Almost done watching the six part Netflix documentary “Wild,
Wild Country”, about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the commune/city, Rajneeshpuram, he and his
followers founded in Oregon in the 1980s, right next to, surrounding, and
enveloping, Antelope, Oregon, population 46 (2010).
My conclusion: in a sense, every cult is the same; only the accents
and longevity matter, and, crucially, the attitude toward apocalypse — as in show-down
or patience about ultimate confrontation between astounding cult truth and dominant culture.
Cults that survive a long time get upgraded into religions,
as maybe they deserve to, if, in religious history, survival approximates or
expresses some higher, more patient and therefore more durable truth value.
. . .
The best line Bhagwan speaks comes when he denounces the
religion that has been made of him by a follower. He demands that all the many books
of his sayings be burned, along with the red robes that had been declared the
only official garments.
Bhagwan says: I come to destroy religions! This is the first
time in history a religion destroys itself!
Wow. My kind of guru.
On the other hand, Bhagwan, when he spoke those words, owned
a world record 93 Rolls Royces.
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