Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
Jay Cruise
()
Date: March 25, 2009 03:34PM
I probably should have made clear that I don't actually believe Mitchell's story of Katie being an enlightened being.
Anyway, reading the book, it could be that part of the reason this book was destroyed because it suggests she hated her son, beat up her daughter and said to her "You even touch me and I'll f--king kill you! (page 182 - this is not quoted anywhere on google - RR exclusive)" She is actually a bitch and this isn't the light a spiritual leader likes to be seen. Also her daughter was using drugs and the whole family was completely disfunctional. It reveals much more of her past, parents, former husbands etc. which she has been tight lipped about since.
If I were in her shoes I'd be concealling this book on those grounds alone. It's fascinating.
Anyway, reading the book, it could be that part of the reason this book was destroyed because it suggests she hated her son, beat up her daughter and said to her "You even touch me and I'll f--king kill you! (page 182 - this is not quoted anywhere on google - RR exclusive)" She is actually a bitch and this isn't the light a spiritual leader likes to be seen. Also her daughter was using drugs and the whole family was completely disfunctional. It reveals much more of her past, parents, former husbands etc. which she has been tight lipped about since.
If I were in her shoes I'd be concealling this book on those grounds alone. It's fascinating.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: March 25, 2009 10:08PM
Anticult wrote:
Another way this can feel is that one's peripheral vision is narrowing and that one's vision dims, as though the room is filling with smoke or fog.
(Just recall the time you were in a room with an authority figure getting horrid news)
Daniel Lapin, a psychologist who investigates why people are fascinated by Bram Stoker's Dracula, wrote a book, entitled The Vampire, Dracula and Incest. He wrote it because so many of his clients who had survived trauma told him they were obessed and fascinated with Bram Stokers novel and did not understand why.
Lapin read the novel and to his clinician's eye, it read as a survivors metaphorical account of trauma and the dissociative states accompanying it. A story of this kind can be full of 'unconscious derivatives (Langs) that are emotionally isomorphic to what one has lived through but cannot fully access by conscious awareness because one has dissociated from and split off the full embodied experience of the trauma and one remembers it through a tranced, dissociative fog.
Lapin wrote that a person mishandled this way can easily lapse into such a dissociative fog if the trauma is re-enacted.
In the Dracula novel, this dissociative confusion, this state of trance, is evoked through descriptions of the Count appearing in the midst of fog, or his castle being surrounded by fog...those evoke the mind state one is in when tranced out, as often happens when one is traumatized or even been groomed by someone who is preparing to trick us, or worse.
Another thing that recurs in the novel are the protagonists constantly fearing that what they are witnessing cannot actually be true. (!!!)
They are tormented by fear that they cannot trust their own observations and one seeks to anchor himself by keeping a diary, to stablize his perceptions.
In this kind of trance, we lose access to survival instincts, fight or flight is disabled and we freeze. We may even know we are in danger, but the knowledge doenst activate our emotions or muscles in any way to support our fleeing or fighting back.
This is what dissociative SPLITTING is, folks.
A wedge is driven between our awareness of danger and our ability to fight back or run.
Later, we can easily be conned into thinking we were at fault, that we wanted to be abused.
This is why so many who have this hideous feeling of fogged out estrangement from our ability to protect ourselves..are easily tricked into the false empowerment of taking responsiblity for our own abuse.
This said, here is an odd thing about Josh Baran.
His exit counseling, according to one former member of the Da Free John community, started as early as 1977.
Folks, this is remarkable. Josh Baran was in a position to function as a sort of exit counselor (the term didnt even exist then) as early as 1977--this was one YEAR before Jonestown.
Thats a claim to fame. An HONORABLE claim to fame.
He did this very praiseworthy exit counseling work at Sorting It Out and did this in apparently, up to about the mid 1980s.
For context, it is good for us to keep in mind that the Northern California/Bay Area was
being traumatized by a series of cult scandals.
Richard Baker (aka 'Dick Baker'), abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, was found to have abused money, sex and power, and left in disgrace in 1983.
The horrifying details about Da Free John (aka Bubba Free John, later Adi Da Samiraj) hit the news in 1985.
Muktananda was found to have molested young girls at his ashram, and sent thugs to threaten dissidents and this came out in 1982.
And, remember, the Jonestown massacre had hit in late 1978, and earlier the SLA had kidnapped Patty Hearst.
So the Bay Area was shitting its pants over ideological and religious groups breaking down into collective, mass dysfunction.
Little was understood about cult dysfunction. Help was needed, the way New Orleans desperately needed people to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
You'd think that the work Baran did, in offering Sorting It Out for people to process what they'd been through would be worth listing on his current resume.
Instead...look at his biographical info, in relation to his new book, The Tao of Now
www.taoofnowbook.com
All that work Josh Baran did in the 80s, via Sorting It Out...that then, was part of The Now.
Why not mention it? It was a sorely needed service.
Still, it is interesting that nothing here is listed about any counseling background obtained by Josh Baran. He may have been able to offer some good rap groups, or peer counseling for persons shaking from thier recent involvement with DFJ and Muktananda.
But, given how many SYDA yoga people seem to have gone into other entities, and that no one seemed to know that Muk had been buddies with Werner Erhard and had incorporated EST tech into the SYDA yoga intensives...peer counseling by itself would not have been enough for long term recovery.
Still, Baran was a salient enough presence on the scene that he was quoted in an article by Dan Lattin, Religion and Spirituality correspondant to the San Francisco Chronicle.
And he gave pretty precise numbers for persons he'd spoken with--30 from Muktanandas group and 50 from Da Free John's group.
He helped meet a public emergency, at a dire time.
Why not mention this praiseworthy exit counseling work in his tao of now book capsulel biography?
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2009 10:38PM by corboy.
Quote
What's wonderful is that Janaki does not appear to know what "hypnosis" is, but her description could be in a textbook!
Put it this way, if you are getting "tunnel vision", and things are moving in "slow motion"...that's a clue!
Another way this can feel is that one's peripheral vision is narrowing and that one's vision dims, as though the room is filling with smoke or fog.
