Posting my research again..very relevant to Turqo's post, SPC triggered
again by maskedzebra's posts.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/266255
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/266255>
Anatomy of the Turqster
Small Penis Disorder
Small Penis Complex (SPC) or Small Penis disorder(SPD) has been defined
by Dr. Ravi Yogi [1], Psy.D, U.C Berkeley as a personality disorder
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder> characterized by a
pattern of behavior that includes extreme grief, panic triggered by
references to any spiritual experience that gives the person a huge
inferiority complex and results in the person spending their entire time
in various online spiritual chat groups trying to harass and hound
believers. They try convince the believers of their false freedom and
happiness that purportedly had arisen from their philosophy of "no
practice" or atheistic non-spiritual practices.
CharacteristicsPeople with small penis disorder usually have good verbal
and interpersonal skills <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_skills> ,
but they tend to use these skills to manipulate
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_manipulation> other people
and become the center of attention [2]. People with SPC exhibit most or
all of the following symptoms
1. Predominantly spend their time in spiritual online chat circles.
2. Display extreme sensitivity to any spiritual experiences or
altered states of consciousness achieved through meditation, yoga.
3. Constantly bombard others with extremely negative or one-sided
portrayals of religion.
4. Follow an aggressive strategy of attack and withdraw by stopping
to respond and adopting a holier-than-thou attitude.
5. Strong dislike of authority and morals, and react by accusations
of fear and retribution on people who display humility and respect of
authority and morals.
6. Demand scientific proof of mystical experiences and berate
subjective experiences while having no qualms about using their
subjective experiences in other matters.
7. Constantly remind everyone of their projected freedom and
happiness achieved through "no" practice" practice which could include
references to atheism, Neo-Advaita and Neo-Buddhist practices.
8. Exhibitionist <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhibitionist>
behavior and a need to be the center of attention
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_seeking> .
Causes
The cause of this disorder is known to be caused by involvement in
religious cults [3]. The scars and trauma of being manipulated, rejected
and isolated in cults is known to be affect some to develop full blown
symptoms of Small Penis Disorder [4].
Dr. Ravi Yogi has identified by the following maladaptive schemas using
Dr. Jeffrey Young's schema theory [5] with SPC - DEFECTIVENESS / SHAME
(DS), SOCIAL ISOLATION / ALIENATION (SI), FAILURE (FA) and/or
ABANDONMENT / INSTABILITY (AB).
Diagnosis
The person's behavior, history, involvement in spiritual circles
especially their behavior of haranguing believers along with a
psychological evaluation
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_evaluation> , are usually
sufficient to establish the diagnosis. Treatment is often prompted by
depression associated with dissolved cult relationships and/or by family
and friends who notice their overbearing harassing behavior on spiritual
online portals.
Treatment
Because of the lack of research support for work on personality
disorders and long-term treatment with psychotherapy, the empirical
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism> findings on the treatment of
these disorders remain based on the case report method and not on
clinical trials <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_trial> .
Dr. Ravi Yogi, the pioneer in SPC recommends the following.
* Schema Therapy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_Therapy>
* Cognitive behavioral therapy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy>
* Dr. Ravi Yogi's TTWFAR Therapy <http://raviyoginotes.blogspot.com/>
(TTWFAR - Taking the world for a rideâ¢)
References
1. Dr. Ravi Yogi <http://raviyoginotes.blogspot.com/> (formerly Ravi
Chivukula), Psy.D, U.C Berkeley is one of the leading researchers of SPC
and is lobbying to include SPC in <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5>
DSM V <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder> -
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) the fifth
edition.
2. See Histrionic Personality Disorder
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder>
3. Frederick Lenz, former Cult leader on Amazon
<http://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Lenz/e/B000APV9H8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1\
?qid=1294648105&sr=1-1>
4. Seekers, Gurus, SPC and the rise of Skeptic Gurus by Dr. Ravi Yogi
<http://raviyoginotes.blogspot.com/> , Psy.D, U.C Berkeley
5. Schema Therapy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder>
--- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> In terms of my participation on this forum or any other
> dealing with "spiritual" stuff, I'm kinda like Chauncey
> Gardner in "Being There" -- I like to watch. One of the
> things I watch for is trends. I'm not all that concerned
> with or interested in individual manifestations of a
> particular form of behavior, only the fact that the
> behavior is so universal, and appears in so *many*
> spiritual trips, that it has become a trend, and thus
> predictable.
