[Buddha-l] authoritarianism, totalitarianism, religions

[Jayarava]

The more fundamental observation is that humans are social primates. If anyone is in doubt about the generalised structure of a social primate group I can recommend Jane Goodall's book In the Shadow of Man. It's a good read and provides some insights into human societies as well. I might have doubted it until I lived near both a zoo where I could hear primate calls, and a football ground - the similarities were striking! 

Note that even in so called democratic societies individuals seek power and privilege over an above others. The problem is not a religious one, it is down at the level of biology - there never has been a human group which did not naturally stratify. 

I think it's important to understand that as well as people seeking power, there are those who only feel safe when they have a strong leader - one has seen this in the re-election of Bush in the US, in Maggie Thatcher's 3 terms in office in the UK, and in any number of other democratically elected authoritarian figures in history. If we don't want to dominate, we tend to want to capitulate. Of course we humans are capable of over-riding our instincts, but this takes a high level of self-awareness and determination.

There's nothing special about religious groups. Sometimes there are good things about religious individuals - the Buddha being an archetype.

Jayarava