I'm still reading it at the moment. It feels spot on in some places, and in others I'm put off by what seem to completely unsupported, general and manifesto-like statements about how the world is or should be. It is written by two people in the form of separate essays, which might explain why it changes tone intermittently. I've downgraded my initial excitement as I entered the second half of the book (I read the first half in one day and I'm still on the second half one month later), but it makes some really valuable points about authoritarian control and Gurus that I haven't read anywhere else.
Also, perhaps my academic background is interfering, but I'm put off by the lack of any references to any other work or any examples of any kind. It is entirely theoretical. As I sat there reading page after page of polemic against authoritarianism, I was enjoying it but I became aware of my confirmation bias towards anything that puts down cults. I'm not supporting cults, I'm just saying that 'The Guru Papers'rarely shows how it reached its (nonetheless interesting) conclusions. They make it clear at the start of the book that they don't intend to. So that's worth something.
The section on healing crippled self-trust is excellent and helpful as expected. There's a long treatise on addiction as a battle of (equally fragmented) good self vs bad self, that 'made sense' to me intellectually but is perhaps not much use to someone in the grips of addiction. Some of it feels a little dated (social and psychological ideas from the 70s I would say?) and some of it occasionally approaches dogmatism.
They make a great point that has stuck with me about the masochistic euphoria and pleasure of childlike submission that cults engage in and label as 'surrender'.
After reading it I (perhaps masochistically) was scanning this 'Mooji satsang' and I thought this was a perfect example:
[youtu.be]
In this book they describe this cycle of submission and euphoria as never-ending and always in need of renewal.
Also, perhaps my academic background is interfering, but I'm put off by the lack of any references to any other work or any examples of any kind. It is entirely theoretical. As I sat there reading page after page of polemic against authoritarianism, I was enjoying it but I became aware of my confirmation bias towards anything that puts down cults. I'm not supporting cults, I'm just saying that 'The Guru Papers'rarely shows how it reached its (nonetheless interesting) conclusions. They make it clear at the start of the book that they don't intend to. So that's worth something.
The section on healing crippled self-trust is excellent and helpful as expected. There's a long treatise on addiction as a battle of (equally fragmented) good self vs bad self, that 'made sense' to me intellectually but is perhaps not much use to someone in the grips of addiction. Some of it feels a little dated (social and psychological ideas from the 70s I would say?) and some of it occasionally approaches dogmatism.
They make a great point that has stuck with me about the masochistic euphoria and pleasure of childlike submission that cults engage in and label as 'surrender'.
After reading it I (perhaps masochistically) was scanning this 'Mooji satsang' and I thought this was a perfect example:
[youtu.be]
In this book they describe this cycle of submission and euphoria as never-ending and always in need of renewal.