Both
the Rajneesh movement and the People’s Temple have good and bad things to them.
Both communes started out as peaceful and they both ended with a bad situation.
Naturally, the People’s Temple ended with a bigger tragedy, but that does not
mean that the Rajneesh movement ended peacefully. As such, both communes are
similar in some ways and different in others. Before I start comparing those communes,
I will start by describing both communes individually.
The People’s
Temple was founded by Jim Jones who
believed in building a utopia for his followers, and was first based in San
Francisco. Although his commune, which was described many times as a cult, went
to flames when they relocated, he was able to be successful for a long period
of time. Jim Jones was successful because he was able to get as many as 5,000
persons to follow him in his quest to build a utopia. Jim Jones was able to
entice people to join him because his speeches were like shows that described different theologies that he believed in.
Those shows could be about Christianity, just like they could be about atheism.
Due to the popularity of his commune, Jim Jones decided to move the community
to Guyana due to the unwanted attention they received. Not long after the move,
a horrible incident happened where around 900 people died of mass suicide, by
ingesting poison.
On the
other hand, the Rajneesh movement was founded by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, also known as Osho. Osho started his
commune in India, where he originated, before moving his community to Oregon,
in the United States. The Rajneesh movement was mostly based on relaxation more
than it was on any one theology. This movement also attracted many followers,
with Osho being a motivational speaker, with followers who wore orange. But this
commune was not all peace and relaxation because they were founded on a lot of crime. Even though their crimes were
not near as awful as the ones that led to the destruction of the People’s
Temple, their crimes were the cause of the commune’s fall.
After reading
my descriptions of those communes, we can definitely tell that they are
different as well as similar. They are different in the theologies they teach
as the People’s Temple relied on multiple theologies and the Rajneesh movement
relied on relaxation more than anything. But they were also different in the
fact that the People’s Temple was significantly more successful and at least,
Jim Jones ended his commune on his own terms. They were also different because while
Jim Jones was married with adopted children, Osho had never married and lived
for his community.
Those two
communes had a lot of similarities, starting with relocation. Both leaders
decided to relocate their communes in a way to expand their communities. And by
relocating, both communes relocated in a complete different country, expecting
a great change from their followers. Another big similarity between both
communes is the fact that their crimes led to their downfall. For Osho, it was
all his crimes, including suspected terrorism and immigration crimes that led
to him being deported from the United States and not being allowed in some countries.
For Jim Jones, it was not his crimes, as he had not committed any, but his fear
of others leaving him that led to the Jonestown massacre. And lastly, was that
both leaders experimented with poison, even though only one was successful. For
Jim Jones, it was the mass suicide he created; by making his followers poison
themselves and their family members. For Osho, it was making his followers poison the town of Oregon, something
that failed.
Claire Maurel
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