(Just recall the time you were in a room with an authority figure getting horrid news)
Daniel Lapin, a psychologist who investigates why people are fascinated by Bram Stoker's Dracula, wrote a book, entitled The Vampire, Dracula and Incest. He wrote it because so many of his clients who had survived trauma told him they were obessed and fascinated with Bram Stokers novel and did not understand why.
Lapin read the novel and to his clinician's eye, it read as a survivors metaphorical account of trauma and the dissociative states accompanying it. A story of this kind can be full of 'unconscious derivatives (Langs) that are emotionally isomorphic to what one has lived through but cannot fully access by conscious awareness because one has dissociated from and split off the full embodied experience of the trauma and one remembers it through a tranced, dissociative fog.
Lapin wrote that a person mishandled this way can easily lapse into such a dissociative fog if the trauma is re-enacted.
In the Dracula novel, this dissociative confusion, this state of trance, is evoked through descriptions of the Count appearing in the midst of fog, or his castle being surrounded by fog...those evoke the mind state one is in when tranced out, as often happens when one is traumatized or even been groomed by someone who is preparing to trick us, or worse.
Another thing that recurs in the novel are the protagonists constantly fearing that what they are witnessing cannot actually be true. (!!!)
They are tormented by fear that they cannot trust their own observations and one seeks to anchor himself by keeping a diary, to stablize his perceptions.
In this kind of trance, we lose access to survival instincts, fight or flight is disabled and we freeze. We may even know we are in danger, but the knowledge doenst activate our emotions or muscles in any way to support our fleeing or fighting back.
This is what dissociative SPLITTING is, folks.
A wedge is driven between our awareness of danger and our ability to fight back or run.
Later, we can easily be conned into thinking we were at fault, that we wanted to be abused.
This is why so many who have this hideous feeling of fogged out estrangement from our ability to protect ourselves..are easily tricked into the false empowerment of taking responsiblity for our own abuse.
This said, here is an odd thing about Josh Baran.
His exit counseling, according to one former member of the Da Free John community, started as early as 1977.
Folks, this is remarkable. Josh Baran was in a position to function as a sort of exit counselor (the term didnt even exist then) as early as 1977--this was one YEAR before Jonestown.
Thats a claim to fame. An HONORABLE claim to fame.
Quote
1977 - These were very interesting times for me as my transition from the community to the world was rapid, pleasurable and confusing. I still sincerely believed in conquering my spiritual immaturity and rejoining the community, but my new friends had no such illusions about themselves. Over the course of time, our household became a kind of way station for people leaving the community to come and talk it out with us. Josh Baran, the author of the book on "Dark Zen”, was an exit counselor who would frequently come over to our house and talk to the people who were leaving.
[mysite.verizon.net]
He did this very praiseworthy exit counseling work at Sorting It Out and did this in apparently, up to about the mid 1980s.
For context, it is good for us to keep in mind that the Northern California/Bay Area was
being traumatized by a series of cult scandals.
Richard Baker (aka 'Dick Baker'), abbot of San Francisco Zen Center, was found to have abused money, sex and power, and left in disgrace in 1983.
The horrifying details about Da Free John (aka Bubba Free John, later Adi Da Samiraj) hit the news in 1985.
Muktananda was found to have molested young girls at his ashram, and sent thugs to threaten dissidents and this came out in 1982.
And, remember, the Jonestown massacre had hit in late 1978, and earlier the SLA had kidnapped Patty Hearst.
So the Bay Area was shitting its pants over ideological and religious groups breaking down into collective, mass dysfunction.
Little was understood about cult dysfunction. Help was needed, the way New Orleans desperately needed people to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
You'd think that the work Baran did, in offering Sorting It Out for people to process what they'd been through would be worth listing on his current resume.
Instead...look at his biographical info, in relation to his new book, The Tao of Now
www.taoofnowbook.com
Quote
THE TAO OF NOW has been praised as an “exquisite handbook for enlightenment,” as “an invaluable resource for anyone interested in finding peace in the present moment,” and called, “the ultimate hit parade of ageless wisdom and timeless presence.”
The book has been endorsed by Jack Canfield*, Lama Surya Das, Byron Katie, Rodney Yee, Raphael Cushnir, Krishna Das, Susan Piver, Sharon Salzberg, Helen Palmer, Mark Matousek, and featured in such publications as Time Magazine, O the Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: the Buddhist Review, and Shambhala Sun.
(This may be a mis spelling of Jack Kornfield)
Josh Baran is a former Zen priest and a well-known strategic communications consultant.
Over the last 25 years, he has worked with many organizations and companies including Amnesty International, Rock the Vote, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Universal Pictures, Warner Records, Oracle and Microsoft. In the last few years, he has focused on environmental communications. He worked closely with Paramount Pictures and Al Gore in support of the release of “An Inconvenient Truth.” In addition, he provides public relations for new green technologies and industries. For many years, he has managed media relations for some of the major visits of the Dalai Lama to the Eastern United States including the two huge events in Central Park. He lives in New York City
All that work Josh Baran did in the 80s, via Sorting It Out...that then, was part of The Now.
Why not mention it? It was a sorely needed service.
Still, it is interesting that nothing here is listed about any counseling background obtained by Josh Baran. He may have been able to offer some good rap groups, or peer counseling for persons shaking from thier recent involvement with DFJ and Muktananda.
But, given how many SYDA yoga people seem to have gone into other entities, and that no one seemed to know that Muk had been buddies with Werner Erhard and had incorporated EST tech into the SYDA yoga intensives...peer counseling by itself would not have been enough for long term recovery.
Still, Baran was a salient enough presence on the scene that he was quoted in an article by Dan Lattin, Religion and Spirituality correspondant to the San Francisco Chronicle.
And he gave pretty precise numbers for persons he'd spoken with--30 from Muktanandas group and 50 from Da Free John's group.
He helped meet a public emergency, at a dire time.
Why not mention this praiseworthy exit counseling work in his tao of now book capsulel biography?
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2009 10:38PM by corboy.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: March 25, 2009 11:19PM
Again, note that in 1985, Josh Baran was a resource person, quoteable by no less a person than a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Josh Baran could have become a colleague of Margarent Singer. He could have become another Rick Ross.
THis was desperately needed work. And Baran, as noted above, was sought out by people as early as 1977, prior to Jonestown. .
