And those with licenses forget that if they offer a procedure
that does not meet legally mandated standards for care, they,
not BK, not Oprah or (fill in name of charismatic entrepreneur/euse here), it the person with the license who is the one who is legally vulnerable in the event that a patient or client incurs harm.
And...its not necessarily a disenchanted patient or client who instigates a lawsuit. Family members may do it--persons
outside BK's orbit of influence.
First time I sat on a jury, it was for a medical mapractice case. The patient had not wanted to file the suit.
The patient's
wife was the one who filed. (ahem)
For information on what can and does happen when a professional becomes enthralled with a charismatic guru, go here and scroll down to the long post dated July 19th.
It relates to the corruption of the psychotherapeutic alliance between client and therapist. But a similar process might happen to health care providers, attorneys and even CPA's who have become mesmerized and allowed a guru to insert him or herself into their inner cores.
To remember and apply ethics, one has to have a boundaried sense of self. If that self is usurped by a charismatic leader who claims infalliblity, then one may be unable to remember what one once know about fiduciary responsiblity and professional ethics...or it all just may seem irrelevant, thrown into shadow by the blazing glory of the charismatic guru enthroned within one's inner core.
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forum.culteducation.com]
First, a professional whose inner gaze is adoringly fixed on an idealized image of the charismatic leader, can see only that. He or she cannot be fully present to, or see the patient or client. All, including the patients or clients problems are filtered through the vision of the guru. So the professional cannot be fully present to his or her patients or clients.
A compromised professional may seem highly effective if he or she has aquired derivative charisma from the adored leader. But this sparkle conceals an underlying deficit in the area that matters--the ability to be present to ones clients or patients and be their protector and advocate.
Someone commenting on a professional who was suborned by a guru:1)(quote from an old AOL discussion)"The issue here is relationship: the (syda yoga) therapist,
trained to keep eyes strained upward at all times, gazing up at the guru, is not looking at his client. "
A former client reported:2(quote from AOL thread)" This therapist,
prior to his involvement in SY (Syda yoga), was
scrupulous in denying clients access to information about his personal life.
'His professional distance eroded gradually. Early on, if a comment arose during a conversation at the ashram which even bordered on a "therapy issue," he would quickly absent himself.
"When it happened between us one time, I was initially offended, but then I realized (correctly, I might add) that it was inappropriate for me to converse with him at the ashram (even as a "samskara") some concern on which he and I had worked together.
"As time went on, this therapist began to engage in some personal activities with the community of client-yogis, and
a SY "context" developed in my approach to my work with him.
(when this kind of 'context' develops, professional ethics probably fade into the background as irrelevant--just a hunch C)"I thought this was OK because this appeared to me to be the most fortuitous marriage, combining all my "inner work" under a mantle of grace.
'I'm sure I'm not alone among his clients in coming to the conclusion that I would win his approval, be considered an "advanced," if I presented my problems, interpreted my experiences, and reached resolutions ("breakthroughs")
within that context. "
Another person commented on this within that discussion"The client, like all of us who come to therapy, wants to try to
understand and heal and develop the ability to be in fuller, truer
relationship to self and others.
Getting trained to dismiss issues as "wrong understanding", and to mask the pain of isolation and aloneness by focusing instead on looking up at the guru, is a tragic, cruel distortion and manipulation of the therapeutic process. (unquote)
(Hypothetical scenario: A professional who was formerly careful with boundaries can become incapable of maintaining boundaries after being suborned by a charmistic leader who is on a recruitment path.
If the professonal becomes suborned, his or her eyes are no loner on the patient. His or her eyes are now 'strained upward at all times, gazing up at the guru' MD smay forget their Hippocratic Oath, the lawyer or accountant may forget the ethical guidelines that govern their respective professions)
At least two things jump out: A professional may lose access to what he or she once know about boundary ethics if he or she becomes 'taken over' by a charismatic leader.
If that professional (MD, CPA, JD/Esq. or psychotherapist) has been encouraged in varioious workshops and DVDS to internalize the magic parent image of the guru, and this internalized magic parent immage overrides the professional's own true self, he or she may lose access what he or she once know about boundary ethics. One needs a boundaried functioning adult self in order to remember that one is as a professional, a fiduciary, is answerable to the ethos of care and your prime objective is to care for and protect your patients and clients--not care for and protect your guru.
Your guru if all powerful, doesnt need to recruit you to care for him or her, anyway. The patient is supposed to benefit from the care providers ethos of care--not the darned guru or human potential entrepreneur.
But, all too often, the welfare of the charismatic leader overrides that of the patient or client. And theres usually a sophisticated rhetoric by which patients and clients who have been shoved aside by the guru can be conned into accepting the blame for the whole sorry mess. C)Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2008 10:46PM by corboy.