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How
People Recognize Charisma |
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DuPertuis, L. (1986):
This paper exames the recognition of charisma as an
active conscious social process involving the confirmation
of belief through non cognitive methods of altering
perception. In the illustrative case of Sant Mat /
Radhasoami / Divine Light Mission tradition the Hindu
concept and ritual of darshan is examined. Devotees use
meditative means to recognize charisma in the guru
considered as the formless Absolute, as himself, and as a
"presence" generated within the community of followers. The
aim on all three levels is ecstatic merging of a separate
sense of self with the Absolute . It is conjectured that
once Westerners learned this they no longer felt need of the
guru. The discussion calls for further research on social
components of mystical practices.
In Weber's formulations, charisma clearly appears
in the eyes of the beholders: charisma is . . . a certain quality of an individual personality by
virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and
treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or
at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.
(1922:241). (Italics mine) Most subsequent interpretations of charisma have agreed, from Shils' classic statement that, "Charisma, then, is the quality which is imputed to persons, actions, roles institutions, symbols and material objects because of their presumed connection with 'ultimate,' 'fundamental,' 'vital,' order-determining powers' (Shils, 1968:386, Italics mine), to very recent discussions (Camic, 1980; Swatos, 1981; Miyahara, 1983). Explanations of charismatic recognition have focused largely on conditions, either within society or within the psyche, under which it is most likely to appear. Historical explanations argue that charisma and its recognition arise during periods of rapid social change and disruption (Barnes, 1978; Burridge, 1969, Jones and Anservitz, 1975). (1) Deprivation explanations consider charismatic recognition as arising in response to extraordinary needs: for meaning (Glock, 1976); for material necessities, dependency and ego-strength (Camic, 1980; Emerson, l962; Hine, 1974), for community (Zablocki, 1980; Richardson et al, 1978). Manipulationist explanations show leaders accumulating skills and gimmicks to attract charismatic recognition or modifying organizational structures to keep it (Johnson, 1979). (2) People appear passive in these approaches: desperate times, desperate needs, and desperate characters compel them to impute charisma. (3) Once enchanted they remain so indefinitely, against their better will or reason. They display few conscious efforts to choose, redirect, intensify, or diminish their fascinations. The deterministic stance of such approaches resembles that of Lofland and Stark's (1965) six-step conversion process model which Lofland (1977) in retrospect critiqued as embodying " . . . a thoroughly 'passive' conception of humans as a 'neutral' medium through which social forces operate, as Blumer (1969) has so often put it." Lofland adds that one ought to "turn the process on its head and to scrutinize how people go about converting themselves. Assume, that is, that the person is active rather than merely passive " ( l 977:8 1 7) The deterministic model of charismatic recognition has another drawback. In distorting our understanding of religious motivation and participation by depicting people as more acted upon than acting, it avoids careful analysis of the inner workings of charisma. As Matza puts it, "Positivism, blessed with the virtues and prestige of science, has little concern for the essence of phenomenon it wishes to study." (l964:5) Analysis of how charisma works and how people go about
recognizing it can take place on several levels. First, a
cultural analysis can trace general cultural themes which
delineate ways of learning and teaching charismatic
recognition. (4)
In some cultures, the propensity to seek contact with transcendent powers and to impute charisma . . . can be so prized that individuals are encouraged to allow it to come forward in their sensitivity. A culture can foster the discernment of charismatic signs and properties by focusing attention, providing canons of interpretation, and recommending the appreciation of the possession of these signs and properties" (Shils, l968:386). Second, interactionist analysis of particular movements can show prospective lenders and followers both participating in the creation of a charismatic relationship (Wallis, 1982; Downton, 1973; Bainbridge and Stark, 1979). The demands and hopes of those who see specialness in their leader spur him or her to further claims and demonstrations of powers; these help followers renew and deepen their original recognition. People, whether or not they are fully conscious of so doing, thus help to create the objects of their devotion. This study analyses a