[www.culteducation.com]
"Josh Baran, the founder of Berkeley counseling center that helps those leaving religious cults, said he has dealt with around 50 "profoundly disillusioned" former devotees of Da Free John.
"Their principal focus is devotion to him as God incarnate," said Baran. "It creates followers who are like dependent children."
Baran said some of Da Free John's early books were incisive critiques of other East-meets-West religious movements. Over the years, however, "it became more and more based on him."
"They have the right to their beliefs, but when any man proclaims his Godhood, the possible excesses of abuses of power are enormous -- especially when they isolate themselves on an island in the middle of the ocean. ...We saw that in Jonestown," Baran said. "
from
Guru hit by sex-slave suit Stories of drugs, orgies on Free John's Fiji isle
San Francisco Examiner/April 3, 1985
By Don Lattin
THis was desperately needed work. And Baran, as noted above, was sought out by people as early as 1977, prior to Jonestown. .
[www.culteducation.com]
"Josh Baran, the founder of Berkeley counseling center that helps those leaving religious cults, said he has dealt with around 50 "profoundly disillusioned" former devotees of Da Free John.
"Their principal focus is devotion to him as God incarnate," said Baran. "It creates followers who are like dependent children."
Baran said some of Da Free John's early books were incisive critiques of other East-meets-West religious movements. Over the years, however, "it became more and more based on him."
"They have the right to their beliefs, but when any man proclaims his Godhood, the possible excesses of abuses of power are enormous -- especially when they isolate themselves on an island in the middle of the ocean. ...We saw that in Jonestown," Baran said. "
from
Guru hit by sex-slave suit Stories of drugs, orgies on Free John's Fiji isle
San Francisco Examiner/April 3, 1985
By Don Lattin
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: March 25, 2009 11:24PM
" For too long, we have accepted all eastern teaching with childlike reverence, placing our thinking faculties on hold. "
Josh Baran's review of Brian Victorias book, Zen at War is here:
[www.darkzen.com]
Excerpt from a longer article
(quote)In Zen, there is the ancient image of a red-hot iron ball stuck in your throat that you cannot spit out or swallow. For Japanese Zen, the war is this iron ball. It is one gigantic living koan. It will not go away, even when the last survivors die off. It must be investigated honestly if Zen is to remain a meaningful and real tradition. Truth denied is enlightenment denied.
This total betrayal of compassion did not just take place during World War II. For six hundred years, one Zen Master bragged, the Rinzai school had been engaged in "enhancing military power." For centuries, Zen was intimately involved in the way of killing. This is the simple truth. Of course, only some temples and some teachers, were involved, but this aspect of Zen was a significant part of Japanese culture and became dominant for nearly one hundred years. In fact, the extremes of the war were the full flower of this heartless Zen that had been evolving in Japan. The sword was real and millions died. The most excessive situations show us the inherent distortions that exist from the beginning.
For many Zen students, the most difficult aspect will be how to face the words and actions of these highly esteemed Zen Masters. How can we hold these overwhelming contradictions? These were the living Buddhas of the Zen tradition -- men regarded as "fully enlightened," who had satori experiences, underwent intense training, received the official transmission and teaching seals. Many were brilliant charismatic teachers and koan masters. And simultaneously, these same Zen Masters, were swept away in nationalist delusion, perverted Buddhist and Zen teachings, and exhibited a total lack of compassion and wisdom. They participated directly in the deaths of tens of millions of people. There is no greater abuse of the Dharma possible.
What is going on here? This simply can’t be ignored or casually brushed aside as a minor matters. Either these masters weren’t "enlightened" or their "enlightenment" did not include compassion and wisdom. What Zen is this that they are masters of? These questions are not supposed to be thought about, let alone openly considered. If they can’t bring up these questions in Japan, then we will do it here in the West. We have to ask these questions even if they are difficult to answer and make us uncomfortable. It is just too important.
This is our iron ball koan. What kind of Zen we are practicing here in the West?
For too long, we have been overly naïve and uncritical. The Buddha never taught that we should give up our rational thinking and intelligence. For too long, we have accepted all eastern teaching with childlike reverence, placing our thinking faculties on hold. Perhaps now, with these new revelations, it is time to re-honor intelligence and questioning and look more carefully at what we inherited and where we are headed. The noted psychologist Robert Jay Lifton said that religion cam be dangerous. It is essential to know the shadows of the spiritual traditions we follow. In the light of Zen at War, shadows can have enormous harmful consequences. We ignore or deny them at our peril.
We need to know the mechanics of how the Buddha Way can turn into this horrific form of heartless Zen. This is not about orthodoxy or purity: It is about compassion and insight. This is not about condemning the Japanese, but as one Sangha, helping each other awaken authentically.
Spiritual traditions also go through periods of light and dark, brilliance and corruption. Zen is one of the truly great traditions in the history of religion.
But it will only continue to survive genuinely if we can face our demons.
Brian Victoria has done Zen a great service by devoting many years to this uncovering. May it bear fruit.
Josh Baran
(unquote)
Josh Baran's review of Brian Victorias book, Zen at War is here:
[www.darkzen.com]
Excerpt from a longer article
(quote)In Zen, there is the ancient image of a red-hot iron ball stuck in your throat that you cannot spit out or swallow. For Japanese Zen, the war is this iron ball. It is one gigantic living koan. It will not go away, even when the last survivors die off. It must be investigated honestly if Zen is to remain a meaningful and real tradition. Truth denied is enlightenment denied.
This total betrayal of compassion did not just take place during World War II. For six hundred years, one Zen Master bragged, the Rinzai school had been engaged in "enhancing military power." For centuries, Zen was intimately involved in the way of killing. This is the simple truth. Of course, only some temples and some teachers, were involved, but this aspect of Zen was a significant part of Japanese culture and became dominant for nearly one hundred years. In fact, the extremes of the war were the full flower of this heartless Zen that had been evolving in Japan. The sword was real and millions died. The most excessive situations show us the inherent distortions that exist from the beginning.
