O.T.O. Survey

What is your current age?

What is your identified gender?

What race do you consider yourself?

In what religion were you raised?

Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or something else?

What is your current place of residence? Growing up? How often did you move?

What is your current level of education? Where were you educated? What was your area of study and what degrees did you obtain, if any?

What do you do for income? What’s most important in a job? Pay, creativity, helping others, security, potential for advancement? Is one type of job any better than others? If so, why?

If you were asked to use one of four categories to describe your social class, which would it be: the lower class, the working class, the middle class, or the upper class?

What is your family background? What was your parents’ levels of education and careers? How large was your immediate family?

Are you currently married, widowed, divorced, separated, living with someone, living with more than one partner, single, or consider yourself in some other living arrangement?

How do we know what’s right and wrong? Are there specific moral commands we should obey? Where do these commands come from? How do you know them? Do you need to know or obey God to do what’d right? Why/Why not?

Are any acts absolutely wrong? Which? Why/why not?

Please consider the following statement and tell me whether you agree or disagree with them and why:

Those who violate God’s rules must be punished.

Please consider the following statement and tell me whether you agree or disagree with them and why:

Right and wrong are not usually a simple matter of black and white; there are many shades of gray.

Please consider the following statement and tell me whether you agree or disagree with them and why:

Immoral actions by one person can corrupt society in general.

Please consider the following statement and tell me whether you agree or disagree with them and why:

Morality is a personal matter and society should not force everyone to follow one standard.

How do you feel when you do something that’s right? Something that’s wrong? Do you ever feel guilty? When? What does it mean to you?

Why don’t people always do the right thing? How can they become more able to do it? Do you ever do something even if you don’t want to? Why? How does this feel?

How do people disagree about what’s right and wrong? What can they do about it? Can persons prove their views? What does it take for you to be persuaded to change your mind? When you disagree with someone in O.T.O., compared to an outsider, do you work it out differently? How?

What is a good person like? What qualities does she/he have? Examples? Do you consider yourself a good person?

In general, how close would you say you come to being the kind of person you would like to be?

We have talked about various parts of your life, now I want to ask you about your life as a whole. How satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?

When you think about what you have hoped to accomplish in your life up to now, how do you feel you have done?

What is a good society? What makes society good?

Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful, or that they are mostly just looking out for themselves?

Do you think most people can be trusted?

What should we do in relation to other people in society? How are we responsible for one another? Are we “our brother’s keeper”? What does that mean?

What do you see most Americans going by in their behavior? How do they decide what to do? How does this compare with your own case? With your group? Does your group have some way or message to help society change for the better? What is it?

Some people say there isn’t as much freedom in this country as there ought to be. How about you – How free do you feel to live the kind of life you want to?

In what ways do you feel you aren’t very free?

There are many different ways of picturing God. We’d like to know the kinds of images you are most likely to associate with God.

Do you believe there is a life after death?

Why is life worth living?

Looking back at your family, what did they place the most value on, what was central in their lives? What did they go by?

How should you raise children and compare this with how you were raised. What is the most important thing for a child to learn to prepare him or her for life?

Was your family religious? How so? How did they live out their beliefs?

How would you describe your relationships before O.T.O. and now? With parents and family, friends, lover/spouse, boss, etc.?

What were you doing before you joined the group? Did you have any particular problem or needs then? What was bothering you? How did you see it then? What were you trying to do about it? (other movements, therapy, career?)

How did you first hear about the group? What was your first contact? First impressions? How did they change?

Was there a turning point, a point of no return, as you were getting involved in the group? What was it? When?

Did you make friends in the group? How, with whom? Did you keep seeing old friends or other non-members? Did/How did you come to see less of them?

How are your relationships with other members different from relationships with outsiders?

Since joining the group, what have been the main changes, the biggest ups and downs? What group rules were easiest, hardest for you to accept? What beliefs, practices, institutions? Which have changed your life most? How? Has the group changed your feelings about rules and authority in general, like school, work, or politics?

Describe your relationship with Master of your local body. Does it have ethical or moral dimensions to it? How so?

How long have you been in the group and has your involvement been constant?

Is there anything about the group that you would change if you could?

Would you ever consider having a relationship/marrying someone who did not belong to the group?

Are there any situations where you conceal your group membership?

Do you have any guidelines that you use in determining whether or not you reveal your membership?

Does your family know about your membership? If yes, how do they feel about it? If not, why haven’t you told them?

Does your employer know about your membership? If yes, how does s/he feel about it? If not, why haven’t you told them?

Have there been any situations where you feel that you have been discriminated against or felt embarrassed because of your membership?

Have you ever told anybody about your membership and they held it against you?

If you have been discriminated against, how did you cope with it?

Do you think that some people dislike your group? Why?

Did you, yourself, at any point in your life, ever dislike the group? If yes, what changed about your feelings?

How would you distinguish this group from other occult groups?

How would you say that you benefit from belonging to the group?

What is the Caliph or Caliphate? How do you understand the role of the Caliph? What is a Caliph’s function?

How does leadership pass from one person to the other in O.T.O. as you understand it?

How are you kept abreast of policy decisions by O.T.O. leadership?

What is the role and importance of Kaaba in O.T.O.?

What relationship have you personally had with the Kaaba?

What is the direction of the Qibla? How does the Qibla relate to your personal practice? How does the Qibla relate to your community practice?

What place does Arab or Middle Eastern dress and clothing have in the culture of O.T.O.? What other influences does Arab or Middle Eastern culture have on the culture of O.T.O.?

Is there anything I didn’t ask, which you’d like to add?