Outsiders often criticize the extreme commitment of group members. But what is really happening is that leader and followers are conspiring to realize a vision that is falsified daily. For the cult is not paradise, and the leader is not God. Hence the follower is embattled; to squarely confront the many failings of the leader and the group is to call into question one's own great work. Only by daily recommitting himself can the follower continue to work toward his ultimate goal. Each follower works out a secret compromise, acknowledging some things while denying or distorting others. Clearly this is a high-risk strategy that may go awry.

He spoke some Arabic with a West Texas drawl, like a Berlitz tape on dying batteries.

In the unconjugated pool, the concentrations of muricholic acid, ursodeoxycholic acid and 7-ketodeoxycholic acid were all significantly higher in the malnourished small intestine (Mann–Whitney U -test; Fig.

the house of Condé, collateral with the Bourbons, was perennially at daggers drawn with the rival Orléans dynasty […]