For many Zen students, the most difficult aspect will be how to face the words and actions of these highly esteemed Zen Masters. How can we hold these overwhelming contradictions? These were the living Buddhas of the Zen tradition -- men regarded as "fully enlightened," who had satori experiences, underwent intense training, received the official transmission and teaching seals. Many were brilliant charismatic teachers and koan masters. And simultaneously, these same Zen Masters, were swept away in nationalist delusion, perverted Buddhist and Zen teachings, and exhibited a total lack of compassion and wisdom. They participated directly in the deaths of tens of millions of people. There is no greater abuse of the Dharma possible.
What is going on here? This simply can’t be ignored or casually brushed aside as a minor matters. Either these masters weren’t "enlightened" or their "enlightenment" did not include compassion and wisdom. What Zen is this that they are masters of? These questions are not supposed to be thought about, let alone openly considered. If they can’t bring up these questions in Japan, then we will do it here in the West. We have to ask these questions even if they are difficult to answer and make us uncomfortable. It is just too important.
This is our iron ball koan. What kind of Zen we are practicing here in the West?
For too long, we have been overly naïve and uncritical. The Buddha never taught that we should give up our rational thinking and intelligence. For too long, we have accepted all eastern teaching with childlike reverence, placing our thinking faculties on hold. Perhaps now, with these new revelations, it is time to re-honor intelligence and questioning and look more carefully at what we inherited and where we are headed. The noted psychologist Robert Jay Lifton said that religion cam be dangerous. It is essential to know the shadows of the spiritual traditions we follow. In the light of Zen at War, shadows can have enormous harmful consequences. We ignore or deny them at our peril.
We need to know the mechanics of how the Buddha Way can turn into this horrific form of heartless Zen. This is not about orthodoxy or purity: It is about compassion and insight. This is not about condemning the Japanese, but as one Sangha, helping each other awaken authentically.
Spiritual traditions also go through periods of light and dark, brilliance and corruption. Zen is one of the truly great traditions in the history of religion.
But it will only continue to survive genuinely if we can face our demons.
Brian Victoria has done Zen a great service by devoting many years to this uncovering. May it bear fruit.
Josh Baran
(unquote)
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: March 25, 2009 11:57PM
Susan Rothbaum was a social worker. She worked alongside Josh Baran in the 1980s.
Unlike Baran, Susan Rothbaum has a consistent and long term career at a scholar of cult psychology.
But their earlier collaboration --and respective roles and backgrounds, are described, with more precision and IMO, more perceptively, in the Mill Valley Journal.
[www.google.com]
[209.85.173.132]
(quote)
from
New Age Defectors Look for Help Getting Back to Ground
The Mill Valley Record, April 3, 1985
~ author: Molly Colin ~
For many voluntary leavetakers, the fear of transferring trust to another person and the possible exploitation of that trust again, keeps former group members from seeking help, said counselor Susan Rothbaum.
Rothbaum, an East Bay social worker*, and Josh Baran, a former Zen Buddhist monk and a self-styled public relations consultant*, formed Sorting It Out in Berkeley in 1979, with the assumption, said Rothbaum, "that we were interested in spiritual growth."
Rothbaum and Baran say they have seen more than 2,000 clients from more than 250 groups.
"We don't do deprogramming - kidnapping. We do transition deprogramming," Rothbaum emphasized.
Three or four years ago a "rash" of JDC leavetakers sought assistance from the two counselors, Rothbaum said. "The JDC contacted him (Baran) and told him people are saying we're a cult. They asked him to mediate."
When contacted in Los Angeles, where he also has an office, Baran said "The JDC asked me to help resolve some of the problems. I talked to both sides of how they could right the wrongs."
Baran said his efforts did not meet either side's expectations. "Some leave-takers still felt they were not heard. Essentially, they felt they could not communicate with the leader clearly.
"It's a system of a perfect master at the top, incapable of human error," Baran said.
Since that incident, Baran said the church has contacted him "from time to time". Six weeks ago, a church representative called to ask him for his mediation services again because a number of people had left.
[text missing]
Although he has not counseled any former JDC members face to face, Zeitlin said a number have called him recently. "They like to keep their distance. Leave-takers like anonymity. They are careful not to be exploited again if they perceive themselves having been exploited before."
Zeitlin said the group of ex-JDC members is "struggling" to seek a frame of reference. "The things reported to me are classic kinds of cultic situations. From what I've heard Da Free John is demanding more, having everything dedicated to him. He is collecting and hoarding large amounts of money and he is sleeping with his women disciples."
Zeitlin said he had heard of cases of rape within the inner circle. "It's not uncommon for leaders to seduce followers under false pretenses. They pretend they're celibate. They tell the initiates, this is the meaning to the path of spiritual growth. Then they change the meaning of that path".
JDC is a relatively small group, stressed Zeitlin. "He's pretty successful. He has a corps of people behind him. Some cult leaders thrive on the global sense of seeing a movement develop. He's very concerned about the acceptance of his books and ideas.
"He wants to make sure he will be remembered as a great spiritual master."
Marvin Galper is a psychotherapist who has been in the San Diego area since 1966 and who has extensively researched cults. Over the years, he said, he has treated a couple of former JDC members who were rank and file members and their treatment "did not allow me information on inner circle practices."
Galper said he has, however, heard of physical and sexual assaults on female JDC members from inner circle leave-takers.
People come forward, suggested Chris Hatcher, because "they gain some kind of closure from it. Some kind of self-esteem is restored."
Will the efforts of the individuals who are now coming forward have any effect on Franklin Jones on his island in Fiji?
"It will hit them", said Hatcher, "but probably like they're the victims of religious persecution".
© 1985 The Mill Valley Record (unquote)
and a published article
[www.eric.ed.gov]
(quote)
Click on any of the links below to perform a new search
ERIC #:
A unique accession number assigned to each record in the database; also referred to as ERIC Document Number (ED Number) and ERIC Journal Number (EJ Number). EJ264885
Title:
The name assigned to the document by the author. This field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers. Religious 'Cults' -- Bizarre or All-American?
Authors:
Personal author, compiler, or editor name(s); click on any author to run a new search on that name. Maher, Mary
Descriptors:
Terms from the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors; used to tag materials by subject to aid information search and retrieval. Click on a Descriptor to initiate any new search using that term. Adolescent Development; Adolescents; Group Membership; Reference Groups; Religious Cultural Groups; Self Concept
Source:
The entity from which ERIC acquires the content, including journal, organization, and conference names, or by means of online submission from the author. Momentum, v13 n2 p28-30 May 1982
More Info:
Help Peer-Reviewed:
An indication of whether the document came from a peer-reviewed journal or U.S. Department of Education publication. Note: Used from 2005 onward.
More Info:
Help N/A
Publisher:
Publisher name and contact information, as provided by the publisher; updated only if notified by the publisher. N/A
Publication Date:
The date the document or article was published. 1982-05-00
Pages:
The total number of pages including all front-matter. N/A
Pub Types:
The type of document (e.g., report) or publication medium. Journal Articles
Abstract:
A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. Authors Joshua Baran and Susan Rothbaum discuss why young people join cults; involvement with spiritual groups as part of the developmental search for identity; the comforting familiarity and security offered by authoritarian spiritual groups; and the ways institutions and counselors can deal with students drawn to or leaving such groups. (AYC)
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 12:10AM by corboy.
Unlike Baran, Susan Rothbaum has a consistent and long term career at a scholar of cult psychology.
But their earlier collaboration --and respective roles and backgrounds, are described, with more precision and IMO, more perceptively, in the Mill Valley Journal.
[www.google.com]
[209.85.173.132]
(quote)
from
New Age Defectors Look for Help Getting Back to Ground
The Mill Valley Record, April 3, 1985
~ author: Molly Colin ~
For many voluntary leavetakers, the fear of transferring trust to another person and the possible exploitation of that trust again, keeps former group members from seeking help, said counselor Susan Rothbaum.
Rothbaum, an East Bay social worker*, and Josh Baran, a former Zen Buddhist monk and a self-styled public relations consultant*, formed Sorting It Out in Berkeley in 1979, with the assumption, said Rothbaum, "that we were interested in spiritual growth."
Rothbaum and Baran say they have seen more than 2,000 clients from more than 250 groups.
"We don't do deprogramming - kidnapping. We do transition deprogramming," Rothbaum emphasized.
Three or four years ago a "rash" of JDC leavetakers sought assistance from the two counselors, Rothbaum said. "The JDC contacted him (Baran) and told him people are saying we're a cult. They asked him to mediate."
When contacted in Los Angeles, where he also has an office, Baran said "The JDC asked me to help resolve some of the problems. I talked to both sides of how they could right the wrongs."
Baran said his efforts did not meet either side's expectations. "Some leave-takers still felt they were not heard. Essentially, they felt they could not communicate with the leader clearly.
"It's a system of a perfect master at the top, incapable of human error," Baran said.
Since that incident, Baran said the church has contacted him "from time to time". Six weeks ago, a church representative called to ask him for his mediation services again because a number of people had left.
[text missing]
Although he has not counseled any former JDC members face to face, Zeitlin said a number have called him recently. "They like to keep their distance. Leave-takers like anonymity. They are careful not to be exploited again if they perceive themselves having been exploited before."
Zeitlin said the group of ex-JDC members is "struggling" to seek a frame of reference. "The things reported to me are classic kinds of cultic situations. From what I've heard Da Free John is demanding more, having everything dedicated to him. He is collecting and hoarding large amounts of money and he is sleeping with his women disciples."
Zeitlin said he had heard of cases of rape within the inner circle. "It's not uncommon for leaders to seduce followers under false pretenses. They pretend they're celibate. They tell the initiates, this is the meaning to the path of spiritual growth. Then they change the meaning of that path".
JDC is a relatively small group, stressed Zeitlin. "He's pretty successful. He has a corps of people behind him. Some cult leaders thrive on the global sense of seeing a movement develop. He's very concerned about the acceptance of his books and ideas.
"He wants to make sure he will be remembered as a great spiritual master."
Marvin Galper is a psychotherapist who has been in the San Diego area since 1966 and who has extensively researched cults. Over the years, he said, he has treated a couple of former JDC members who were rank and file members and their treatment "did not allow me information on inner circle practices."
Galper said he has, however, heard of physical and sexual assaults on female JDC members from inner circle leave-takers.
People come forward, suggested Chris Hatcher, because "they gain some kind of closure from it. Some kind of self-esteem is restored."
Will the efforts of the individuals who are now coming forward have any effect on Franklin Jones on his island in Fiji?
"It will hit them", said Hatcher, "but probably like they're the victims of religious persecution".
© 1985 The Mill Valley Record (unquote)
and a published article
[www.eric.ed.gov]
(quote)
Click on any of the links below to perform a new search
ERIC #:
A unique accession number assigned to each record in the database; also referred to as ERIC Document Number (ED Number) and ERIC Journal Number (EJ Number). EJ264885
Title:
The name assigned to the document by the author. This field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers. Religious 'Cults' -- Bizarre or All-American?
Authors:
Personal author, compiler, or editor name(s); click on any author to run a new search on that name. Maher, Mary
Descriptors:
Terms from the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors; used to tag materials by subject to aid information search and retrieval. Click on a Descriptor to initiate any new search using that term. Adolescent Development; Adolescents; Group Membership; Reference Groups; Religious Cultural Groups; Self Concept
Source:
The entity from which ERIC acquires the content, including journal, organization, and conference names, or by means of online submission from the author. Momentum, v13 n2 p28-30 May 1982
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The date the document or article was published. 1982-05-00
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The type of document (e.g., report) or publication medium. Journal Articles
Abstract:
A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. Authors Joshua Baran and Susan Rothbaum discuss why young people join cults; involvement with spiritual groups as part of the developmental search for identity; the comforting familiarity and security offered by authoritarian spiritual groups; and the ways institutions and counselors can deal with students drawn to or leaving such groups. (AYC)
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 12:10AM by corboy.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
Christa
()
Date: March 26, 2009 12:19AM
A very quick note-- a point of information, really-- on this most epic thread.
*******
"The book has been endorsed by Jack Canfield*, Lama Surya Das, Byron Katie, Rodney Yee, Raphael Cushnir, Krishna Das, Susan Piver, Sharon Salzberg, Helen Palmer, Mark Matousek, and featured in such publications as Time Magazine, O the Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: the Buddhist Review, and Shambhala Sun.
(This may be a mis spelling of Jack Kornfield)"
**************
It might be a misspelling, but I doubt it. Jack Canfield, Lifecoach Extraordinaire, is the hack author of those hackneyed "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books.
Given who he's involved with these days, I wonder about the quality of Baran's counseling work in those days. Do we have evidence that he was as gifted as Margaret Singer or Rick Ross? Was he a prescient guy who was headed in the right direction and then wandered off the straight and narrow, or did he do crappy work on a bunch of people who all went onto other cults? And did he get involved in exit counseling because he genuinely wanted to meet people's needs, or because he saw a market opportunity?
And I must point out that almost everyone on his list of endorsers is MUCH, MUCH wealthier than any exit counselor I've ever heard of.
Great job, everyone! I'm learning so much from all of you. Sorry I can't contribute more. corboy and Anticult, you guys are rackin' em and breakin' em!
*******
"The book has been endorsed by Jack Canfield*, Lama Surya Das, Byron Katie, Rodney Yee, Raphael Cushnir, Krishna Das, Susan Piver, Sharon Salzberg, Helen Palmer, Mark Matousek, and featured in such publications as Time Magazine, O the Oprah Magazine, Tricycle: the Buddhist Review, and Shambhala Sun.
(This may be a mis spelling of Jack Kornfield)"
**************
It might be a misspelling, but I doubt it. Jack Canfield, Lifecoach Extraordinaire, is the hack author of those hackneyed "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books.
Given who he's involved with these days, I wonder about the quality of Baran's counseling work in those days. Do we have evidence that he was as gifted as Margaret Singer or Rick Ross? Was he a prescient guy who was headed in the right direction and then wandered off the straight and narrow, or did he do crappy work on a bunch of people who all went onto other cults? And did he get involved in exit counseling because he genuinely wanted to meet people's needs, or because he saw a market opportunity?
And I must point out that almost everyone on his list of endorsers is MUCH, MUCH wealthier than any exit counselor I've ever heard of.
Great job, everyone! I'm learning so much from all of you. Sorry I can't contribute more. corboy and Anticult, you guys are rackin' em and breakin' em!
Re: Byron Katie, Michael Katz, Lindisfarne, Bateson, Erickson, NLP,
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: March 26, 2009 04:51AM
just FYI, as mentioned, Jack Canfield, is the salesman of the Chicken Soup megafranchise, and he has dozens of businesses and "coaching" companies, which are basically MLM factories. This guy could sell ivory to elephants, old school superduper-salesman, with knowledge of every LGAT sales technique on the face of the earth.
Jack Kornfield, is the founder of the Spirit Rock Center and has been in that business since the 1970's. He has a book called "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" which sounds similar to the Byron Katie "laundry" story in Amsterdam. One would have to look into Kornfield very cautiously, he is no simpleton, who knows what he is doing? Kornfield seems to have quite a fanatical "following" himself.
Michael Katz, he is/was listed as an agent to Jack Kornfield.
Also, Michael Katz is mentioned by Gregory Bateson in the into to MIND and NATURE, as mentioned [www.oikos.org]
Now if you even try to read Mind and Nature, you can see in a few minutes this is not easy reading. By page 4 Bateson is exoloring the foundation of human knowledge itself, Epistemology "how we can know anything", Platonism, Evolution, and many other things!
So Michael Katz, Josh Baran, and these other folks, of course they would know exactly what is going down, and what is being done to people. They would know enough about group dynamics and manipulative processes to see the warning signs, even from the inside.
The inner circle know what is being done to who, and how. They see the hypocrisy, and the play-acting, and the dishonesty.
But they know that to sell books, to sell products, they have to play the game, to dumb it all down for the masses and crowds, to pretend and play-act that they don't know what is being done to people.
It probably a very basic explanation, at core. Its amazing how everyone goes deaf, dumb, and blind when the orgy of vast amounts of cash begins.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 04:56AM by The Anticult.
Jack Kornfield, is the founder of the Spirit Rock Center and has been in that business since the 1970's. He has a book called "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" which sounds similar to the Byron Katie "laundry" story in Amsterdam. One would have to look into Kornfield very cautiously, he is no simpleton, who knows what he is doing? Kornfield seems to have quite a fanatical "following" himself.
Michael Katz, he is/was listed as an agent to Jack Kornfield.
Also, Michael Katz is mentioned by Gregory Bateson in the into to MIND and NATURE, as mentioned [www.oikos.org]
Now if you even try to read Mind and Nature, you can see in a few minutes this is not easy reading. By page 4 Bateson is exoloring the foundation of human knowledge itself, Epistemology "how we can know anything", Platonism, Evolution, and many other things!
So Michael Katz, Josh Baran, and these other folks, of course they would know exactly what is going down, and what is being done to people. They would know enough about group dynamics and manipulative processes to see the warning signs, even from the inside.
The inner circle know what is being done to who, and how. They see the hypocrisy, and the play-acting, and the dishonesty.
But they know that to sell books, to sell products, they have to play the game, to dumb it all down for the masses and crowds, to pretend and play-act that they don't know what is being done to people.
It probably a very basic explanation, at core. Its amazing how everyone goes deaf, dumb, and blind when the orgy of vast amounts of cash begins.
Quote
There appears to be a few people named Michael Katz out there, so be aware of that.
Michael Katz now appears to function as a literary agent on the west coast, and has been pumping for Stephen Mitchell for a very long time.
It appears that Michael Katz is also the AGENT to Jack Kornfield.
But the (Byron Katie) Michael Katz has been involved in all of these techniques and methods, since they were originated, right from the beginning.
Gregory Bateson introduced the NLP guys to Milton Erickson in the early-1970's, as their first book about Ericksonian Hypnosis came out in 1975. [Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, MD Volume 1: Richard Bandler, John Grinder]
In the Acknowledgements in the 1979 book MIND AND NATURE by Gregory Bateson, Bateson mentions Michael Katz. Bateson says he wrote that book at the Lindisfarne Association, and Michael Katz was a "host" there.
[www.oikos.org] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: "And then I have to thank the Lindisfarne Association, whose scholar in residence I was for six months of the writing of this book. Bill Irwin Thompson, Michael Katz, Nina Hagen, and Chris and Diane Bamford were hosts..."
There were also Lindisfarne Conferences? The Lindisfarne Association appears to have been founded around 1972, similar to Esalen, and still exists. [www.lindisfarne-association.org]
There is this book.
Earth's Answer: Explorations Of Planetary Culture At The Lindisfarne Conferences (Paperback)
by Michael Katz (Editor) Publisher: Lindisfarne Books/harper and Row; 1st edition (1977)
Suzuki Roshi / Shunryu Suzuki / Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
"In 1976 Michael Katz who had been in charge of AV at the Lindesfarne Institute on Long Island came to San Francisco to archive the Suzuki lecture tapes".
[www.cuke.com]
"At that time I got a call from my agent and mentor of sorts, Michael Katz, and he said that over dinner, an old friend and Zennie, Karin Gjording ...and Karin said something that Michael wanted to convey to me. She said I should go get permission from Okusan (Mrs. Suzuki) to do the book, that she was by far the ultimate key person to talk to."
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 04:56AM by The Anticult.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Josh Baran
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: March 26, 2009 06:20AM
Josh Baran went from doing supposed work helping people getting out of cults, into becoming an "Enlightenment Salesmen" himself.
BOOK: 365 Nirvana Here and Now: Living Every Moment in Enlightenment, by Josh Baran
BOOK: The Tao of Now by Josh Baran
Part of the problem, are many apologists in this area, only focus on the most extreme examples. They wait until AFTER there is a Jonestown, before they say anything. Before Jonestown, they are saying how wonderful Jim Jones is as he gives donations, and everyone "VOLUNTARILY" belongs to the People's Temple. You know damn well, that if Jim Jones had not induced that mass suicide/homicide, and instead just made Jonestown into a 18hr a day workcamp, that TO THIS DAY, the apologists would be saying..."everyone is in Jonestown VOLUNTARILY, they can leave anytime they want".
Watch the Jonestown tapes, the day before the mass death, they were saying its all VOLUNTARY.
Jim Jones had engineered a system where people were too locked-in to even talk to anyone around them. Sound familiar?
That is their excuse, to obfuscate, and say "its all voluntary".
People can be induced to do almost anything, including suicide and believe its "voluntary", as its been induced by powerful techniques.
Saying "its all voluntary" is the Byron Katie's group #1 mantra. They should be saying..."its all about peer pressure", or "its all unconscious persuasion", or "its all about group dynamics".
The more serious problem, is they then use Jonestown, and then Adi Da levels of criminal abuses, as the example of a so-called cult. Well guess what? THAT IS TOO FUCKING LATE.
You don't wait until AFTER people are getting raped, like with the Adi Da group.
You see the signs BEFORE people's lives are wrecked, and you speak up, and point it out.
And its not just about group suicide, and rape. They set the bar of "cult" at the level of criminal abuse, and crimes against humanity.
What about financial exploitation?
What about working for free for a for-profit company when the Guru is making millions?
What about massive cash donations that are not accounted for?
What about being put into a powerless Checkmate position with your bogus "certification"?
What about dozens and hundreds of fabrications and lies?
What about marketing a cult of personality around a Guru with SPARKLING EYES?
What about ridiculous stories, and uncheckable backgrounds?
What about group Love-Bombing?
Sleep-deprivation? Identity stripping? group hynotherapy? induced psychosis?
Guru-Transference? Instant-conversion techniques?
What about the other 100 techniques that could be listed right here?
You don't wait until its TOO FUCKING LATE and 10-20 years of people's lives have gone down the drain, working for free, to make the Guru millions of dollars.
And you don't set the "cult" bar at Jonestown, or Adi Da, that is way too extreme.
Human exploitation begins much earlier.
And "is it true" the story about the drinking the poisoned "death cocktail" at a party? Was it said to a group of people?
Because if that was said as reported, and these people knew it, knowing what they know, and they did not report that to the media...
truly sick.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 06:32AM by The Anticult.
BOOK: 365 Nirvana Here and Now: Living Every Moment in Enlightenment, by Josh Baran
BOOK: The Tao of Now by Josh Baran
Part of the problem, are many apologists in this area, only focus on the most extreme examples. They wait until AFTER there is a Jonestown, before they say anything. Before Jonestown, they are saying how wonderful Jim Jones is as he gives donations, and everyone "VOLUNTARILY" belongs to the People's Temple. You know damn well, that if Jim Jones had not induced that mass suicide/homicide, and instead just made Jonestown into a 18hr a day workcamp, that TO THIS DAY, the apologists would be saying..."everyone is in Jonestown VOLUNTARILY, they can leave anytime they want".
Watch the Jonestown tapes, the day before the mass death, they were saying its all VOLUNTARY.
Jim Jones had engineered a system where people were too locked-in to even talk to anyone around them. Sound familiar?
That is their excuse, to obfuscate, and say "its all voluntary".
People can be induced to do almost anything, including suicide and believe its "voluntary", as its been induced by powerful techniques.
Saying "its all voluntary" is the Byron Katie's group #1 mantra. They should be saying..."its all about peer pressure", or "its all unconscious persuasion", or "its all about group dynamics".
The more serious problem, is they then use Jonestown, and then Adi Da levels of criminal abuses, as the example of a so-called cult. Well guess what? THAT IS TOO FUCKING LATE.
You don't wait until AFTER people are getting raped, like with the Adi Da group.
You see the signs BEFORE people's lives are wrecked, and you speak up, and point it out.
And its not just about group suicide, and rape. They set the bar of "cult" at the level of criminal abuse, and crimes against humanity.
What about financial exploitation?
What about working for free for a for-profit company when the Guru is making millions?
What about massive cash donations that are not accounted for?
What about being put into a powerless Checkmate position with your bogus "certification"?
What about dozens and hundreds of fabrications and lies?
What about marketing a cult of personality around a Guru with SPARKLING EYES?
What about ridiculous stories, and uncheckable backgrounds?
What about group Love-Bombing?
Sleep-deprivation? Identity stripping? group hynotherapy? induced psychosis?
Guru-Transference? Instant-conversion techniques?
What about the other 100 techniques that could be listed right here?
You don't wait until its TOO FUCKING LATE and 10-20 years of people's lives have gone down the drain, working for free, to make the Guru millions of dollars.
