SOCIETY Monday, January 18, 1999
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Jean-François Mayer, a historian from Fribourg, specialist of contemporary religious phenomena, anonymously attended SHY movement Geneva congress to understand the doctrine that has attracted almost a million of followers around the world within ten years. He shared his impressions after a day of immersion.
Le Temps: How would you classify this movement?
Jean-François Mayer: I would speak about quasi-religion. There are no rituals or places of cult, but the teaching of Master Dang gives answers to philosophic questions. Concept of God is very much there, just like the idea of spiritual progress of mankind. This kind of energy movements have been flourishing since 1980s, especially in the Far East. The message and the techniques are adapted for our age: it contains responses to the issues of stress and disappearance of traditional dogmes, without renouncing previous religions. This would explain its meteoric success.
– Apocalypse and the end of the world are the concepts mentioned a lot lot about when talking about SHY. What is it really about?
– Some texts mention imminent disasters. I would speak more of catastrophism as opposed to apocalypticism here: Luong Minh Dang formally rules out the end of the world, but predicts serious environmental, sanitary and economic problems capable of causing planetary disruptions. The end of a world more than the end of the world: these upheavals would be a first step to establishing of a new social order – thanks to Universal Energy that is supposed to resolve problems of the mankind. Dang repeats that the role of his movement will be to save mankind, good reason to justify expansion of SHY. Everything shows that he is getting ready for this, particularly in the third world.
– What do you think about their therapeutic methods?
– Officially, energy is a therapeutic complement only. But no one oversees what some adepts do. I am not capable to evaluate the threat thereof without deeper information about what is being said.
