The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power

Whole Earth Review, Spring, 1994 by Lara Owen

The Guru Papers

Since the Beatles made TM hip, we've seen many gurus come and go, and some have stayed. Scandals around sex, money, and child abuse abound in cult life, and yet apparently smart people still get suckered into guru-led cults. In The Guru Papers Kramer and Alstad give a crystal-clear analysis of the authoritarian nature of most spiritual guruled cults, going deeply into the inherent paradoxes in much of the world's religions along the way. Swiping at monotheism, the 'one-sidedness of oneness," and the impossibility of "create your own reality," they explain with blistering clarity why we get seduced the way we do, and how our inheritance of patriarchal and authoritarian organizational structures allows cults to take away our own integrity. Kramer and Alstad are particularly harsh on gurus themselves and their capacity for abuse of their disciples' willingness to develop spiritually. I found this harshness refreshing -- spiritual leaders are too often allowed to perpetrate abuse out of a confusion of values and a failure to internalize authority on the part of their followers, A real spiritual teacher helps you find the guru inside yourself, and such a teacher may not look like a guru at all. It's time we collectively woke up to the spirit within us and stopped projecting it outside.

* Surrender to authority is an integral part of the psychology of authoritarian hierarchy. Hierarchies of power, especially those that purport to be spiritual, are based on a hierarchy of value where the leader is considered better, purer, or essentially different. Next comes the heir-apparent or inner circle. This creates separation between those at different levels, and also between the group as a whole and those outside the hierarchy. Surrendering to a guru thus involves surrendering to a hierarchical mode of relating that has within it dominance and submission.

* People are especially vulnerable to charismatic leaders during times of crisis or major life change. Most often those who enter into this kind of authoritarian group are having problems bringing meaning, human connection, and good feelings into their lives, all of which become instantly available upon joining. What they also gain is a sense of power, usually greater than any they previously had. Although seemingly relinquishing their power, they actually trade what little personal power they had to piggyback on the guru's power. Occasionally people who did have power elsewhere forsake their old lives to become disciples, largely because their previous successes were unsatisfying, Interestingly, these people usually end up in the guru's inner circle. The higher up one is in the organization, the more one's power and even livelihood are hooked into it and the guru. This makes it very difficult not to accept, rationalize, or deny any incongruent, greedy, or corrupt behavior on the part of the guru or the organization as a whole.

The Guru Papers

(Masks of Authoritarian Power)

Joel Kramer & Diana Alstad. 1993;

385 pp. ISBN I -883319-00-5

$14.95 ($17.45 postpaid) from North Atiantic

Books, PO Box 12327, Berkeley, CA

94701; 5101559-8277