Fullness of Life vs. Personal Security

"The most extreme example, perhaps, of closed groups, are what we call sects. Sects are initially seductive and attractive to very lonely and insecure people but, once they surrender their personal freedom and conscience, such people suffer the terrible fear of leaving the group. Outside, they could fall into even greater loneliness, insecurity, and anguish.

I bring up sects because, while most of us abhor the more extreme and obvious manifestations of sects, we can be blind to the innocuous sects that are a part of society. Our places of work, for example, can become like sects, where we have to sacrifice our personal consciences in order to keep our jobs, have a good salary, gain a measure of security. We need to be vigilant of any situation where it is necessary to obey blindly. Rigidity, a demand for ideological conformity within a group, is rarely necessary; it is not, I think, the sign of a healthy group. Not only that, but the price that we pay, as a society, in the repression of individual growth and the denigration of individual creativity, it too high."

- Jean Vanier in his book "Becoming Human"

(Jean Vanier is the found of L'Arche communities around the world that embrace the intellectually handicapped persons of society that are all to often marginalized by our society.)

I highly recommend his book to all Homo sapiens who want to become human.