On joiners to legitimate establishments, technicality and the individual agenda



There is a lot of anti religious sentiment these days, everywhere I go I hear something new, something poorly thought out, and almost universally something very angry.

While I understand the source and cause of this rising public opinion, I am unfortunately bound to examine the larger scope of things.


Any institution may be formed upon the foundation of great intentions (not to reference the old idiom, since great intentions do not really pave the road to hell) and high ideals. And any institution may flourish and remain true to these ideals for a time...perhaps indefinitely...but then, something else may also happen.


As the institution begins to flourish and profit from the addition of quality to it's system of ideals, persistence, and through the contribution of effort, others begin to see this success and take notice.


Now we must ask ourselves "Who are these others?". The answer is not simple. This collection of people who initially take notice when the success of an institution first gains public recognition are exactly that, "A Collection". They are made of several types and I will not produce an exhaustive list here today, however I would like to call attention to one specific sort. This is the fellow, or the Gal who is persistently looking for the answer to his/her issues outside himself/herself, we'll call em Mr.X. While many others seek to really understand things, or at least just see things one way and are bound to flock with others who see things their way, this one is busy trying not to do ANY OF THAT...who knows why, however Egoism and a lack of maturity are likely culprits.


Now , here we have a successful institution, and since Mr. X doesn't particularly have a well developed sense of self (we know he doesn't because he would have to look for his answers inside to get that), but somewhere in the depths of things he won't ever admit to himself or others he knows he (or she) needs one and craves it endlessly. Mr. X is lost in the crowd without a face or an identity or any sense of being, and doesn't know how to get one. SO, suddenly confronted with the awesome identity of the successful institution(pick one) Mr. X sees exactly what he is looking for, and feels it too.

It's something with a strong identity, and he wants more than anything to be a part...Only he wants it for the wrong reasons...and while that may not seem like a problem it is.


SO, at this point Mr.X (either consciously or unconsciously ) makes a decision...and it of course involves running from himself some more, and joining in...because "it feels right"...of course it does, the group has an identity and and Mr. X doesn't. Now if we pretend Mr.X is the only Mr. X doing this , or at least the first, then we can continue without the assumption that he has actual "moral support" in what he's doing (which is actually immoral), (that is assuming he can't rely on others to help him keep his cover so as to preserve their own) he has only to let go and say what others say, do what others do, and the magic of the mindless group will sweep over him.


Now ... In the mean time those who founded the group (usually very original thinkers with very well developed identities) begin to get confused. Are their ideas at fault? Did they neglect something? Are their leadership skills lacking? How can they tear their hearts out for what they believe in a little bit more so that their vision can be a reality, and so that they and the others who see things in the same or similar ways can just continue to add quality to what they believe in?


But the increasingly deflating and malfunctioning institution is damned...at least for now, and it sinks under the weight of many many Mr.Xs, collectively poisening the very institution they so recently adored by transforming it into a mockery of what it was, or if it tries to fight back a travesty of micromanagement. As the institution crumbles the and the members begin to disperse this individual once again feels the sickening thud of the loss of identity...and the cycle begins again.


Mr.X exists in ever institution.


From Politics to Organized Religion and even Marriage. Wherever there is a successful major institution of any sort there too you will find Mr.X. Many large cooperations of today are FILLED, if not entirely MADE UP OF Mr. X....Being Mr. X is encouraged in the Corporate Environment, and in most other power seeking institutions where it seems beneficial to those in charge to posses mindless staff, happy to take on the company mantle.


To come full circle, I submit to you all...that Organized religion is only a belief system, and when the sanctity of a belief system is jeopardized so too are all others, but it is not any single formal group who is at fault here...it is Mr.X... It is anyone man or woman who invests more of their sense of identity in any group then they do in themselves. It is everyone who decides to ignore the emptiness inside where they should find themselves and and instead decides to look outside for the answer, for a fix for the pain, just for today.



When you turn on a group or an institution without having real reasons, or without REALLY thinking ti through, thinking about the people and their lives, what you are doing is not significantly different from a sort of racism, or antisemitic sentiment in Nazi Germany. You are blindly dehumanizing, and worst of all you are becoming Mr.X, because you are searching for the enemy , the source of your anger...when in the end...it is you who is most responsible for your anger.