And you don't set the "cult" bar at Jonestown, or Adi Da, that is way too extreme.
Human exploitation begins much earlier.
And "is it true" the story about the drinking the poisoned "death cocktail" at a party? Was it said to a group of people?
Because if that was said as reported, and these people knew it, knowing what they know, and they did not report that to the media...
truly sick.
Quote
corboy
Again, note that in 1985, Josh Baran was a resource person, quoteable by no less a person than a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Josh Baran could have become a colleague of Margarent Singer. He could have become another Rick Ross.
THis was desperately needed work. And Baran, as noted above, was sought out by people as early as 1977, prior to Jonestown. .
[www.culteducation.com]
"Josh Baran, the founder of Berkeley counseling center that helps those leaving religious cults, said he has dealt with around 50 "profoundly disillusioned" former devotees of Da Free John.
"Their principal focus is devotion to him as God incarnate," said Baran. "It creates followers who are like dependent children."
Baran said some of Da Free John's early books were incisive critiques of other East-meets-West religious movements. Over the years, however, "it became more and more based on him."
"They have the right to their beliefs, but when any man proclaims his Godhood, the possible excesses of abuses of power are enormous -- especially when they isolate themselves on an island in the middle of the ocean. ...We saw that in Jonestown," Baran said. "
from
Guru hit by sex-slave suit Stories of drugs, orgies on Free John's Fiji isle
San Francisco Examiner/April 3, 1985
By Don Lattin
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2009 06:32AM by The Anticult.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
Jay Cruise
()
Date: March 26, 2009 07:47AM
Great! Now you have the exited exit-counsellor and the "book-packing" mind expert, you can tie in the religious scholar, Stephen Mitchell. We'll call them the three Zen masters.
In 1973 Mitchell (Yale graduate) became a student of Seung Sahn who was living in a run down slum at the time. That year Sahn went on to open the largest zen school in the west, Kwan Um School of Zen. In 1976 he compiled and edited "Dropping Ashes on the Buddha - The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn" as well as other books. Read in the following context:
Having studied at the Sorbonne and immersed himself in Zen during the early `70s, he was groomed to be the successor to his master, the Korean sage Seung Sahn. His master taught Mitchell about universal truth by explaining that "in a cookie factory, different cookies are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people, and airplanes. They all have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same dough... In the same way, all things in the universe — the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth — have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance... Energy, mind, God, and matter are all name and form."
[www.myprimetime.com]
In 1988 the walls broke and Sahn was busted with his bread in the butter so to speak.
You can find out more in your own words here:
Zen and the Art of Organization? (Seung Sahn) Kwan Um School of Zen
[forum.culteducation.com]
Stephen Mitchell now only refers to his seven years of training under an ambiguous "zen master".
"The Whole World is a Single Flower: 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life with Questions and Commentary by Seung Sahn and Stephen Mitchell (Paperback - 1992)"
Four years later (1992) he published another book with his master. How good are you at mathematics? I'd say that is 19 years. I'd suggest he is still connected with the biggest school of Zen in the west. Sahn died in 2004.
He is the translator of the chinese Tao Te Ching a popular, famous even, Zen manuscript. He has also translated hindu and biblical text.
It is significant that this is Byron Katie's husband/handler.
In 1973 Mitchell (Yale graduate) became a student of Seung Sahn who was living in a run down slum at the time. That year Sahn went on to open the largest zen school in the west, Kwan Um School of Zen. In 1976 he compiled and edited "Dropping Ashes on the Buddha - The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahn" as well as other books. Read in the following context:
Having studied at the Sorbonne and immersed himself in Zen during the early `70s, he was groomed to be the successor to his master, the Korean sage Seung Sahn. His master taught Mitchell about universal truth by explaining that "in a cookie factory, different cookies are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people, and airplanes. They all have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same dough... In the same way, all things in the universe — the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth — have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance... Energy, mind, God, and matter are all name and form."
[www.myprimetime.com]
In 1988 the walls broke and Sahn was busted with his bread in the butter so to speak.
You can find out more in your own words here:
Zen and the Art of Organization? (Seung Sahn) Kwan Um School of Zen
[forum.culteducation.com]
Stephen Mitchell now only refers to his seven years of training under an ambiguous "zen master".
"The Whole World is a Single Flower: 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life with Questions and Commentary by Seung Sahn and Stephen Mitchell (Paperback - 1992)"
Four years later (1992) he published another book with his master. How good are you at mathematics? I'd say that is 19 years. I'd suggest he is still connected with the biggest school of Zen in the west. Sahn died in 2004.
He is the translator of the chinese Tao Te Ching a popular, famous even, Zen manuscript. He has also translated hindu and biblical text.
It is significant that this is Byron Katie's husband/handler.
Re: Byron Katie (the Work) and Eckhart Tolle Legit??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: March 26, 2009 09:00AM
In the 1988 first edition of Mitchell's Tao Te Ching, he refers to Michael Katz as ' prince among agents'.
And in the notes at the back of the book, he does refer to Sueng Sahn.
In one of the notes, Mitchell quotes FDR's famous 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself'...
and then Mitchell makes the remark 'and not even that.'
So...even back in 1988, Mitchell was invalidating the function of fear...which BTW is hard wired right into the adrenergic fight or flight response.
Anyone wanting to research this should take care to obtain the 1988 first edition of the Mitchell text of the Tao Te Ching. I have not had time to do so, but it would be an interesting exercise to see if later editions of the Mitchell text of the Tao Te Ching refer to his earlier wife and still include all the references to Sueng Sahn.
And in the notes at the back of the book, he does refer to Sueng Sahn.
In one of the notes, Mitchell quotes FDR's famous 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself'...
and then Mitchell makes the remark 'and not even that.'
So...even back in 1988, Mitchell was invalidating the function of fear...which BTW is hard wired right into the adrenergic fight or flight response.
Anyone wanting to research this should take care to obtain the 1988 first edition of the Mitchell text of the Tao Te Ching. I have not had time to do so, but it would be an interesting exercise to see if later editions of the Mitchell text of the Tao Te Ching refer to his earlier wife and still include all the references to Sueng Sahn.
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