Quote
daniel46
This extreme split is something we've seen before among spiritual teachers.

Len Oakes confirms that a split-off shadow is almost universal among charismatic leaders.

"All of the leaders seemed to be divided into two utterly contrasting parts: the visionary and the "shadow" to use Jung's terms. . . . What accompanied the shadow was an almost total blindness to its nature and denial of any portion of it that crept into awareness.

"Perhaps the best example of this was Fred Thomson. Fred claimed he was God and behaved in a grandiose manner most of the time. Yet three dissonant traits stood out: his inability to have close friends; his need to control others and to define reality in his terms, so as to always be right; and his refusal to compromise or accept criticisms or appear vulnerable."

(Fred Thomson is a pseudonym, as are many of the other names given in the detailed examples studied in Oakes' book.)