third, phenomenological level by focusing closely on the techniques people deliberately cultivate in learning to recognize charisma. It follows Shils in suggesting that the propensity both to generate and to impute charisma to others can be "deliberately cultivated by isolation from the routine environment, by instruction and self-discipline" (1968:386). Much of the language of Shils' discussion implies active, conscious efforts to generate and recognize charisma: "They seek to break the structures of routine actions and to replace them with structures of inspired actions . . . " (1968:387). Definite methods, then, are involved, (5) and for definite reasons. Charismatic recognition involves the integration of both cognitive and non-cognitive methods. "Belief" is the articulation of religious tenets and metaphysical possibilities. According to Weber, "The power of charisma rests upon the belief in revelation and heroes, upon the conviction that certain manifestations . . . are important and valuable . .." (1922:1116). Belief in another's charisma may emerge from unconscious processes such as projection (Camic, 1980), and/or from intense group pressures. One may also actively induce belief through the practice of non-cognitive disciplines like meditation, prayer, visualization, chanting, and trance induction which intend to alter perception of self and leader until the leader's divine specialness comes into view. Belief then helps interpret the unusual perception and refine attempts to alter it further. This alternation of belief and techniques of altered perception does not end with conversion to a religion, but endures as a process of continual reconversion. (6) Doubts must be rebuffed; leaders or circumstances may impose tests of devotion which require recognition of whole new levels of specialness or divinity. (7) These new levels may require more subtle and difficult meditative efforts, and major changes in belief may result. A devotee's impression of the charismatic leader, then, changes continually, and ought not to be depicted as a static conception. (8) This analysis examines the case of Divine Light Mission,
(9)
a 1970's New Religious Movement whose leader and doctrine
came from India. It will trace, in both India and the West,
the intertwining of belief and meditative discipline which
helped followers generate and sustain over time, in his
presence and in his absence, a perception of their spiritual
leader as divine. By the late nineteenth century, Sant Mat had spawned the Radhasoomi movement, splinters of which proliferated rapidly throughout North India and spread eventually abroad, into what Juergensmeyer (1978) has called a "trans-national movement." This movement succeeded in the West first because, like Sant Mat, it eschewed caste distinctions, animal sacrifice, extreme asceticism, and other Hindu practices repugnant to Westerners. Second, Radhasoami catered to Western seekers in India, used English in its publications, and adopted Western principles of science, organization, and progress (Juergensmeyer, 1978:191). And third, despite these changes Radhasoami retained the sort of mystical practices for which Westerners were hungering. By 1970 one Radhasoami branch alone had established 120 centers in 40 countries; U.S. offshoots soon included such popular groups as Eckankar and Ruhani Satsang, as well as DLM (Juergensmeyer, 1978:190,193; Mangalwadi, 1977: l91ff). DLM was founded in India by Shri Hans Ji Maharaj who,
despite the usual successional disputes, assumed leadership
of his particular Radhasomi lineage upon his guru's
death and became Satguru ("true guru") (Mangalwadi, 1977:
192). His son, known variously as "Sant Ji," "Balyogeshwar"
("born lord of the yogis") and "Guru Maharaj Ji," came to
Europe and the United States at the age of thirteen. Guru
Maharaj Ji's arrival coincided with the crest of the New
Religious Movements wave of enthusiasm; followers appeared
quickly and soon formed a network of centers in the United
States and Europe (Downton, 1979; Pilarzyk, 1978; Price,
1979) Darshan is intimately related to what Lane
describes as "three cardinal precepts" of Sant Mat
tradition: 1 ) Satguru, both as the Absolute Lord (nirguna)
and the living human master (saguna): Satguru is the one who is seen in darshan; shabd provides the spiritual method for perceiving darshan; and in satsang devotees exchange "darshan stories." (10) With minor modifications these ideas have also guided Radhasoami and DLM. Theologically, Satguru exemplifies the Hindu concept of the Absolute as both with and without form. As living human master Satguru does not merely represent the Absolute Lord, but Satguru is that Lord's form, or embodiment, or incarnation: (11) simultaneously, even as he sits before the devotees in the form of a living master, Satguru is also "non-dual, un-namable, and formless" (Lane, 1981:12). To Kabir, this Lord's "form is love" and "all light'' [Tagore, 1977:1 13,75). Radhasoami means "Absolute Lord," whose form " . . . is without limits and beyond description. To what could I compare it? It is beyond all measure." (Singh, 1976:2:35-6, cited in Babb, 1981:390). Guru Maharaj Ji sometimes described this "Lord" or "God" as impersonal energy, at other times as the creator. Devotees do not distinguish conceptually between formless
