One can substitute 'guru' for 'king' but there is this terrifying difference:
Subjects of gurus are convinced the guru has cured them -- and like drug addicts forget all else except remaining close as possible to the guru - never mind friendships and children.
Unlike a king, a guru can used a diseased line of argument to convince us that we are not our bodies.
Which is why Butler has had his private coronation and donned the hollow crown:
The tinfoil hat, the tinfoil walls, and in its midst, that orb of sovereignty --
The White Plastic Ball.
Subjects of gurus are convinced the guru has cured them -- and like drug addicts forget all else except remaining close as possible to the guru - never mind friendships and children.
Unlike a king, a guru can used a diseased line of argument to convince us that we are not our bodies.
Quote
And what have kings that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of god art thou, that suffer’st more
Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? What are thy comings in?
O ceremony, show me but thy worth!
What is thy soul of adoration?
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men,
Wherein thou art less happy, being feared,
Than they in fearing?
What drink’st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
But poisoned flattery? Oh, be sick, great greatness,
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure!
Think’st thou the fiery fever will go out
With titles blown from adulation?
Will it give place to flexure and low bending? (Groveling, kneeling, prostrations)
Canst thou, when thou command’st the beggar’s knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play’st so subtly with a king’s repose.
Which is why Butler has had his private coronation and donned the hollow crown:
The tinfoil hat, the tinfoil walls, and in its midst, that orb of sovereignty --
The White Plastic Ball.