A Golden Oldie -- written by Martin Gifford
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: June 12, 2014 11:09PM
(quoted from below)
"It took me years to realise that somehow Andrew gets people to link their highest ideals to him, so that going against him means going against yourself. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s very sneaky. "
and
"Others were trapped the same way or by having big spiritual experiences and interpreting them as signs of Andrew’s wonderfulness. "
Martin Gifford
Corboy: I had asked how people first met Andrew Cohen or one of his recruiters. Martin Gifford replied with this very informative story.
Re-reading this account, Corboy offers some hunches.
*A community that is so attractive that to belong, one continually suppresses doubts and misgivings about the leader. Do this too long and suppressing misgiving becomes a habitual response.
Pressure to spend money beyond one's limits
Only praise of the leader is permissible.
* Chronic excitement. Might act as an antidepressant. Perhaps fostering chronic excitement is also a way to estrange us from those all important gut reactions.
It has been said that God speaks in a still small voice. So does our gut. In an atmosphere of chronic excitement, hearing that little but very important voice is difficult.
"I had started to notice that after every session, the senior students sitting at the table would invariably say, “Wasn’t Andrew great!” or “Wasn’t that a fantastic session!” or “Andrew’s amazing!” This was even after the most boring session or after Andrew had said or done something really dubious. And the others were doing likewise. So now I started feeling like an outsider. I wondered if I was missing something, since I was the only unhappy one there. I wanted to think and argue and get to the truth on various topics, not just praise Andrew. But I was already a bit too far committed to the process to pull out. "
Insta-rapport
* "In 1995, I met a guy at Bondi Beach who said he knew me in India, but I didn’t recognise him. "
Corboy: Martin had been in India and may have mentioned it. The Andrew Cohen
recruiter might never have met Martin in India, but might have pretended
to do so -- just to establish a rapport. I once was greeted by someone who
effusively said, "I know you!" I didnt recognize the person, began talking
with him -- then he ID'd as a Greenpeace clipboarder. I ran away.
*A warning dream. Those are well worth paying attention to.
* Underlings carrying messages from the guru and them back to the guru. Ugh.
"...people from his entourage would transmit messages from Andrew to us and transmit info about us back to Andrew."
* Inventing fake 'traditions' "“In Tibet, they have a tradition - if a new guru defeats your guru in debate, the new guru wins all the old guru’s disciples.” "
Intermittant reinforcement -- punishment sometimes, praise other times.
"Andrew really liked your question.” Or she would explain why Andrew was irritated with a question. Andrew also seduced by praising people, but then he criticised them when they got out of line. "
(This is an example of entourage members transmitting messages from the leader, btw)
Withholding information that there exists a pecking order/hierarchy. If you later get more involved and become a high ranker, you will be made to live in fear of being demoted if you annoy the leader.
"one of the community members returned from America and told us that there are 3 or 4 levels of students - something like, casual, formal, committed, and senior. "
another example of the hierarchy in action -- committed students acting like
mini dictators.
"I saw people strangely lying and exaggerating, as if they were really keen to impress these senior students. For example, one guy said he was committed to the teachings when I heard him mocking the teachings earlier and I reckoned he really wanted to go for a holiday. Like me, he wasn’t committed to “the teachings”, he just wanted to be part of the community. Anyway, I flatly said to the senior students something like “I’ve been interested in spirituality and changing the world all my life. That’s it.” They seemed to think they were doing us a big favour by letting us serve Andrew or something. Bizarre."
Keeping people waiting. That is an insult -- and a way to establish dominence.
Other gurus pull this stunt too, though they giggle about it.
(Years ago I went to an Andrew lecture. His handlers told us Andrew was 'running late'. He arrived on stage half an hour after the scheduled start time. But...he'd been standing off to one side 15 minutes before the start time, scanning the auditorium to see who was there. He was not running late at all. He delayed his appearance to suit himself.)
"Afterwards, Andrew kept us waiting for over an hour standing in the field. When he finally arrived with his entourage, he said he would let us start a FACE centre. Then he said he was surprised to see me there."
Wealthy persons given special consideration
"..rich people in the community were given special treatment by everyone."
