A multi-level approach to finding explanations

When I am trying to understand certain phenomena and occurrences, my method is to start by considering the most obvious explanations. There is no need to assume occult influences or go into full conspiracy theory mode unless and until it is absolutely necessary!

If all the top-level possibilities I can think of are not relevant, if they are inadequate and insufficient to explain everything, if they are the symptoms as opposed to the cause, then I will move down a level to more subtle possibilities.

If these too do not provide a full and satisfactory explanation, I will go lower still.

For example, if someone acts unprofessionally and out of character and causes a lot of damage to the company they work for, I would first check for such personal factors as illness, money worries, family problems or a drink problem. I would then look at the employer and the job and to see whether they were tired from working very long hours, were living in fear of redundancy or had been promoted beyond their capabilities.

Upton Sinclair and the difficulty in getting through to people

The starting point for this article is the well-known proposition from the American novelist Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

While true up to a point, this seems both incomplete and partly off the mark.

In some cases there is a lot more than a salary at stake, and it may be less a matter of a man’s not understanding something than of his understanding it only too well but refusing to accept it or admit that he knows it.

If someone did accept or admit that they know and understand an inconvenient truth, they might be expected or forced to do something about it. This might entail taking a stand; it might mean the loss of their existing role and plan of action; it might mean the loss of acceptance, credibility, any chance of promotion and even their professional reputation.

Ignorance really is bliss in many cases.

Joyce Collin-Smith and the Maharishi Yogi

Author, journalist and seeker after esoteric knowledge Joyce Collin-Smith spent six years as secretary and general assistant to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Indian guru who developed and promoted the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique.

She served as his driver, cooked his food, washed his silk clothes, tucked him into his bedclothes, made his phone calls, booked hotel rooms, prepared leaflets and posters, took dictation for his books and performed many other exhausting tasks and duties, all in the name of assisting him to realise his inordinate and unrealistic ambitions.

She came to know him very well, and saw at close quarters how he operated and what effect this had on his followers.

Much of her book Call No Man Master is about the time she spent in the Maharishi’s company. Her account of her involvement is disillusioning and sometimes chilling. Casualties and broken people abound. Some damage was spiritual and emotional, but people’s ability to earn a living was also greatly impaired.

Anyone who is interested in cults and cult leaders will find it educational; anyone who is interested in unseen influences will find it fascinating. It contains many elements that have been featured in other articles.

Cult leaders and Call No Man Master

Author and journalist Joyce Collin-Smith’s autobiographical book Call No Man Master is a good source of information about some specific cult leaders.

It may be seen as rather superficial and subjective, but it is still useful for both educating people and confirming what they already suspect or know.

Although her main interests and involvements were in the areas of consciousness raising practices, spiritual development movements, esoteric sects and Eastern religions, much of what she has to say can be applied to cults and cult leaders of any kind.

I am particularly interested in Joyce Collin-Smith’s account of her dealings with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Transcendental Meditation man who was spiritual guru to the Beatles. I can see some very familiar syndromes and connections in this case.

Before we get to the Maharishi, here are some commentaries and ideas inspired by other material of interest in this book:

Call No Man Master

Joyce Collin-Smith chose this title after having spent much of her very long life investigating groups and cults and in the company of various messiahs, spiritual teachers and gurus.

She became disillusioned with most of them, and with good reason. 

Many were found to be hypocritical, self-indulgent and a danger to their followers.

A few thoughts about cult leaders

As I have said before, there is a huge amount of information available both online and in books about cults, cult members and cult leaders. Although I can’t add very much to it, I can certainly confirm some of it from personal experience; I can also give my take on some aspects, provide supporting material and make some connections.

After producing some articles about cult members, I now have a few things to say about cult leaders.

The godlike cult leader

No matter what type or size of cult is being investigated, religious, political, lifestyle or other, it will have many features in common with other cults.

Similarly, the leader will have attributes in common with most other cult leaders, no matter what their nationality or ideology is.

The most significant of these is the messiah complex.

Only they can save us all; they must be worshipped and obeyed without question. They expect to be treated with respect and even reverence as great spiritual masters, heroes who are going to save the world or model examples of what highly-evolved people should be, depending on what sort of cult they are leaders of.

They may claim a direct connection to and do everything using the authority of some god.

Rafael Sabatini: equality is a by-product of envy

I recently came across a quotation from one of Rafael Sabatini’s historical novels that is very relevant today:

“The idea of equality is a by-product of the sentiment of envy. Since it must always prove beyond human power to raise the inferior mass to a superior stratum, apostles of equality must ever be inferiors seeking to reduce their betters to their level. It follows that a nation that once admits this doctrine of equality will be dragged by it to the level, moral, intellectual and political, of its most worthless class.”

- From Scaramouche the King-Maker by Rafael Sabatini

This quotation is sometimes said to come from Scaramouche: a Romance of the French Revolution, but it comes from the sequel. The two books were published in 1921 and 1931.

Rafael Sabatini, who died in 1950 so never lived to see what life in the 21st century is like, got it right. What he said about the lowest people trying to drag everyone down to the lowest level is very true. It is getting worse and worse.

103 years of John Buchan’s 39 Steps

Today is the 103rd anniversary of the first appearance of John Buchan’s classic spy thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps.

This exciting adventure story was first published in book form in October 1915, soon after it had run as a serial in Blackwood’s Magazine under the pseudonym H. de V. during July, August and September of that year.

Surprisingly, the very first appearance of The Thirty-Nine Steps was in the American magazine All-Story Weekly. It was published in two instalments, in the June 5th and June 12th 1915 issues.

The Thirty-Nine Steps was an immediate and great success.

John Buchan went on to write more books about the adventures of Richard Hannay. Unlike some of these later stories, The Thirty-Nine Steps does not contain much material that is directly relevant to this blog; it may however have some subtle messages for us.

All the world’s a stage

Perhaps there is a message in what Richard Hannay says about playing a part and how you have to think yourself into it. You must convince yourself that you are it and stay in part all the time, always behaving as if enemies were watching.