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The inevitable corruption of transcendent experience by institutional power. Religion often begins with a profound, transformative mystical insight or revelation (e.g., the Buddha's enlightenment, Moses at the burning bush). The hard problem is that to preserve and spread this insight, it must be codified into dogma, ritual, and hierarchy—an institution. The institution then inevitably becomes invested in its own survival, power, and social control, often betraying the very transformative, anti-establishment spirit that founded it. The container ends up worshipped instead of the contents.
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