In this final episode of season 2, I look at where we've been and where we're headed. How do we comprehend the multiple threads of trouble that have brought us to this fractured time?

And when we comprehend them, how do we respond? What works? What have people tried? And what does the research show?

The damage that has been done to us so that people in power could have more power -- and so that a national religion could be forced onto us -- is serious. But we can be equally serious, and we can build off-ramps for ourselves and each other.

In this cultic time, it's important to understand abuse, manipulation, and cultic mechanisms of control so that we can protect ourselves -- and also avoid creating cultic mechanisms ourselves, or "cult-hopping" out of ignorance.

It's also essential to understand our emotions so th ...