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Wed 22 Jun, 2005 02:04 pm
I'm not sure if this is one for relegion & spiritualy, philosophy & debate, or if we had the forum, phychology.
I work for a large corporation. On occassion (just a few times a year) I travel to meetings in different areas of the state/country, that requires a stay of 2 or 3 days. What I see when with large groups of people that work for the same company always makes me slightly queasy for the next few days. I'll think to myself "Christ, I don't travel 1/10 of what some others here do, how can they take this over and over!
It makes me think that this must be what some charasmatic relegious revival must be like.
Don't get me wrong, a lot of business is done, but it's like the higher ups are like priests or something.
You actually hear people say things like "he'll have to drink the kool-aide"
One of the big financial mucky mucks calls himself after some star wars character, and the biggest cheese of all will appear at yearly events where newly hired people will be dressed as some type of hero. I've heard him give the same folksy talk probably 3-4 times, and I could actually point to him at a certain time as if to say "cue the heart felt tears"
Now - before you think they are loonies - believe me, ALL large corporations in the US have some version of this. If you don't believe it, ask someone you know that worked at a large corp for a while.
I am what I guess you would call a friendly introvert - I enjoy talking with others when there's something to say, and I love to laugh - but I really don't go out of my way to seek people out.
I view my spiritual beliefs the same way - it's between me and God - I don't enjoy all that communal prayer and back slapping afterwards.
In a nutshell - I'm a goat.
I practically see people eyes glaze over with relegious fevor at these business events - and it makes me wonder if this is what the basis of organized relegion is all about.....A bunch of sheep who feel or at least pretend to feel a certain way because it provides them with the comfort of the herd. The opiate of the masses, I'd guess you'd say.
In other words - if more people were goats and didn't feel the need to containtly be in the presence of other people, thereby not exposing themselves to charasmatic preachers and so on, what would happen to organized relegion?
I enjoy my work and find it rewarding in many ways - I'm just very clear on who I am and who I'm not, and don't play the game.
I feel God in my life every day - and feel God most closely when I'm alone.
I guess what I'm asking is - Is it all just an act some or many are putting on?
I think it was the band Cake that recorded the song "Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell" back in the early or mid-90s.
It's no accident that most Christian religious leaders (priests, ministers, etc) refer to their congregations as "flocks" and see themselves as shepherds.
To answer your question: no, I don't think it's an act in most cases (though you always have the perfectly cognizant suck-up trying to score brownie points). I suspect it's a mild form of mass hysteria; the logical outcome of "group think." People will do weird things in groups, things they wouldn't generally think of doing and which they generally find repulsive. In short, most people are sheep. The rest are either shepherds, wolves, or goats.
Very interesting - mild mass hysteria, group think, sheep. Makes sense to me.
Now, WHY are most people sheep?
Is it like a passive form of submitting to peer pressure?
Do sheep recognize themselves at being sheep?
The last 2 days I've been reading this book called "Haysidic Tales"
I've found more spirtual food for thought there than I did in 12 years of catholic school.
One tale deals with a Reb not recognizing someone he saw at a gathering - even though he'd known him for years. It had to do with the person giving a false reflection of himself, since he had been thinking selfishly that day, and was not reflecting God in his face the way he ususally did.
Well, that's not quite it, but as close as I can think right now.
Anyway - this moring when I was putting on my makeup - I was thinking of how conscious we are of our looks, getting cosmetic surgery, buying all sorts of products etc.
It hit me - I have never seen my face at all!
No one can see their own face. All we see are refections and images.
Because we have only seen a reflection of who we really are - we don't even know who we are.
Others see our face - but are they really seeing it, or just the projection of our reflection of ourselves?
When we realize we can never see ourselves - are we not freeing ourselves to more fully immerse ourselves into God? Thereby really finding ourselves?
Chai Tea wrote:Now, WHY are most people sheep?
Is it like a passive form of submitting to peer pressure?
It seems to be. Humans tend to have a deeply ingrained need for social acceptance; the surest way to achieve this is to go along with the crowd.
Quote:Do sheep recognize themselves at being sheep?
I don't know. Thinking of one's self as a sheep or follower isn't flattering to one's ego. I think that people tend to rationalize their "sheepish" behavior (e.g., I'm not a sheep, I'm...'a good soldier'...'taking one for the team'...'just doing what everyone else is doing'...etc.).
Quote:The last 2 days I've been reading this book called "Haysidic Tales"
I've found more spirtual food for thought there than I did in 12 years of catholic school.
One tale deals with a Reb not recognizing someone he saw at a gathering - even though he'd known him for years. It had to do with the person giving a false reflection of himself, since he had been thinking selfishly that day, and was not reflecting God in his face the way he ususally did.
Well, that's not quite it, but as close as I can think right now.
Anyway - this moring when I was putting on my makeup - I was thinking of how conscious we are of our looks, getting cosmetic surgery, buying all sorts of products etc.
It hit me - I have never seen my face at all!
No one can see their own face. All we see are refections and images.
Because we have only seen a reflection of who we really are - we don't even know who we are.
Others see our face - but are they really seeing it, or just the projection of our reflection of ourselves?
When we realize we can never see ourselves - are we not freeing ourselves to more fully immerse ourselves into God? Thereby really finding ourselves?
You lost me on this section. Technically, we don't really 'see' anything other than light...all visual stimuli is a reflection; what we perceive with our eyes is the light reflected off the object we're 'seeing.'
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