>
> One of those trends is the tendency of followers of some
> spiritual teacher or lineage to project authority onto
> those teachers or lineage and, after having done so,
> treat almost anything they say as authoritative or true,
> if not Truth Itself.
>
> The followers themselves, when called on this, come up
> with various reasons WHY they have suspended disbelief,
> and have gone instead with almost total belief in the
> things the person they project authority onto say. A
> common rationalization for this behavior is to say that
> the authority figure is enlightened, and thus his or her
> words are *by definition* true, since the enlightened
> are "in tune with the Laws Of Nature" and thus what they
> say *has* to be true. When I or someone else points out
> that 1) the reason they consider the authority figures
> enlightened is because *they* said they were, and 2)
> that the "definition" of being enlightened they're using
> was given to them *by the very person they're judging*,
> a deafening silence usually ensues. It's almost as if
> having gotten into the habit of treating the person as
> an authority figure, they can't break that habit or
> hear any argument that suggests that maybe they're not
> all that authoritative.
>
> OK, that's one trend. The one I'm more interested in in
> this rap is what happens to such followers later in life.
> What is it they aspire to in their own lives, and what
> tends to happen when they start having more interesting
> spiritual experiences of their own, like the early stages
> of the enlightenment process?
>
> The secondary trend I see among those who have spent
> years or decades bowing to an authority figure is that
> they hope to or expect to someday become perceived as
> authority figures themselves. Their goal in life or
> spiritual "career path" is modeled on the person they
> bowed to as an authority and how he or she was treated.
> They expect to be treated the same way once they start
> having what they consider spiritual experiences.
>
> And so what we tend to see -- NOT just in the TMO but
> across the spiritual smorgasbord -- is people who have
> some spiritual experience (minor or major) and then start
> talking in pronouncements, *exactly the way their teacher
> did*. And they expect to be treated with the same awe,
> deference, and obeisance with which they treated their
> teacher.
>
> What's fascinating to watch, for an "I like to watch"
> type such as myself, is when that doesn't happen.
>
> What happens when someone rolls into cyber-Dodge City
> carrying two sixguns engraved with the words "I'm SO
> enlightened," and tries to hold court in the local
> cybersaloon? The New Gun In Town (on *any* spiritual
> forum or discussion group on the Net, not just at FFL)
> struts across the saloon, leans back against the bar,
> and starts pontificating and speaking in pronouncements.
> Clearly this new gunslinger is expecting everyone in
> the bar to focus on him and listen to what he's saying
> as if it were the Truth Incarnate he's convinced it is.
> Trained by years of doing it himself, the Enlightennewb
> expects everyone to project the same authority onto him
> that he projected onto his teacher, and treat him the
> same way.
>
> And sometimes it works. Sometimes the Enlightennewb
> runs into an easy crowd, and they DO start treating the
> things he says as authoritative. In those cases the
> Enlightennewb tends to be happy as a pig in shit; his
> spiritual goals have been fulfilled. He's finally being
> treated as an authority.
>
> But sometimes it doesn't work. The Enlightennewb picks
> the wrong kinda bar, with the wrong kinda crowd. He
> makes a few pronouncements, expecting people to treat
> them the same way he treated the pronouncements made
> by his teacher, and It Just Doesn't Happen.
>
> The other folks at the bar listen to his rap, and then
> turn around and get back to their drinks or to the
> conversations they were having before the Enlightennewb
> arrived. They don't treat him as special in any way, or
> as any more of an authority than anyone else.
>
> THAT is an interesting moment. THAT is where the rubber
> meets the road for an Enlightennewb. How do they react?
> THAT I find fascinating, even if I don't find the
> Enlightennewb himself interesting at all.
>