Martin:
I think this is a great exercise for all of us to analyse our spiritual changes of direction throughout our lives. So here’s my Andrew Cohen story, for what it's worth:
In 1995, I met a guy at Bondi Beach who said he knew me in India, but I didn’t recognise him. Anyway we started to hang out a bit, then he invited me to see Andrew Cohen. He said, “I think you’ll like him.” So I went along even though I said I’m sick of guru types and needed to get on with the practical side of my life. (I actually had no money and needed to establish a career.)
At the lecture, I had mixed feelings about Cohen. On one hand, I literally thought he was mentally ill. He had a weird cackling laugh that burst out at inappropriate moments, his sentences trailed off unfinished, he gazed into space, and he stammered with excitement as a new point came to mind. “Cracked” is the word that came to mind. On the other hand, I was excited that he was talking about changing the world and shaking up the dull spiritual scene. That matched my interests perfectly. Indeed, I was so excited that someone was boldly pushing for this and that it was gaining support that I ended up sending audios of Andrew to friends. (They became involved too, unfortunately.) Then I started going to meetings, and I liked the people and I was inspired by the fact that we seemed to all be on the same page regarding improving the world and the spiritual scene.
Six months later, Andrew came back to Australia to hold a retreat. When I asked him questions, I was dissatisfied with his answers. But instead of admitting he didn’t know the answer, he just got annoyed with me. I also told him a dream: Muslims are all agreeing to kill me, and I blurt out “I’ll die when God wants me to die.” Andrew said, “Don’t worry. It was just a dream.” It seems to me now that it was a clear warning dream that Andrew was pushing for something unnatural and untimely - I don’t remember if he was talking about ego death at the time, but I suspect the dream was picking up on that vibe.
Then I started noticing a pattern where people from his entourage would transmit messages from Andrew to us and transmit info about us back to Andrew. Also, one of his main people, Debbie, said to me, “In Tibet, they have a tradition - if a new guru defeats your guru in debate, the new guru wins all the old guru’s disciples.” That seemed odd to me, but I didn’t think too much about it. I was too focused on maintaining connection with the community. Actually, Debbie seemed to be playing the role of seducer and emissary. She would say things like, “Andrew really liked your question.” Or she would explain why Andrew was irritated with a question. Andrew also seduced by praising people, but then he criticised them when they got out of line.
Soon it was time for what would turn out to be the last Bodhgaya retreat. I didn’t want to go because I had been to India only two years earlier and I had a $5,000 debt, but I kept feeling Andrew’s indirect pressure , “It’s your ability to respond that counts.” Somehow, my ideals got mixed up with Andrew’s demands - that’s a key point. Anyway, I really wanted to stay connected to the community and stay involved in spreading the idea of a better world, so I borrowed money to go. Just before we left, one of the community members returned from America and told us that there are 3 or 4 levels of students - something like, casual, formal, committed, and senior. This seemed ludicrous to me. By this point, I wasn’t so impressed with Andrew, so the idea of a hierarchy below him amazed me. What could these “students” be learning? I actually laughed with derision at this idea of a hierarchy, and started openly making jokes about it until the person who told us about it groaned, “I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
During the retreat in India, my joints ached from sitting on the ground and I had a bad cold or flu. Nevertheless, I did the surrender technique he recommended as best I could and I showed up for every session. I told him that I was doing everything he asked but nothing special was happening (others were gasping about experiencing spiritual fireworks). He was irritated and said, “Is that it?”, then he just moved on to the next question. The international model who was part of the organisation at the time gave me some tissues. I thought she was being considerate, but now I wonder if it was an indirect insult from Andrew - I’ve heard that’s how he operates when confronted with weakness.
By this time, I had started to notice that after every session, the senior students sitting at the table would invariably say, “Wasn’t Andrew great!” or “Wasn’t that a fantastic session!” or “Andrew’s amazing!” This was even after the most boring session or after Andrew had said or done something really dubious. And the others were doing likewise. So now I started feeling like an outsider. I wondered if I was missing something, since I was the only unhappy one there. I wanted to think and argue and get to the truth on various topics, not just praise Andrew. But I was already a bit too far committed to the process to pull out.
Anyway, our group had decided that we wanted to start a FACE centre in Sydney. So we met with the senior students who sat us all in a circle and asked about why we wanted to start a centre. I saw people strangely lying and exaggerating, as if they were really keen to impress these senior students. For example, one guy said he was committed to the teachings when I heard him mocking the teachings earlier and I reckoned he really wanted to go for a holiday. Like me, he wasn’t committed to “the teachings”, he just wanted to be part of the community. Anyway, I flatly said to the senior students something like “I’ve been interested in spirituality and changing the world all my life. That’s it.” They seemed to think they were doing us a big favour by letting us serve Andrew or something. Bizarre.
