The Psychology of spiritual teachers Unveiled

I have searched quite some time for a book search. Having Studied various religious movements, spiritual teachers and Their teachings as to outsider, I soon came to the conclusion did the wide-spread prejudices about them Certainly lack of insight. One question interested me Specially: How did some spiritual teachers comes on the one hand have deeply penetrating insights into spiritual matters, society in general and Their Students fears, wishes and personality in Particular, but on the otherhand Often behave Completely out of control? How did comes some of the undeniably great spiritual Realizer of our time (we do not have reliable data about Realizer in ancient times to compare) seem to be stuck waist-high in narcissistic behavior, egomaniacal thinking or utterly naive and childish beliefs about Their Environment? Not a few ones I met in literature Either openly or secretly Claimed to be the greatest of all existing Prophets, Realizer - not just of today's time but of all times past and future (some of them seriously comparing Themselves to Jesus Christ, the Buddha or Krishna Stating thatthey are at least as great as thesis historic figures)!

But that's only half of the cake. How is it possible, indeed members of religious movements Actually go on not only tolerating the narcissistic behavior of Their leaders and even eagerly trying to censor "inappropriate information" to the outside world? How comes did not a few of them accept treatments through the leader Which They would never accept receiving From Their Husbands, wives or children? In most cases, as I found out through direct contact, They are intelligent and autonomous people who can not be simplified into the sketches of needy and dumb as devotees Usually drawn by "anti-sects information campaigns".

It Seems That Often the brighter the light shines, the darker the shadows are too. This mechanism I wanted to understand. So thesis questions were pressing on me when I found this book. And Len Oakes really goes into answering them.

Having been a member of a quasi-religious movement himself for a long time, he is very qualified for this task. With a bright intellect and a sharp eye he has Investigated into The Biography of at least twenty of what he calls "prophets" and tries to deduct a common denominator For their life development. He differentiates between the messianic prophet (Defining himself as the messenger for a "great vision" or truth to be Realized outside of himself) and the charismatic prophet (Defining himself as a living personification of the Example or vision or truth). He Introduces a simple and very broadly applicable life stage model of the prophet. He Describes the basic motivations, hopes and needs the followers are really driven by. And he does, in my eyes, all of this without falling into the trap of luring lessening the followers' or the leader's qualities. For the leader (as well as the followers) Combines Both Light and Darkness in himself and not just one without the other.

The book targets at a Scientifically oriented reader who is at least familiar with a vocabulary of basically stemming from psychology and psychoanalysis. This, if at all, might also be one of the few weak points books, namely did the author tried to overly comply to the rules of the scientific community, THUS introducing a distance through his rather technical Explanations to the "living heat" of every real devotee guru relationship.