The countless incarnations of the New Prophet preaches: "tear down your Gnostic church for they don't revere me... um... I mean they don't guarantee Gnosis like I don't.... wait... they oppress you by not being me... ah... they're wrong, because I'm right."
Unfortunately, all of their arguments and preachments come down to the above, which is simply ego-inflation, not wanting anyone to step on the hose inflating their ego. There are dangers in hierarchies and organizations, however these are of a different nature to those of do-it-yourself religion. Any time you try to do something with more than one person, you have to organize things, give it a form and a structure. The dangers in organizations is whether the form exists to do something, to accomplish the goal, or to preserve the structure; and whether there is a clear limit on the extent of the structure's power.
For example, having a job where your boss also tries to control your personal life, is a structure that doesn't follow it's clear limits. The same is the case if you study at a university, and in addition to studies, they dictate your social life to you. These and so many other examples happen, blatantly, every day, in spite of the limits being respected in the vast majority of cases. And we are facing only the beginning of the use of the structure of the government of the USA and other countries to enforce agendas despite any attempts to limit government structure and power.
The New Prophet usually doesn't try to tear down the structure of the economy, nor rail against the education system. And, as I pointed out earlier, they show no understanding of the structures involved: why structures and forms exist, what is required to provide a form, and the real dangers that are involved. No, they preach against any religious form that is not their own—showing their true concern. The New Prophet is the founder of The First Church of the Ego: The One & Only One True Church. And being simply involved in a "me" vs "everyone else" dynamic, they have no real understanding of any of the real dynamics or dangers. And having no such understanding they will merely ape religious forms and recreate the worst possible religious scenarios.
The quote from Thomas Merton about the most dangerous man being the contemplative who is guided by no man, is true. I do not think that many of those who end up becoming leaders of manipulative and abusive organizations, colloquially called cults, set out to do so. They just follow their own impulses and those will lead them to repeat age old patterns. There is nothing original about “being me” in the sense of allowing your ego to rule unchecked. Those who are in the sway of ego-inflation are the least themselves and not at all free—they are under the control of larger patterns, patterns endlessly repeated and to which they are merely footnotes.
They think they are in charge, that this is the route to freedom, but when has freedom existed without limits, without structure? If someone is free to end my freedom, how is that freedom? Likewise, an individual who acknowledges no structure or limits on themselves will end up impinging upon the freedom of others. When they do this in society, they may end up loosing their freedom and having limits imposes upon them. When they do this in the realm of psychology, we usually call them abusers. When they do this in the realm of religion, we usually call them cult leaders.
Forms, structures, and the limits they impose provide for some degree of freedom and safety. In the cases where people are abused, it is not within the forms and limits of the organizations: it is when the individuals place themselves above such things, ignoring them and getting those they harm to ignore them.
The First Church of the Ego: The One & Only One True Church, is definitely not a Gnostic church, nor a means to Gnosis. Furthermore, it not only doesn't provide any aid, it provides an arena for the simple repetition of old and dangerous/harmful patterns. The New Prophet is not guided by others, but rather guided by the age old patterns that they are doomed to repeat.
2 comments:
What would it be like to find compassion inside you for the "New Prophets"?
One cannot have compassion towards a psychological pattern. Seeing the pattern, and therefore seeing how many get caught up in it, allows us to more readily see the human soul trapped in the pattern and caught up in it. This allows us to approach that soul with compassion, while keeping ourselves from being harmed by the mechanical results of the pattern--including not playing the role that the pattern dictates for us. This means not getting involved with the shadow-play, or reacting to the onslaught against oneself with one's own defensive ego inflation. Consciousness is always the key—conscious discernment.
To be the object of shadow projections means that you are seen as “evil” to that extent by those projecting their shadow upon you. And ego inflation that has taken over to the extent that occurs in the pattern of the New Prophet, removes the ability to appeal to an external standard. So there may be no direct way of aiding a New Prophet when they rail against you, however, the compassionate way is to respond not to the pattern, but to the person. We know how the pattern will go and act, but the person is a deep rich and complex being—one that we don't know, even though we know the pattern they are caught up in. That way lies both freedom for ourselves (we don't get caught up in our role in the pattern) and also the only real possibility to aid those unfortunate enough to be New Prophets themselves.
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