Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors

Rating:
Summary: the usual lexicography of the unusual from colin wilson
Review: An illuminating study of the minds of messiahs and their disciples, which broadens to include more familiar personalities, such as Freud and Comte. I firmly believe that modern psychology could only benefit by approaching issues of criminality and "messiah-dom" more after the fashion of Wilson. The insights the book provides are numerous, and Wilson's writing provokes one to think about both the subject matter at hand and more general issues as well. The broad range of case studies he draws upon are fantastically interesting - the book is compulsively readable, and I had to slow myself down on occasion to make sure I was absorbing it all. The introduction alone, with a discussion of the nature of sex and other themes in the book, was worth the price of admission.

Most of the innumerable cases Wilson examines undergo a probing analysis of their central participants (one, that of Edward Arthur Wilson or "Brother Twelve", seems a little incomplete). Wilson's tremendous range of knowledge makes these analyses all the more compelling.

One complaint: I do wish the book supplied a bibliography. Wilson draws on so much information that I often want to read some of the fascinating sources he quotes, but these are not always listed in the text.

I have little doubt I will read this book again. It goes far beyond its subtitle, being more than just retellings of lurid and fascinating stories, to become an exciting and rewarding work.

Rating:
Summary: A scattered book with no references, but fun to read
Review: Colin Wilson is a good writer. He has a casual style, he puts a lot of emphasis on personal stories, and he's comfortable interjecting himself into the book. When he moves into the psychology or philosophy of a cult, he does it quickly, never letting the book degenerate into dull academic analysis. He mentions sex a lot, too, which will keep your interest.

But this book loses its charm in the second half. The references to sex become arbitrary --- anything sexual Wilson can come up with, he mentions.

He has trouble sticking to the topic of the book, too. For example, in a chapter on an offshoot of the Mormon church, he spends several pages describing a dozen murder victims, how they died, and where they were buried. I couldn't keep track of it all, and I wondered why he bothered to cover it in such detail.

He then moves on to a handful of people who are clearly NOT rogues, messiahs, or even cult members. In the final chapter, he tries to tie it all together --- the cults, the sex, the murder ---- with some kind of armchair psychology, spiced with evolutionary theory.

That would have been a three-star book; good bathroom reading. But because there are no footnotes, it drops to two stars. I can't double-check his sources because he doesn't list them.

Rating:
Summary: More sex than power
Review: Every so often I pick up a Colin Wilson book, lured a by title that is inevitably better than the book. This has been done better by a dozen other authors, even including Ronald Knox's sedate and funny "Enthusiasm" almost 50 years ago. Wilson ruins the material by being trite, incredibly obsessed with his own boring sex life, and silly. He pretends scholarship, but there is no evidence of it, no way to verify his peculiar statements, and nothing objective. The topic is important, in fact, as these undisciplined characters endanger society. It's a pity Wilson is best at trivializing everything but himself.

Rating:
Summary: Rogue Messiahs
Review: How are people like David Koresh and Jim Jones able to attract a huge following of believers? Why do those followers stay with them, even to the point of self-destruction?
In Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors, Colin Wilson analyzes the lives of more than two dozen individuals responsible for the destruction or death of hundreds of loyal disciples. He also includes interviews with the ordinary people who got caught up in believing whatever the self-proclaimed messiahs taught.
Wilson has published more than eighty books, on a wide range of subjects, and is generally regarded as one of the most erudite and well-informed authors of our time.
He says that, "to begin with, we have to recognize that these 'messiahs' are driven by two basic human needs, power and sex." He goes on to explain that virtually all humans have these same needs, but in the messiahs, the needs have exploded beyond normal limits. The messiahs generally start out well-intentioned, and may even help some people in their early years. But they "cross the line from inspiration to paranoia, and from teaching to killing--genuine aspiration mixed with self-deception."
Wilson also discusses fact that five percent of the members in any group are dominant individuals. Five percent of the dominant members are "so dominant that they automatically become leaders of every group." Of this last group, a very small percentage are geniuses or become great leaders. The remaining dominant individuals "are obsessed by their personality, and the impact it makes on other people." It's from this group that the rogue messiahs are drawn. Not only are they dominant individuals, they require others to acknowledge their dominance.
Most of the people drawn into the webs woven by the messiahs believe they're following an idea. Wilson says that "all human beings long for powerful conviction, for ideas that seem to offer them a new and more meaningful way of life." Once they accept the ideas promulgated by the leaders, they find it difficult, if not impossible, to break away from the group.
In counterpoint, Wilson also analyzes the personalities of dominant individuals "whose dispositions led instead to spiritual insights of great benefit to humankind and continue to influence our lives today," and deftly shows how the same basic traits can be turned to either good or evil.
Readers interested in the workings of the human mind will find Rogue Messiahs fascinating and insightful. It belongs in the library of all those who wish a better understanding of the human condition.