Afterwards, Andrew kept us waiting for over an hour standing in the field. When he finally arrived with his entourage, he said he would let us start a FACE centre. Then he said he was surprised to see me there. Naturally, I was offended. I had gone to every meeting in Sydney, went to the retreat in Sydney, shared his audio tapes and books with other people, gone into more debt, sat through his dubious meetings while sick, and basically did the best I could, but he wasn’t satisfied. I guess he could see that I would be the one to rock the boat.
Then he said some really weird things. He said, “I don’t love any of you.” How bizarre is that? Then he said, “I’ve proven myself to you all so now you’ve got to prove yourselves to me.” Well, words failed me. When had he proven himself to me? And what did proving ourselves to him mean? More significantly, why did he think he was so important? In fact, the whole scenario seemed to be based on the premise that Andrew Cohen was a VIP, and that it was some kind of honour to be in his glorious presence. As far as I could tell, we were interested in pursuing spiritual community and improving the world, but he seemed to think we were interested in him. Then he criticised someone else who wasn’t at the meeting. When I told that person, he went to confront Andrew and Andrew denied it. Liar!
I contemplated the situation over the next week and kept a diary. It seemed to me like things weren’t leading to freedom, truth, improving the world, or experimenting with spiritual communities. Rather it was leading into a spider-web of illusion and control. It felt like it was becoming more and more about Andrew. Also, it seemed that it would only get worse over time. But I wasn’t sufficiently sure of myself at the time. After all, I was the only one not conforming. And I had just been insulted, so was I just reacting to that? And this is about improving the world, isn’t it? How could I have any doubts? But then I saw him strutting around with his rapt entourage like he owned the world. It really felt like he was in his own bubble of narcissism. And it seemed like his senior students were propping up his illusions because they wanted to believe those illusions too.
So I wrote a smoke-and-mirrors letter to excuse myself from the group, and I faxed it to the main Sydney guy. Strangely, I felt I had entered a ghostlike limbo, like I had just denied the only thing that really mattered. It took me years to realise that somehow Andrew gets people to link their highest ideals to him, so that going against him means going against yourself. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s very sneaky. (Indeed, after the big exposes, Andrew and his supporters said that those who left him went against their own souls.)
Then, about five years ago, I did some web searches and saw all this stuff about Andrew advocating the guru-disciple relationship, slapping students, and saying no one should ever leave him, and it all clicked. Back in 1996, it was all indeed heading towards illusion and control - an outright cult! And Andrew had become even more of a Special Person according to the “disciples”. They seemed to be making him out to be a Buddha or a Jesus...
So that’s my story. I take responsibility to the degree that I was susceptible (although only for one year). Yes, I noticed that rich people in the community were given special treatment by everyone. We all knew that money would help the cause. That’s obvious. Money oils everything in this world. However, I wasn’t rich. I was just trapped by my own idealism and by my attachment to the group. Others were trapped the same way or by having big spiritual experiences and interpreting them as signs of Andrew’s wonderfulness.
Now I’ve written a profound book titled “Worldwide Happiness”, so I’m glad I got out when I did. If I hadn’t, I’d probably be some mindless Andrew Cohen acolyte somewhere, spouting Cohenism like the other brainwashed zombies. And boy oh boy I would have gotten hundreds of face-slaps! (Actually, I wouldn’t have accepted one.) It’s really embarrassing to think I almost fell into a cult. I’m a pretty smart guy and I never follow crowds. Maybe it was like my last temptation. In fact, idealism is often the last temptation before naked reality.
"It took me years to realise that somehow Andrew gets people to link their highest ideals to him, so that going against him means going against yourself. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s very sneaky. "
and
"Others were trapped the same way or by having big spiritual experiences and interpreting them as signs of Andrew’s wonderfulness. "
Martin Gifford
Corboy: I had asked how people first met Andrew Cohen or one of his recruiters. Martin Gifford replied with this very informative story.
Re-reading this account, Corboy offers some hunches.
*A community that is so attractive that to belong, one continually suppresses doubts and misgivings about the leader. Do this too long and suppressing misgiving becomes a habitual response.
