[jheii]

I think--let me say it again, I think--that most religions, if viewed from their purest perspectives encourage individuality. Buddhism, Catholicism, each and every one of them, place the responsibility for both one's temporary and one's eternal lives in the hands of the individual. The Orthodox institutions claim to show you how to do that, and to follow the path that they lay out, one has to--to a certain degree and for a certain amount of time--submit to the authority of said institution. I've done lots of reading from the Bible, the Bhagvad Gita, the Pali Canon, etc. and that's the general impression I get from all of them. Maybe I'm just finding what I'm looking for, though, without it actually being there.