Rating:
Summary: Rogue Messiahs
Review: How are people like David Koresh and Jim Jones able to attract a huge following of believers? Why do those followers stay with them, even to the point of self-destruction?
In Rogue Messiahs: Tales of Self-Proclaimed Saviors, Colin Wilson analyzes the lives of more than two dozen individuals responsible for the destruction or death of hundreds of loyal disciples. He also includes interviews with the ordinary people who got caught up in believing whatever the self-proclaimed messiahs taught.
Wilson has published more than eighty books, on a wide range of subjects, and is generally regarded as one of the most erudite and well-informed authors of our time.
He says that, "to begin with, we have to recognize that these 'messiahs' are driven by two basic human needs, power and sex." He goes on to explain that virtually all humans have these same needs, but in the messiahs, the needs have exploded beyond normal limits. The messiahs generally start out well-intentioned, and may even help some people in their early years. But they "cross the line from inspiration to paranoia, and from teaching to killing--genuine aspiration mixed with self-deception."
Wilson also discusses fact that five percent of the members in any group are dominant individuals. Five percent of the dominant members are "so dominant that they automatically become leaders of every group." Of this last group, a very small percentage are geniuses or become great leaders. The remaining dominant individuals "are obsessed by their personality, and the impact it makes on other people." It's from this group that the rogue messiahs are drawn. Not only are they dominant individuals, they require others to acknowledge their dominance.
Most of the people drawn into the webs woven by the messiahs believe they're following an idea. Wilson says that "all human beings long for powerful conviction, for ideas that seem to offer them a new and more meaningful way of life." Once they accept the ideas promulgated by the leaders, they find it difficult, if not impossible, to break away from the group.
In counterpoint, Wilson also analyzes the personalities of dominant individuals "whose dispositions led instead to spiritual insights of great benefit to humankind and continue to influence our lives today," and deftly shows how the same basic traits can be turned to either good or evil.
Readers interested in the workings of the human mind will find Rogue Messiahs fascinating and insightful. It belongs in the library of all those who wish a better understanding of the human condition.

Rating:
Summary: A word from the publisher
Review: I have been a fan of Colin Wilson's writing since discovering his novel The Mind Parasites in 1970. In recent years it has been gratifying to become not only one of his many, many friends (he is the most generous of men) but also one of his publishers. (That's why at first I didn't give his book a rating; I'm hardly impartial. But then I found that without a rating, one can't submit a review. So, be warned) Colin's central thread in all his work is his conviction that humans are at the brink of an evolutionary leap that will make us more aware of our abilities, more conscious, more godlike in our powers. This conviction runs through all his work, which ranges from widely across disciplines. He is also an immensely talented novelist of ideas, writing science fiction, detective stories, fantasy, etc. -- all as a way of exploring the implications of his ideas. Rogue Messiahs is his exploration into the "why" of the cults that have defaced our time. And, typical of his multi-disciplinary approach, in this book he looks behind the headlines to explore what it might mean for us as a species. He is a great story-teller, and not the least of his talents is his ability to tie together subjects that at first glance have not much to do with each other. Reading his books is always an exercize in making unsuspected connections, so that even when you disagree with his conclusions you have profited from accompanying him on the journey.

Rating:
Summary: Shows why people give their personal power away.
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read, to give insight and understanding of the human dynamic of disowning one's personal power and responsibility for being aware of and owning the consequences of one's choices. It shows that humanity is so very immature in mass. I think it is brilliant.