[fellowniusmonk]

I've lost several people to cults over the years and I sympathize.

People (not yourself obviously) confuse empathy and sympathy with agreement and that's simply not the case of course.

It's tough when you see yourself so strongly in someone else and share experience with them and they are destroying their lives by putting their trust in liars.

This is painful to see even in severe cases when someone is sucked in due to their own self serving biases.

It's frustrating though. Wrong people are still wrong. It's not that hard to "ground propositions" on the issues most people deal with in their practical lives (once you've conceded that physical reality exists.)

Good luck and hang in there.