by Elizabeth Dolan RN, Australia
I am writing to describe the events that occurred last Friday night on 12th October 2012 at an Esoteric Medicine presentation. I have to admit that witnessing these said events have disturbed me immensely. Every day in Australia we are presented with the idea that we live in a free world, that we have freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Last night showed me something entirely different.
A short while before the presentation began I saw a man walk in. Later, the presenter of Esoteric Medicine, Serge Benhayon, introduced this man as David Millikan and explained that Mr. Millikan was a Uniting Church Minister who was writing a book on cults and that he wished to ask the student body some questions. I thought fair enough, I don’t have any problem answering questions.
Then Mr. Millikan spoke. He started by saying that he knew we had received some bad press lately accusing us of being in a cult, and that he knew we had all made great sacrifices to be there. I had no idea what he was talking about? I feel the best I have ever felt, and his statements simply made no sense to me at all.
Then I watched Mr. Millikan change. His body language changed, the tone of his voice changed and he became extremely menacing with his words. He pretended to pose a question to the audience that made absolutely no sense and felt like a complete set-up. He did not want the question answered. He just wanted to get people off-guard. The tone of his voice was accusatory. I felt sick in my stomach with disbelief as to what was happening. Then it became obvious that this was all being filmed without permission and that Mr.Millikan was in fact speaking to the cameras.
I simply could not believe it. It was so appalling. Here I was, coming to a presentation on Esoteric Medicine that has greatly assisted me in both my personal and professional life and I was now being filmed without permission and being accused of wrongdoing simply because I have chosen to live with more self-regard. This is simply not ok. At that moment it was hard to believe I was in Australia where people have civil rights.
I then watched as other members of the audience courteously asked Mr. Millikan and his crew to stop filming but they refused. They were repeatedly asked to stop filming and they absolutely refused to. This went on for quite some time. Someone in the audience asked Mr. Millikan if a well-known television station had employed him and he said “yes” and that he was on a retainer. It suddenly became very obvious that they were there for a story and had no interest in presenting the truth whatsoever. This is what I found so shocking.
Eventually Mr.Millikan left but his crew continued to film despite repeated requests to stop. People at this stage where visibly distressed by the said events. Most, if not all had just experienced something that was so outrageous towards their person that it was simply hard to believe what had just happened.
I am no longer naive about the media and the way in which they work and what lengths they are prepared to go to to get a sensationalised story.