[Freedom]

At first glance, it might seem that WL simply failed to practice what he preached. However, given his history of acting in direct contradiction to what he taught, the inevitable conclusion is that all too often, he used what he taught as a cloak for what he wanted to practice. It's something that WL was very good at. The scary thing is that WL cultivated an environment where what was being spoken was believed to be an absolute truth, in particular, it took precedence over the reality of what was being put into practiced.

I was often struck by how quickly LCers could lie about what they were doing, claiming that a certain practice wasn't really happening. I couldn't believe that they could be so dishonest. But it's not really that at all, it's more representative of a state of mind. At a very basic level, WL essentially ingrained it in members that the LC was infallible, that it could do no wrong. So if there were a clearly wrong practice happening, despite having the evidence straight in front of them, members might question or dismiss that evidence.

In the document linked to this thread, I noticed Steve's interview with Max. Max basically stated that Lee wanted him to do the footwork in carrying out his global conquest. But WL would never admit publicly that he wanted such a global 'movement'. Not before he initiated anything, nor afterwards when the dust of a failed scheme was settling. Of course, WL was quick to project the whole scheme onto Max. All the sudden, Max was the sole ambitious one. Even in modern times, the blendeds have said that Max desired to be the "universal coordinator of the one new man."

The issue, as it turns out, is far bigger than Lee refusing to accept responsibility for his actions. Lee couldn't admit to members what he really wanted to do. So told members something completely different, and then proceeded to do something in contradiction with it. No one would have guessed it. He had so many fooled. And in the aftermath of so many things, leaders would tell everyone "move along, nothing to see here." The state of mind that exists is really hard to explain. Like I said before, the evidence might be directly in front of members, yet they are unable to take it to mean anything significant. Why? Because it contradicts what they've been told. And what they've been told is given more precedence than reality.