About Me — Mary Mahoney
31 Years in the Children of God do not Define Me
I grew up during the turbulent years of the 1960s. With wide-eyed wonder I took in the pervasive drug use among the young, the streets filled with angry protesters chanting against the war in Vietnam, and the first Woodstock music festival, a drug-infused, muddy love-in of thousands of hippies. The words of Timothy Leary became the slogan of that lost generation, “Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”
Onto to this stage stepped a disenchanted pastor that knew an opportunity when he saw one. He offered the youth another way — a “noble, self-sacrificial way” — to make a difference in the world, and the “Jesus Revolution” was born.
Sixteen year old me jumped at the chance to dedicate my life to service to God and others.
So, I joined the Children of God.
As a result, I soon found myself halfway around the world, on an odyssey through dozens of cult locations that swallowed up the next decades of my life.
In 2004, I finally broke free.
As a result of those years of exploitation, abuse, and intellectual deprivation, I developed a deep hunger for knowledge, a keen appreciation of freedom, and an unstoppable desire to study and learn.
Throughout the subsequent years, I learned marvelous truths and discovered the wonders of the human brain, the idiosyncrasies of human behavior, and many interesting stories along the way.
I have worked hard to rewire my brain and to pluck out the wrong intuitions I had honed in the cult that like to cling to my psyche like leeches. I have built many new habits of mind.
Although I wish I had never joined that cult, I have forgiven my naïve younger self. She really did mean well.
That forgiveness was a milestone of personal growth and freedom.
Today, I strive to use my past as a source of education, and no longer look on it as fodder for remorse.
I have profited from the knowledge I gained in my unlearning and learning process. I have become a different person. Having conquered my past, I have moved on to new things.
My passion for learning has informed my writing.
Psychology studies helped answer my questions about my past
and the insane beliefs of cultists.
I have written about the marvelous wonders of the human brain
and my sincere gratitude for each day of freedom.
I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know it will be wonderful as I continue to learn, grow, and enjoy the beauty of our world.
Thank you for reading, and to those who continue to follow me and read my writing, please accept my sincere appreciation.
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Mary Mahoney is the author of Abnormal Normal: My Life in the Children of God.
“In Abnormal Normal, Mary Mahoney tells an engrossing story of her ensnarement in a notorious cult of the 70s and 80s, and provides fascinating details on the psychological forces that make it all but impossible for cult members to break away from them. Mahoney is a fine writer and pulls the reader along in an engaging narrative…” James Neill, author of the groundbreaking treatise, The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies.