Ronnieism: a pathological condition or an existential given?

The starting point for the thoughts that coalesced into this article was a point in the discussion at the recent Society for Existential Analysis conference on R D Laing in which someone raised the issue of Laing having charisma. For a while after that the discussion was filled with examples of this charisma. It got me thinking not so much of what charisma is, although that is certainly an interesting subject, but of what it does to those people who are within its sphere of influence.  In the case of the conference it is  the effect of Laing’s charisma on those within his circle.