LOL - You're too much, BB. Anyone agreeing with Voegelin is evidence confirming his basic rightness, and anyone questioning Voegelin with a modicum of skepticism...is also evidence confirming his basic rightness. Heads you win, tails I lose. May I politely suggest that you've stacked the deck, consciously or unconsciously, in favor of continually reinforcing that which you already believe to be true? ;)
You may indeed, general_re. Thanks for the politesse; but I'm not "reinforcing" anything -- just trying to explain some very difficult material that I believe is timely and valuable to the understanding of current cultural and civilizational problems....
As to what I believe to be true -- I truthfully believe that I do not possess the truth. The truth is not an "object" to be "possessed." As long as the universe keeps rolling along, the truth continues to unfold....
And FWIW, I don't hold much truck with "doctrinal thinking" of any description. Such thinking "filters" reality in such a way as to cut it down to our own size, so to speak. Filters are designed to omit parts of reality. That is their purpose. And to the extent that we depend on them, we may only succeed in achieving a false sense of security, based on an illusionary sense of knowledged "possessed".
I'm sure you can think of examples of doctrines that have nothing to do with religion. The "school philosophers" specialize in their construction; the Darwinists have their doctrines. But you will not find doctrines in Plato or Aristotle -- or Voegelin, for that matter. These men are more interested in getting the questions right than in coming up with answers....