It's hard to grasp how a group of reasonably intelligent people buys into a situation where their therapist has sex with his patients, and assumes control over businesses started by said patients. The key enabling factor is the mythology surrounding Bob. That mythology consists of:
Bob is unique. He is uniquely compassionate. Uniquely enlightened. Uniquely feelingful. Uniquely unburdened by narrow-minded conventions. Uniquely able to recognize and appreciate the real you, unlike your parents with all their limitations. Uniquely able to live life to its fullest, and uniquely able to help you achieve same.
Bob casts himself as the central character in the psychological development of each member of the community. His acknowledgment of the real you is a shock to your defense system, and that causes psychological retreat.
Bob unabashedly described The Environment as Shangri-la. We were special. We were enlightened.
But you better not leave. Like those who abandoned the Shangri-la in Lost Horizon, you will wither away. Unable to accept Bob's love, you will regress into a paranoid psychotic. (I'm not being hyperbolic. Bob applied those labels with abandon.)
No comments:
Post a Comment