On May 17, 2008, at 1:59 AM, TurquoiseB wrote:
Once this piece of dogma sets its hooks in seekers, they seem willing to overlook ANYTHING in the people they consider enlightened. They can form the most amazing rationalizations for why the teacher they revere is "really" doing the right thing when he or she does things they would organize a mob to combat if other people did them. We've seen people on this forum excuse lying, illegal acts, extortion and worse when they were done by people they believe to be enlightened. And we've seen those who claim to be enlightened excuse their *own* actions with equal certainty. They don't even have to *listen* to feedback from others that these actions might be less than perfect, because they "know" that those actions cannot possibly be imperfect. They have subjective experiences that convince them that they are enlightened, and *by definition* the enlightened can do no wrong, so all these critics MUST *by def- inition* be incorrect. Since they are enlightened (or believe that they are), *anything* they do is *by definition* right.
Barry, I think the word that covers much of what you're saying is "authoritarian." That's it in a nutshell, at least for me--special rules for "special" people, who then pretty much prey on everyone else, with the unquestioning masses accepting it all unquestioningly. Sal
