{ "title": "The Children of Rajneeshpuram", "dek": "Forty years after the collapse of the Oregon commune, a survivor breaks her silence on the systemic neglect and sexual abuse hidden beneath a veneer of spiritual enlightenment.", "summary": { "paragraph": "Sarito Carroll, a survivor of the Rajneeshpuram commune, reveals the dark reality of growing up in a controversial spiritual movement that prioritized adult 'liberation' over child safety. Her account challenges the glossy narrative of the 1980s Oregon experiment, detailing a culture of systemic sexual abuse, forced labor, and the abandonment of parental responsibility.", "bullets": [ "The commune’s philosophy of 'liberation' was used to justify the sexual grooming and abuse of children as young as twelve.", "Children were treated as communal property rather than individuals, leading to widespread parental abandonment and a total lack of formal education.", "The movement’s current leadership, the Osho International Foundation, continues to evade accountability by using legal loopholes to distance itself from its past.", "Recovery from cult trauma is a lifelong process of unlearning 'cult-think' and rebuilding the capacity for trust and vulnerability." ] }, "sections": [ { "heading": "The Illusion of Utopia", "paragraphs": [ "In the early 1980s, the world watched as thousands of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh transformed a remote Oregon ranch into a sprawling city called Rajneeshpuram. To the outside world, and even in recent popular documentaries like Wild Wild Country, it was often framed as a clash of cultures—hippies in red robes versus conservative locals. But inside the commune, there was a story that remained largely untold: the experience of the children. We were the silent witnesses to a utopia that was, in reality, a landscape of profound neglect and systemic trauma.", "The movement’s appeal was rooted in the rebellious spirit of the late seventies. Rajneesh promised a version of enlightenment that didn't require austerity; instead, he preached celebration, sexual liberation, and freedom from societal constraints. For adults seeking an alternative to the rigid structures of the mid-century West, this was intoxicating. However, for the children brought into this environment, 'freedom' meant something much more precarious. We were told that children belonged to the commune, not to their parents. This doctrine effectively absolved parents of their protective duties, leaving us to navigate an adult world without a safety net." ] }, { "heading": "A Childhood of Labor and Silence", "paragraphs": [ "Life at the ranch was not defined by play or education, but by work. Under a program called 'School Without Walls,' children as young as twelve were expected to work twelve-to-sixteen-hour days alongside adults. While I was a 'pet child' in the administrative offices, others were tasked with heavy construction, often sustaining injuries. We were not learning math or literacy; we were learning how to be cogs in a machine. I became a chameleon, playing the part of the perfect cult kid while my internal sense of self slowly eroded.", "The social hierarchy was absolute. At the top was Ma Anand Sheela and her 'moms'—the women who ran the various departments, or 'temples.' My mother, like many others, was fully indoctrinated and became estranged from me even as we lived on the same ranch. In this environment, the traditional family unit was viewed as an obstacle to spiritual growth. By the time I was a teenager, I was more attached to the commune’s leadership than to my own family, a dynamic that made me even more vulnerable to the exploitation that followed." ] }, { "heading": "The Normalization of the Unthinkable", "paragraphs": [ "The most devastating aspect of the Rajneesh movement was the weaponization of 'sexual liberation' against minors. Rajneesh taught that sexuality was natural and should never be taboo, even for children. This philosophy created a culture where sexual grooming was not only ignored but facilitated. At twelve years old, I was raped by a twenty-nine-year-old man. At the time, I was so conditioned by the commune’s rhetoric that I believed it was a romance. I felt special, unaware that I was being targeted by a known predator who was simultaneously abusing my peers.", "The leadership was not merely indifferent; they were complicit. When I became sexually active at twelve, I was sent to obtain birth control—an act that required the authorization of the 'moms.' No adult stepped in to question why a child was involved with a grown man. Instead, we were told to be discreet. This was 'spiritual bypassing' at its most toxic: the idea that if you felt traumatized or violated, it was a personal failure of your own spiritual evolution. To complain was to admit you hadn't 'dropped your ego.'" ] }, { "heading": "The Collapse and the Alien World", "paragraphs": [ "When the commune collapsed in 1985 amid criminal charges of attempted murder and bioterrorism, the leadership fled, leaving the rank-and-file members—and the children—to