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Huh. You hit a nerve. Big reason why I have a problem with Vajrayana & Mahayana in particular. "Collectively coerced humility" is a cultural feature in Norway (see: Janteloven). It's highly corrosive in many ways, and I never had a churchy reason to aggrandize it.

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It's one thing if it's someone's personal affectation, mind, but many practitioners hold it more as universal law. This prompts abusive behaviour.

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It seems to be a prerequisite for abusive behaviour in cultish situations - but the catalysts for that kind of bad behaviour are multiple. “Collective coercion” is a problem. Healthy humility would not allow abuse because it doesn’t lack strength and confidence.

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Bingo. The problem is not humility. It's an excessive attachment to the behavioral trappings of humility (that are not always genuine expressions thereof!)

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I doubt those things are Actually Good. Spiritual types are just receptive to it. Religious expression is typically done while vulnerable, so this allows predators a niche. It's the same with child abuse in churches, abuse perpetrated by leaders of social movements...

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I think people go too hard in against religious movements because they are a necessary condition for cults. A necessary condition, but not always the same thing. That said, many of those religious sensibilities have developed to give people who hurt others too much power.

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I find stuff like the guru/disciple dynamic deeply suspect. And it is deeply suspect! It is a tremendous vehicle for abuse. But so are many other things, other trappings of power that can be far more secular. People see proximate traits and think they've found primary causes.

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I prefer the word ‘teacher’ to guru. Teachers fill important, necessary social roles. In Western culture, the word ‘teacher’ comes attached with responsibility. ‘Guru’ has super-human connotations, more ripe for unhelpful projection.

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Indeed, so do I. I've only had teachers. But sometimes people say "teacher" and mean "guru", which is more of obfuscation than an improvement I'm afraid (much like your point about cults highlighted).

1:27 PM · Jul 4, 2018Twitter Web Client

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