Amos, you almost got me to apologize and make a retraction; then I read the next couple of posts and changed my mind back again.

I think Tweed is onto something in asking "What was wrong with 'em to begin with?"

In my experience (or in my opinion, anyway), people who bubble over with enthusiasm over some supposedly revelatory new-age ritual are folks who were excessively clueless beforehand, and then rose to a level of awareness (both self- and other-awareness) that I would consider to be no more than "baseline," or simply normal, for an unspoiled independent adult. As always, of course, YMMV.