In a trap of unity

A human is a social animal. Ancient Greeks and even Dalai Lama spoke about it. What quality of this society is the interesting matter. I guess, majority of you know that social life of ancient Greeks was based on polises, everyone considered himself as its member, served and helped it. It is visually described in Aristotle's works, but less than in The Stoics', emphasizing attention to individual human being.
It's notoriously that ancient Romans didn't separate themselves from Rome. Even the Stoicism got another tone there. Read "On Anger" or "De Vita Beata" of Seneca and compare them with "Discourses" of Epictetus - and you will feel the difference between the approaches. Seneca criticized Aristotle in his work "On Anger". The Stoics disagreed with Peripatetic and Academic schools about perception a human definitely as a member of collective unlike an individuality. But about everything in order.

I'd like to share my spiritual experience. In 2020 when I started working in a Russian-and-Chinese company managed by a Chinese general manager, I was under unbearing emotional pressure. It happened due to misunderstanding born of different mentalities and personal characters, the pandemic and huge number of work. That time I found a spiritual organization that suggested its self-realization course for a reasonable fee. The lessons were being given in Zoom, students were studying from different countries of Commonwealth of Independent States after work. I with pleasure agreed.
The lessons were psychological, we had been separated to individual groups of confederates, where we were sharing our insights from one or another practice given us by a mentor. They were two - psychologist and a businessman. The spiritual organization was well-known, so the lectures were of its behalf. Everything went beautiful in the beginning. We all became friends. We were always supporrted by a spirit of fellowship, and if someone being bad we were advised to think about him. It was OK for someone to ask us to think about him, all the members of chat did. It had been going on for two months. I was an active participant there and found many friends, in particular a woman from Lithuania.

When the studying was finished, we started discussion about a club of the confederates. All agreed. And then started something impartial.
Philosophy of the community declared that everyone needed to refuse of his ego to merge with his confederates, in other words you tried to connect egoistically with a confederate, but you had to be detached. It seemed very strange because the connection with confederates is one of the most egoistic.
Then there was declared a slogan: "Do what you can, but don't leave us". I felt inconvenient. And further...
Mister psychologist started behaving himself thus that his ego was shining brighter then stars light. The businessman was behaving himself more modestly, but, judging by his stories, I understood that his participation was just a pursuit of the best personal gain. Religious organizations are the reachest exactly, aren't they?
In short, these two started wildly irritating me, and every day I was feeling that we were being become a sect. It was interesting, that majority of the collective consisted women, and men including me in the "congregation" were units.
And the women supported absolutely everything without any questions. When I shared my uncertainties with one of them, she blamed me that I escape the psychologist's strict methods, that he was like Zen master and he knew how would be better for us. And then she stopped communication with me.
Finally I lost my temper with the psychologist's relation to a confederate from Astrakhan that asked to solve his problems during a conference, some started to give advice, but the psychologist roughly interrupted the conversation and told that problems weren't solved here unlike the spiritual practice. That I couldn't tolerate, before leaving gave thanks to my confederates for the passed way with me, but I'd like to step my own path, I said. I told the psychologist that he was a lier and a false prophet, after that only I left the group.
All told I had participated in this organization for one year. It was hard to get used to new reality, You felt like you had been splitted off something whole. I had been feeling it a few days after, but then everything became normally. I started working easier and became more sure. I'm still communicating personally with some confederates.

That's why I'm neither an Academic, nor a Peripatetic. May be only a Stoic, but it is not also exactly.

Source of the picture: https://old.bigenc.ru/religious_studies/text/2206586