Thread on the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, about the 1980s guru-worshipping Rajneesh/Osho cult city in Oregon:
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Guru worship is systematized fangirlism. We tend to compartmentalize it as an Eastern-derived spiritual contagion, but it’s the same phenomenon as sustained rock-star or hero worship, captured by a real social relationship, rather than a fantastical one.
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I found the first episode boringly predictable, but persevered, and am glad I did. Having done so, I do recommend the series, for several reasons:
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1) It’s good journalism: an honest and successful attempt to portray two sides in a war. Much talking heads time, original footage, a professionally edited narrative constructed through interviews with the intimately involved.
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2) It’s important sociological and political US history. It helped me understand once more piece of the history of current fears both of American Christian conservative communities, and liberals.
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3) Most interesting to me, it’s an example of a monist utopian idealist society flipping into dualism. The exact mechanics and trajectory of that process are documented in detail. The pivotal point is the response to the bombing of the Rajneesh hotel in Portland in 1983.
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Prior to the bombing the community ideal was universal Oneness, a utopian love bubble.The bomb was a real, social threat to that ideal. The response was ‘protect the community’. That is the pivotal point at which Rajneesh monist eternalism turned to dualist eternalism.
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The small, but immense, logical shift from ‘our free society is for everyone’ to ‘protect our free society for everyone from threats’ is the mechanical slip from monism to dualism.
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I say ‘mechanical’ because without being meta to the psychological logic of the process, ie without awareness, the socio-ideological trajectory is predictable; it’s automatic.
@Meaningness writes about monist-dualist recursion athttps://meaningness.com/monism-dualism-recursion …1 reply 1 retweet 14 likesShow this thread
From that page: “The amount of pressure for conformity, and for rejection of outsiders is a measure of how pathologically dualistic the group’s functioning is.” applies as appropriately to the small-towners as to the Rajneeshies
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