The first of the Gurus.
2008, oil/canvas
From Sam (theologian and writer) Keen's keynote speech for the 1973 Esalen sponsored conference given in San Francisco, generously brought to my attention by Robert Nichols:
Title: The Tyranny Game, or, How to Play Follow the Leader
The rules of the game:
(1) It takes two to play; there can be no tyranny without somebody ready to be tyrannized.
(2) It begins with the the presumption that something is wrong with the patient/client/disciple.
(3) In order to play the game, the patient/client/disciple must be taught the rules according to the therapist/guru and must accept the rightness of that specific set of rules.
(4) The goal has to be set so high that nobody can ever get there, since getting there would render the therapist/guru obsolete.
(5) The payoff is the illusion of power - that we can control life.
Source: pp 263-264, The Upstart Spring, Esalen and the Human Potential Movement: The First Twenty Years, by Walter Truett Anderson, iUniverse/Backinprint.com (can be found on Google Books).