and human manifestations of Satguru, for the goal is
to perceive darshan of both at once. One must learn
to see the formless Satguru via the master's physical
form just as - in a favorite example used by Guru Maharaj Ji
- Krishna on the battlefield suddenly revealed to his
disciple Arjuna. His transcendent, divine Form, speaking from innumerable
mouths, seeing with myriad Thus, the devotee can "now see his guru as he truly is;
that is, as the Supreme Being." (Babb, 1981:390). (The devotee) first takes his "seat" at the tisra til ("third eye"); there he has darshan of his guru. He sees a flame and hears the sound of a conch and bell. His spirit is caught by the current of shabd, and in the company of his guru he is pulled upward . . . . . . the universe, and especially the guru, come to be "seen" in a new and spiritually significant way. The devotee begins by seeing the familiar form of the guru, . . . At the end of the journey he has the darshan of Radhasoami himself, the object of his pilgrimage ....This is the fulfilling darshan, and the devotee has now cone to the end of his journey (Babb, 1981: 389-390). As spiritual descendent of the Radhasoami tradition, Guru Maharaj Ji taught very similar ideas and practices to his Western followers. He was Satguru, or "Perfect Master;" (12) only his power could initiate one into Knowledge, which alone among spiritual methods could reveal God. He identified the internal objects of meditation "revealed at the Knowledge initiation - divine light, music, nectar, and Word or Holy Name" (Downton, 1 979:146-8) - with Kabir's ecstatic descriptions of "millions of suns and moons and stars" (Tagore, 1977:138), "Unstruck Music," "the ocean of sweetness" (1977:62), the "Primal Word`' (1977:136). Though both music and Word resembled the Sant Mat / Radhasoami shabd, he emphasized the breath-associated Word, which he sometimes called Shabd Brahma, as "an unspeakable vibration that's keeping us alive" (Downton, 1979:147-8). (13) Meditating on Knowledge two or more hours a day - and a few frequently meditated all night - allowed those of Guru Maharaj Ji's followers who could achieve the necessary intense concentration indeed to have these experiences, often dramatically: the Word was like a "wave" or an "atom bomb," the nectar like "electricity," the divine light blinding, sometimes even with open eyes (DuPertuis, 1983:87). Sharing of meditation experiences was encouraged, and others stood by quick to interpret them as manifestations of Knowledge. (14) Over time those who experienced little in meditation drifted away, along with those who doubted (Downton, 1979:147). (15) For those who remained, their beliefs were continually reconfirmed not only by their own and others' meditation experience, but also by visions of Guru Maharaj Ji which often accompanied meditation, darshan dreams of the guru, and prayers to him "answered" both in meditation and through events of daily life. Increasingly referred to in spatial terms - "that place,"
"Guru Maharaj Ji's world," even "the valley of astonishment"
(DuPertuis, 1983:84) - reminiscent of the "abode of
Radhasoami," meditational experience was more and more
closely associated with Guru Maharj Ji's presence, or
darshan. But meditational darshan of the Guru as the
Absolute did not always mean "sight" in the usual sense of a
perception trichotomized as the seer, the act of seeing, and
the seen. Dwelling in "Guru Maharaj Ji's world" transcended
the separation implied by "sight." For the person who went
to "Guru Maharaj Ji's world" was not the ordinary self but
an essence of attention purified of extraneous thought,
trained with long practice, capable of intensive
concentration, feeling so different from ordinary
preoccupied consciousness that to followers it was not self,
or "ego," at all, but "truth," or "reality," or "Guru
Maharaj Ji within." (16)
And that essence did not perceive as the "ego" perceives:
that essence became one with divine light, or music, or the
Word. In DLM argot one "merged:"
(17) All of a sudden you just merge with everything that is and you realize that you're just a part of it, and that there is that power, that energy that sustains the entire universe and it sustains yourself and it sustains me and in the experience of that, in the power of it, in the beauty of it it's just a very uplifting very enlightening a very freeing experience and a humbling experience because it's so vast, it's so overpowering, yet it just feels so beautiful because you're merging, you're completely connected to the entire creation and in that realization you experience freedom, you experience joy, you experience the infinite (DuPertuis, 1983:888).
