...anything but Christianity. ...
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Theosophy and its spin-offs, like Steiner’s anthroposophy, take traditional Christianity and give it a twist so it denies the Messiah and substitutes Man.
Pretty amazing, really: these people on one hand suppress individuality and then subvert traditional theology to be individual-centered. At the same time, of course, they work very hard socially to substitute the collective for the individual.
It makes for brain aches and fatigue, which further breaks people down and makes them more vulnerable.
Williamson is playing the age-old con that she’s really delivering the inner message of Christ (as defined by her). For hundreds of years, there has been a concerted effort in the West to create an alternative to Rome.
It’s about acquisition of power and the envy of the powerful. While the usurpers have contempt for their followers, they hold out the carrot of a simulacrum of power to their followers using the leverage of the follower’s envy of the powerful.
Hollywood has charisma they leverage into a sort of fan-driven power as their fans attempt to acquire some of the luster of the star. I always sense that Hollywood creations (and they are all inauthentic products of a marketing machine)are convinced by their own PR that they deserve true political power along with the celebrity.
It helps that Wiliamson is an attractive woman, even at her present age. The sale of books and events/workshops must be enormous. I haven’t delved into it, but I bet there’s some sort of certification of 2nd-tier teachers and some sort of MML component, too.
It all works.