Not news. This phenomena surely was observed thousands of years ago in various cultures. There is a reason all occult spiritual paths require a “Master”, “Guru”, “Pir”, “Guide”. Nearly all such collectives subject members to ritual humbling until a degree of “spiritual maturity” is detected. Occult literature (and here I include the esoterica of various established religions) is rife with warnings as to the dangers of spiritual seeking without guidance.
A wonderful self-test of one’s spiritual maturity is precisely the inner struggle of the novice with “accepting another as superior”. I suspect this has been and remains a fairly common experience for those on the spiritual path.
The standing bug to this approach is the authenticity factor of the respective “master” [so shop around].