However did it come to this?

So in the last few days I have started to adhere to a mental/behavioural discipline which just last year I sneered at as a mind-control cult. I haven't joined the organisation or paid them any money, but I am taking the processes and behaviour-modification regimen they propose seriously.

No, not Scientology - dieting. When I realised that all the bike-riding I was doing was making me healthier and stronger, but not (ahem) less insultated, I decided to take action. And jessikast testifies that the process works to the extent that it's carried out.

I think I had come to realise that once one of my major motivations - getting out of that horrid job in Ellersie - had been achieved, I was drifting somewhat and I needed to set myself new challenges. Actually, it is quite fascinating scanning the handbooks that are given out describing the mental reprogramming necessary for the success of the practice, and seeing how similar they are to other forms of magic or pop-psychology I have known. I could come out of this more emotionally healthy as well as closer to my ideal of having a body with which I can manipulate the gullible to do my will.