What makes someone a gum (the Sanskrit word originally meant "one
who brings light out of darkness")? Why are some gums particularly
dangerous? This thoughtful and engaging book provides answers and a
host of interesting insights. Storr, a British psychologist who
teaches at Oxford and has written a number of well-received books
(Solitude, 1988; Music and the Mind, 1992, etc.), profiles
religious or cult gurus (including Ignatius of Loyola, Georgei
Gurdjieff, Rudolf Steiner, Bhagwan Rajneesh, Jim Jones, and David
Koresh) and two intellectual ones, Freud and lung. As his title and
his choice of subjects in the first category reveal, he views most
gurus as being emotionally unbalanced and possessing many highly
unappealing qualities: They tend to be loners, have experienced
profound psychological crises (sometimes involving psychosis), and
generally relate poorly to others. Most are arrogantly self-certain
and otherwise highly narcissistic, even grandiose; some tend to be
paranoid while others, such as Rajneesh and Koresh, are materially
or sexually exploitative of others. In the last third of his
analysis Storr approaches his subject thematically, comparing gurus
both to those who are scientifically or artistically creative, and
to the mentally ill, particularly schizophrenics. In his
wide-ranging, unabashedly antiguru final chapter, he engages in a
fascinating if frustratingly brief contrast of the "charisma of
power" and the "charisma of certainty" with the more benevolent
"charisma of goodness." It is unfortunate that Storr does not write
about more appealing gurus in the latter category (he mentions only
a few figures in passing), and also that he does not choose Jewish
or Islamic gurus (the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Ayatollah Khomeini
come to mind) or political gurus (Storr does allude briefly to
Lenin, Churchill, and de Gaulle). However, what he has focused on
still provides an extremely useful and for the most part
well-crafted introduction to an intriguing and important subject.
(Kirkus Reviews)
There are many reports of strange cults which enthral their
followers and cut themselves off from the world. Invariably led by
gurus, or "spiritual leaders", the fruit of these cults are mass
suicides in the South American jungle or the self-immolation of
hundreds in besieged fortresses. This study provides an examination
of these men and women and of those who follow them. It takes as
example some of those considered to be modern gurus - James Jones,
David Koresh, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Gurdjieff and others -
and establishes what each of them has in common. It then examines
what they share with other gurus whose teachings are accepted or at
least respected - Jung, Freud, Ignatius Loyola, Jesus himself - and
finds some startling continuities.
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