking the teacher's image: possessions, clothes, hairstyle, language, gestures, and so on. A cult leader can manipulate mental or emotional images much more easily than true spiritual substance.

Good teachers encourage relaxed relationships and cooperation between spiritually inclined individuals, not conflict. They want their students to become spiritually mature and independent. Students of the Tao endeavor to treat spiritual friends well, with respect, and with honest, open agendas. For more on this subject, see Relaxing Into Your Being, Chapter 4.