[Buddha-l] authoritarianism, totalitarianism, religions

[Ben Carral]

On Thursday, May 21, 2009, 8:36:14 AM, Dan wrote:

> Religions    generally    [...]    are    by   nature
> authoritarian.

   There  is  nothing  wrong  with authority per se, in
fact it is quite necessary in order to teach/learn some
important  things. The problem here, as I have tried to
point,  is  not  to  distinguish  between  rational and
irrational authorities.

> This cannot be camouflaged or ameliorated by claiming
> there are "masters" [...]

   There   are  Buddhist  masters,  some  of  them  are
rational and some of them are irrational.

   To  claim  that all authority is wrong because there
are  some irrational authoritarian so-called masters is
just a logical fallacy that camouflages reality.

   Let's think, for instance, in the Pali Buddha.

   Did  Gotama force his followers to follow him or let
them freedom of choice?

   Did  Gotama  explote his followers or helped them to
become competent by themselves?

   Did  Gotama  treated  his  followers  as  a means to
achieve his goals or as human beings in themselves?

   After answering this little test, it should be clear
that  Gotama  was  a rational master, not an irrational
one.

> Our  experiments  with  these  halfway houses quickly
> revealed their were seedbeds for all sorts of abuse.

   Again, to claim that all of the "halfway houses" (as
you call them) are "seedbeds for all sorts of abuse" is
a logical fallacy that camouflages reality.

   I  have known halfway houses that work in a rational
authoritarian  way and some halfway houses that work in
a exploting one.

   Again,  the  problem  is  not to distinguish between
rational and irrational authority.

> Mindless  Buddhism [...] easily lends itself to these
> abuses.

   I fully agree with that.

   As  far  as  I'm concerned, my good Buddhist masters
taught   me   that   I   shouldn't   go   against   the
precepts--that's is a great security measure.

   When  I  was  in  Morocco  last  year  visiting Sufi
masters, they said me that they taught his students the
same  thing (except a Westernized community that taught
an "everything is OK" approach).

> Because of the seriousness of such abuses (and more),
> these  are  not  trivial issues to be swept under the
> rug  with wishful, romanticized sentiments. They need
> to be thought about -- critically and deeply.

   I fully agree with that too.

   Everyone  who knows something about Erich Fromm also
knows that he was very interested in those same issues,
and  he  was  who  taught  me  to  distinguish  between
rational and irrational authority.

   As far as I'm concerned, irrational authority should
be transformed into rational authority.

   Best wishes,

   Ben (Oviedo, Asturias, Spain)