An aphorism of Sangharakshita's is that the group is the enemy of the individual. This needs a little unpacking.
There are two kinds of group. The first is the 'common group' that is like a flock of sheep conditioned, controlled and driven by the most powerful (and often ruthless, even brutal) person or group of persons acting in exclusive co-operation with one another while excluding everyone else from their hegemony.
The second is the positive group that invites everyone to participate and happily allows true individuals to emerge and communicate in their midst.
A true individual is self-aware, has a broad sense of responsibility, is independent of common-group-thinking, emotionally positive, self-confident, energetic, receptive, able to communicate effectively, intelligent, grateful, sensitive, creative, faithful to ideals such as friendship and spiritual community, imaginative, empathetic, content to be alone, generous, co-operative, willing to forgive, willing to confess faults and repent of unskilfulness.
[with gratitude to Dharmacharini Anagarika Dhammadinna for her list (not exhaustive!) of dimensions of true
individuality].
There are two kinds of group. The first is the 'common group' that is like a flock of sheep conditioned, controlled and driven by the most powerful (and often ruthless, even brutal) person or group of persons acting in exclusive co-operation with one another while excluding everyone else from their hegemony.
The second is the positive group that invites everyone to participate and happily allows true individuals to emerge and communicate in their midst.
A true individual is self-aware, has a broad sense of responsibility, is independent of common-group-thinking, emotionally positive, self-confident, energetic, receptive, able to communicate effectively, intelligent, grateful, sensitive, creative, faithful to ideals such as friendship and spiritual community, imaginative, empathetic, content to be alone, generous, co-operative, willing to forgive, willing to confess faults and repent of unskilfulness.
[with gratitude to Dharmacharini Anagarika Dhammadinna for her list (not exhaustive!) of dimensions of true
individuality].