[1propionyl]

I don't know anything about this particular case, but superficially what you're describing is not atypical of well-established cults, rather it is typical.

The authoritarianism increases as one moves up levels and more "secrets" are revealed. At the ground floor, it's welcoming and communal, but as you are further inculcated the number of "secrets" or "mysteries" revealed, the amount of potential personal exposure (read: blackmail and/or punishment for treachery) and the amount of authoritarianism rises steeply.

[mirimir]

What you're describing sounds a lot like what I've read about Scientology.

But not at all like what I experienced in Landmark. Seriously, there are no "secrets" or "mysteries". It's all basically laid out in the Forum. The rest is all practice.