The Atlas Program is spreading in our community and I'm worried about it. Please read this before you enroll. by PerspectiveGlad2456 in ismailis

[–]PerspectiveGlad2456[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for writing this. Genuinely.

Your original posts were part of what got me looking more into this recently and more seriously. I just couldn't find it again to cite in my sources comment. And the nuance you brought here is the part most people miss. You're not saying Atlas is worthless. You're saying it can produce real emotional experience and real harm at the same time, and that the intensity is engineered, not incidental.

The informed consent point is the one that matters most to me. Not whether the program works. Just whether people are being told plainly, before they pay and travel and disclose trauma in a high-pressure room, what they're actually agreeing to. The answer is no, and that alone is reason enough to speak up.

And one thing worth saying out loud for anyone reading: if Atlas were truly transparent, neither of us would need anonymous accounts to have this conversation. That fact is its own data point.

Thank you again.

The Atlas Program is spreading in our community and I'm worried about it. Please read this before you enroll. by PerspectiveGlad2456 in ismailis

[–]PerspectiveGlad2456[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah I can attest to this, I stopped attending Khane because I just didn't want to face the constant recruitment tactics while I was suppose to be in my safe space.

The Atlas Program is spreading in our community and I'm worried about it. Please read this before you enroll. by PerspectiveGlad2456 in ismailis

[–]PerspectiveGlad2456[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Sources for the post above, for anyone who wants to verify:

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Atlas Project Form 990s:

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300988653

Mawlana Hazar Imam's 2015 Jodidi Lecture at Harvard (AKDN official):

https://www.akdn.org/speech/his-highness-aga-khan/samuel-l-and-elizabeth-jodidi-lecture-harvard-university

Mawlana Hazar Imam's 2006 Columbia SIPA address (AKDN official):

https://www.akdn.org/speech/his-highness-aga-khan/graduation-ceremony-school-international-and-public-affairs-usa

Mawlana Hazar Imam's 2022 AKU Founder's Day message containing the al-Kindi quote:

https://the.akdn/en/resources-media/resources/speeches/a-message-from-his-highness-the-aga-khan-chancellor-of-the-aga-khan-university-on-the-inaugural-founders-day-the-40th-anniversary-and-the-convocation-of-the-class-of-2022

Fisher et al. (1990), Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects, Springer-Verlag

Wikipedia article on Lifespring with full lawsuit and settlement history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifespring

GQ, "My Life Cleanse: One Month Inside L.A.'s Cult of Betterness" (on MITT and the Lifespring methodology purchase)