The moment of entering the darshan tunnel was rehearsed in many meditations, when thoughts had to be stilled and "ego" abandoned in order to enter "Guru Maharaj Ji's world." Now, on the verge of encountering the center of their spiritual and mundane efforts, every devotee concentrated almost as if death were at hand and prayed intensely, fearing "to be before Maharaj Ji . . . and not to feel it, not to brush that curtain aside and enter his kingdom . . . To be in his presence, and still feel a separation . . . That is almost too much to bear" (Divine Times [DT]: 11/77:8). Darshan loomed not just as a reunion with the cosmic lover, but almost as a spiritual test, of which one's power of spiritual seeing was only the first step. Dressed in their best, barefoot in a gesture of humble surrender and bearing gifts to suggest the offering of self, each person struggled to attain a meditative stillness within - "Just a few minutes more, Lord. Let me really get into Holy Name" (DT, 8/ 75 :5) - and struggled to silence nervous mutterings of anticipation. Waiting when the line stopped moving, devotees would close their eyes; some already deeply meditative were "prodded to move ahead because we forgot where we were, floating somewhere, floating . . . " (DT, 9/78:5-6). To those who had entered a meditative mode of perception
even before they reached him, the guru appeared superhuman
and seemed to shine: He looked enormous. I thought he was the largest person I
have ever seen. I have a dim memory of trying to walk and
figure out how he could be so big at the same time. I
couldn't do that either. I floated (DT, 3/79:20)
. . . he was just so glorious. He was so beautiful. He was just so powerful; broad shoulders and his black, shiny hair was just blowing in the wind and - OH! He was incredible! . . . beyond anything. But so beautiful (DT, 4/78:35).
In the span of a few seconds of our being near Him, I'd
see Him as infinite light and infinite vibration and the
next minute he'd be my best friend (DuPertuis,
l983:218).
And if I go through the Darshan line just loving, and not looking that desperately for Maharaj Ji to look at me, that's when Maharaj Ji can really look at me, can really smile at me, because where my Master is, I am not, and where I am, my Master is not (DuPertuis, 1983:2 17).
When you look into his eyes, it's like looking down a long long corridor. Time and distance disappear (DuPertuis, 1983:218). He looks with a look that is no look. I cannot explain it. It has no recognizable attribute. It is blank, a sky with no clouds, no definition, no shape, no duration. I cannot tell when it starts and cannot tell when it stops. If infinity had an eye maybe that would explain it (DT, 8/78:5).
