stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

MAKE IT BETTER 499
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Rick Ross (2005c) gives ten characteristics to look for in a safe
group and/or leader. Those range from the encouraging of critical
thinking and individual autonomy in the followers, to the acceptance
by the leader of constructive criticism, to a democratic environment,
to willing financial disclosure on the part of the organization.
Good luck with finding any number of those characteristics in
any “authentic, spiritually transformative” environment, though
(or even in the typical business corporation, for that matter). For
such a group begins, by definition, with a leader who is more “spiritually
evolved”—i.e., who ostensibly sees truth more clearly—than
the people around him. That is, he merits his position as leader not
merely for having a greater, studied understanding of one or another
set of holy scriptures, but rather for possessing a higher degree
of enlightenment.
“Fortunately,” though, the eager aspirants around him can attain
to that same height if they simply follow his teachings and
instructions. Thence follows role-playing, respect-hungering, and
the understandable desire to distance oneself from anything that
might interfere with one’s most-valued spiritual progress (e.g., attachments,
family, sex, etc.). And with the need to obediently endure
anything which might accelerate the realization of one’s becoming
“as great as” the leader himself is, as quickly as possible,
it’s all downhill from there.
So it is, by now, in no way surprising that even the best of our
world’s spiritual communities—whether “integral” or otherwise—
have been found to quickly degenerate into “problematic” nests,
leaving their idealistic followers wondering, “Where did it all go
wrong?” For, basic human psychology and unavoidable social structures,
even without any explicit attempts at “mind control” or
“brainwashing,” will be sufficient to ensure that descent in any
relatively closed thought-society.
The point, again, is not that brainwashing, mind control, deceptive
recruiting and enforced isolation do not exist, for they surely
do. But even without them, things are much worse than would
be imagined by theorists who point to such issues as being distinguishing
characteristics of so-called cults.
If you cannot bring yourself to accept that, you are free to continue
believing that the Roman Catholic Church, the U.S. Marines,
and the average prison, for example, are “safe” places to be. And