Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I think you've summarized my argument in a nutshell. I would merely add that we're social creatures, prone to hives and flocks and schools and churches and whatever we want to call ourselves collectively. But Witness Lee packaged and sold a Chinese variant, pure and simple.
So the idea common in the Occidental West, since at least the Enlightenment Era of Jefferson and Madison and Locke, of give-and-take, with checks and balances, had no place with the Apostle of the Age. The "Authority and Submission" stuff had a veneer of Biblicality but it was culture-driven, sure 'nuff. And stuff like "We must all be absolutely identical, with no differences" and "Everybody should know who is in front of them and get in line" are pure Orientalisms. No Bible involved. Pure, raw human culture. Not even a pretense of spirituality. But we were mesmerized and followed along, anyway. It is amazing, what a con job. And we fell for it.
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I fell so hard for the Oriental that I married one in the LC. That pretty much lasted until we left the LC.
But I remain spellbound by it. For example, I read Joseph Campbell's Masks of God series. It's a four book series:
- Primitive Mythology
- Oriental Mythology
- Occidental Mythology
- Creative Mythology
I read all of them but Oriental. I saved that last because I knew it would be his best work. I left that hanging for over a decade. Then around 3 yrs ago I decided to finally read it. By that time I had a Kindle reader (thanks to the sister that helped me marry in the LC long long ago).
But Masks of God wasn't offered in digital format. So I sent an email to the Joseph Campbell Foundation about it. I'm a member. I was told they were working on it, and lo and behold they had Oriental Mythology finished. And a digital copy was sent to me.
I spent days binge reading it. It's a great book. I'm still spellbound by the Orientals. But I see it thru Occidental eyes, or thru Campbell's Creative Mythology, the culmination of Western thought.
And that's why I'm amazed that us westerners fell for Lee's Oriental mythology.
I think the reason for that is because it's so framed by the Bible that Lee's Oriental mythology is not easily recognized. The Bible masks it.
In short, the Occident took the Bible to the Orient, Nee and Lee picked up on it, and Lee brought the Oriental version of the Bible to the Occident.
And we westerners found the Oriental version of the Bible new and attractive ... and ... AND ... fell for Lee's Oriental hive culture and mentality.
It's like Lee slipped us a mickey -- a date raped drug, so to speak -- in his Bible Kool-Aid, took our virginity, and screwed us ... like his son did to the married sisters in LSM, metaphorically speaking.