A "Darshan recovery area" awaited those who fainted. It was staffed with nurses and doctors who would watch them, perhaps for hours, until normal wakefulness would return. From them one would later hear of worlds of swirling light, or a bodiless, perfect realm. Darshan of the living master thus emerged in the context
of darshan of the Absolute. Meditation on the Absolute
taught the devotee a way of seeing which, when applied in
the darshan' ritual, led from the perception of Satguru as
separate physical entity to a sense of internal union with
him so strong that the distinction between the physical form
and the formless Absolute disappeared: the devotee no longer
cared and indeed sometimes did not even know whether or not
he had left the master's physical presence. The miserable longing DLM devotees would feel for Guru Maharaj Ji's "presence" - both physical and meditative - can hardly be overstated. When individual meditative efforts wavered, their one recourse lay in learning to generate Satguru's darshan with one another gathered in satsang, the charismatic community of devotees. Through satsang, devotees tried to recreate the idealized
interaction which tool: place between devotee and Satguru in
darshan. Formal satsang gatherings recalled the times when
Guru Maharaj Ji actually spoke to the crowd at "festivals."
Speakers would take turns testimonializing, trying to let
Satguru speak "through" them: "Every time I have this
opportunity to share satsang, I really never plan anything.
. . Before I give satsang, inside I just say 'Guru Mahara;
Ji it's all Yours' " (Humdinger, 9/77). To do this they
simply tried to meditate: The key to the clear and effective presentation of satsang is the peaceful centering within meditation, and being without perception. The key is to trust the reality of the communion of the Knowledge which lies within the spontaneous and ever-creative expression of the WORD (Crozier, 1974). Listeners, meanwhile, concentrated intently on the
speaker's eyes, trying to "feel" that point through which
Satguru was speaking, until his "energy," sometimes visible
to open eyes as divine light, began to engulf them: . . . (The devotee) was startled to see `light' emanating from the young woman who was delivering Satsang. He described the light as surrounding her like a glowing golden halo which gradually extended to fill the room and finally seemed to enter his body, giving him a frank sense of "uniting with the Divine presence." Time seemed to "stand still" during this episode (Buckley and Galanter, 1979:283). (19)
In Western cultural settings, the meditational and ecstatic experiences which Guru Maharaj Ji introduced were novel to many new adherents (Buckley and Galanter, 1978), who had to create a new vocabulary - drawn from Sanskrit, psychedelic culture, and "psychobabble" - even to discuss them. (20) As contemporary theology failed to offer an interpretation of these experiences, Guru Maharaj Ji's claims for their uniqueness and ultimacy faced little competition at first. But rival gurus soon appeared, and when the surrounding society, nurtured on traditional psychology's negative views of religious ecstacy and sociology's distrust of authoritarianism, became critical, DLM withdrew into introversionism. Several years of practice and much satsang among followers strengthened their competence in meditation and confidence in its results, leading for many to increasingly confirming darshan experiences and deeper belief in Guru Maharaj Ji as Satguru. But at the same time, this increased competence led many others, who tired of the restrictions and eccentricities of DLM life, to discover that they had learned to "experience God'' on their own and had little further need of Guru Maharaj Ji as spiritual interpreter or guide. They thus drifted away not in disillusionment but in fulfillment. (21) The very effort involved in learning to recognize charisma, then, often led to a diminishing interest in doing so. The assertion made here, that the imputation of charisma
is an active, conscious, changing process which at least in
religious settings involves non-cognitive modes of
perception, could be tested easily by careful observation,
intensive interviewing and perusal of movements'
publications. But students of New Religious Movements have
shown little interest in the phenomenology of specific
spiritual or mystical experiences. Those who refrain from
reducing them away altogether usually gloss them over with
vague references to "classic" (usually Christian) analyses
of mysticism, falsely assuming a trans-historical and
trans-cultural uniformity and monotony. Transpersonal
psychologists, who attempt such phenomenology, miss social
components by restricting the unit of analysis to individual
minds. Thus a valuable chance to observe at first hand the
social dimensions of New Religious Movement spiritual
practices is being lost. Preston's ( 1981, 1982) exceptional
analysis of the part learning to meditate plays in
conversion to Zen provides an example of what could be done.
And Strauss (1981) suggests a framework for organizing
future research of this kind. |
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