[janosett]

Imagine you think video games are a waste of time, or that a certain food type shouldn’t be eaten because it’s unhealthy or unclean.

Those are fine opinions to hold personally, but obviously many people may disagree. The self-importance I meant is when you think your opinions are more important than those of others and try to control their behavior.

FWIW— I’ve since edited the post because I think that wording makes it seem unnecessarily negative on my part.

[andybak]

Some people are more perceptive or knowledgable than others. Not all opinions are equal. You can't easily dismiss the idea that one can learn from others.

I don't dispute the existence of "false teachers" or the harm done by fossilized belief systems but your argument doesn't convince me that there's not a baby being tossed out with that bathwater.

Also - many esoteric or philosophical traditions engage with exactly this problem - the tension between the need for a teacher and the fact that many insights can only be arrived at through personal experience. This dichotomy is a huge part of the millenia old debate on such matters.