One of the ways to avoid indoctrination is by entering a different dangerous territory- sacralization.
A sacred text does not create doctrine- because it is open to interpretation, even interpretation that undermines the original intent. It still creates a community, as they circle the text.
I speak only of text because that is what I'm familiar with in Judaism. But I imagine spaces, times and rituals are equally potent.
Notice that the dynamism gained in sacralization is at the expense of clarity in doctrine.
In The Grey Robes--which is admittedly me plus a few interested readers, event-goers, and course-takers (but growing)--the idea is rather like that of an event horizon. The outer reaches of the accretion disk is inquiry and dialectics. Then, the more you move toward the event horizon, the more settled and dense it becomes: This is doctrine. Doctrine is not beyond question, but it is arranged to be more robust and coherent. Finally, we get to the *black hole* which we call *dogma,* the Unquestionable Answers. Everything revolves around this center of gravity. To a Grey Robe, the wisdom is inescapable. (We are not dogmatic, but we embrace *dogma*.) When we pass from sutric to tantric, we sacralize. And yet we'll always argue like the rabbis do (hehe).
One of the ways to avoid indoctrination is by entering a different dangerous territory- sacralization.
A sacred text does not create doctrine- because it is open to interpretation, even interpretation that undermines the original intent. It still creates a community, as they circle the text.
I speak only of text because that is what I'm familiar with in Judaism. But I imagine spaces, times and rituals are equally potent.
Notice that the dynamism gained in sacralization is at the expense of clarity in doctrine.
So I guess this is me agreeing.
In The Grey Robes--which is admittedly me plus a few interested readers, event-goers, and course-takers (but growing)--the idea is rather like that of an event horizon. The outer reaches of the accretion disk is inquiry and dialectics. Then, the more you move toward the event horizon, the more settled and dense it becomes: This is doctrine. Doctrine is not beyond question, but it is arranged to be more robust and coherent. Finally, we get to the *black hole* which we call *dogma,* the Unquestionable Answers. Everything revolves around this center of gravity. To a Grey Robe, the wisdom is inescapable. (We are not dogmatic, but we embrace *dogma*.) When we pass from sutric to tantric, we sacralize. And yet we'll always argue like the rabbis do (hehe).