Critical examination of the lives and beliefs of gurus demonstrates that our
psychiatric labels and our conceptions of what is or is not mental illness are
woefully inadequate. How, for example, does one distinguish an unorthodox or
bizarre faith from delusion?...
Gurus are isolated people, dependent upon their disciples, with no possibility
of being disciplined by a Church or criticized by contemporaries. They are
above the law. They guru usurps the place of God. Whether gurus have
suffered from manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, or any other form of
recognized, diagnosable mentall illness is interesting but ultimately
unimportant. What distinguishes gurus from more orthodox teachers is not
their manic-depressive mood swings, not their thought disorders, not their
delusional beliefs, not their hallucinatory visions, not their mystical states
of ecstasy: is is their narcissism.
-Anthony Storr, Feet of Clay, quoted in Krakauer