The Guru-Sycophant Syndrome

Nice post, Ryan. Actually, I’ve written before about how dangerous it is to surround yourself with yes-people. In the personal development field (and Amway), a lot of “advice” I hear is to surround yourself with “like-minded people” and drop all the “negative thinkers” around you.

Though it is good to be around people who share your views, if you are never challenged then you stagnate, or in some cases spend a lot of money on products designed to make you feel better but only make you feel worse so you end up buying more products until a non-like-minded person comes along to throw you a life vest. OR you go broke first.

http://dontstepinthepoop.com/listen-to-negative-thinkers

Thanks for the bonus points. Answer: I looked up the Bible passage and confirmed I had spelled it correctly. :-)

Thanks for reading (and commenting)!

My post is not about Salty Droid. It's about gurus and sycophants.

But let me address your comment directly.

Firstly, you've made a lot of assumptions in your comment. And secondly, you've done nothing more than make ad hominem attacks, which are basically meaningless since they redirect attention away from the core issue.

Also: Do you know what sycophant means? It's a form of hero worship — flattery to gain personal advantage. Based on what Salty Droid does, it makes no sense to call him “chief sycophant.”

Ryan

Loved the post, Ryan. The guru empire is bound to fall sometime. How can so many people NOT be tired of their crap?

Well said, Ryan. I've often thought that the term “guru” is like the modern equivalent of “prophet”. And, as with prophets, most of them are blind guides surrounded by equally blind acolytes.

You're welcome, Thomas. Thanks for the comment.

It usually only takes a year or two of reading and studying before you know as much or more than most self-proclaimed gurus. But people keep buying stuff because they never feel like they know enough — perpetual students outside of academia.

I can relate to this. And … respect to you for saying it.

The whole social proof thing is often just about exploiting the mindless heard mentality, which just perpetuates an ugly pecking order. And … rational people who think for themselves are a threat to that.

It's often depressing when you look beneath the surface and words of so many businesses and see they're not what they first seem or would have us believe.

Sadly, I don't thing there's much divine correction going on though. These things are as old as the hills and most gurus/controllers live and die fat on their misguided but perceived social status and shiny things.

Interesting… I never really quite caught on to the whole pride issue until I had it called to my attention by C.S. Lewis in “Mere Christianity.” I really see why it is perhaps the worse sin of all. It is vain, competitive, and destructive…

I once asked a coach why “gurus” go beyond $2 Million liquid net worth. I mean, for $2 Million, you can live a life with nearly every luxury you could ever want — anything beyond is sheer extravagance.

The answer that came back?

Ego.

So many of these gurus don't need the millions any more… they merely want to show they can have a bigger launch than the next guy.

If this is true, then they are not living for themselves… but being controlled externally by someone else's opinion. Somewhat like having the biggest Tonka truck in the sandbox.

At what point do we start living for ourselves, and not other people's impressions?