Pressure to spend money beyond one's limits
Only praise of the leader is permissible.
* Chronic excitement. Might act as an antidepressant. Perhaps fostering chronic excitement is also a way to estrange us from those all important gut reactions.
It has been said that God speaks in a still small voice. So does our gut. In an atmosphere of chronic excitement, hearing that little but very important voice is difficult.
"I had started to notice that after every session, the senior students sitting at the table would invariably say, “Wasn’t Andrew great!” or “Wasn’t that a fantastic session!” or “Andrew’s amazing!” This was even after the most boring session or after Andrew had said or done something really dubious. And the others were doing likewise. So now I started feeling like an outsider. I wondered if I was missing something, since I was the only unhappy one there. I wanted to think and argue and get to the truth on various topics, not just praise Andrew. But I was already a bit too far committed to the process to pull out. "
Insta-rapport
* "In 1995, I met a guy at Bondi Beach who said he knew me in India, but I didn’t recognise him. "
Corboy: Martin had been in India and may have mentioned it. The Andrew Cohen
recruiter might never have met Martin in India, but might have pretended
to do so -- just to establish a rapport. I once was greeted by someone who
effusively said, "I know you!" I didnt recognize the person, began talking
with him -- then he ID'd as a Greenpeace clipboarder. I ran away.
*A warning dream. Those are well worth paying attention to.
* Underlings carrying messages from the guru and them back to the guru. Ugh.
"...people from his entourage would transmit messages from Andrew to us and transmit info about us back to Andrew."
* Inventing fake 'traditions' "“In Tibet, they have a tradition - if a new guru defeats your guru in debate, the new guru wins all the old guru’s disciples.” "
Intermittant reinforcement -- punishment sometimes, praise other times.
"Andrew really liked your question.” Or she would explain why Andrew was irritated with a question. Andrew also seduced by praising people, but then he criticised them when they got out of line. "
(This is an example of entourage members transmitting messages from the leader, btw)
Withholding information that there exists a pecking order/hierarchy. If you later get more involved and become a high ranker, you will be made to live in fear of being demoted if you annoy the leader.
"one of the community members returned from America and told us that there are 3 or 4 levels of students - something like, casual, formal, committed, and senior. "
another example of the hierarchy in action -- committed students acting like
mini dictators.
"I saw people strangely lying and exaggerating, as if they were really keen to impress these senior students. For example, one guy said he was committed to the teachings when I heard him mocking the teachings earlier and I reckoned he really wanted to go for a holiday. Like me, he wasn’t committed to “the teachings”, he just wanted to be part of the community. Anyway, I flatly said to the senior students something like “I’ve been interested in spirituality and changing the world all my life. That’s it.” They seemed to think they were doing us a big favour by letting us serve Andrew or something. Bizarre."
Keeping people waiting. That is an insult -- and a way to establish dominence.
Other gurus pull this stunt too, though they giggle about it.
(Years ago I went to an Andrew lecture. His handlers told us Andrew was 'running late'. He arrived on stage half an hour after the scheduled start time. But...he'd been standing off to one side 15 minutes before the start time, scanning the auditorium to see who was there. He was not running late at all. He delayed his appearance to suit himself.)
"Afterwards, Andrew kept us waiting for over an hour standing in the field. When he finally arrived with his entourage, he said he would let us start a FACE centre. Then he said he was surprised to see me there."
Wealthy persons given special consideration
"..rich people in the community were given special treatment by everyone."
Martin:
I think this is a great exercise for all of us to analyse our spiritual changes of direction throughout our lives. So here’s my Andrew Cohen story, for what it's worth:
In 1995, I met a guy at Bondi Beach who said he knew me in India, but I didn’t recognise him. Anyway we started to hang out a bit, then he invited me to see Andrew Cohen. He said, “I think you’ll like him.” So I went along even though I said I’m sick of guru types and needed to get on with the practical side of my life. (I actually had no money and needed to establish a career.)
At the lecture, I had mixed feelings about Cohen. On one hand, I literally thought he was mentally ill. He had a weird cackling laugh that burst out at inappropriate moments, his sentences trailed off unfinished, he gazed into space, and he stammered with excitement as a new point came to mind. “Cracked” is the word that came to mind. On the other hand, I was excited that he was talking about changing the world and shaking up the dull spiritual scene. That matched my interests perfectly. Indeed, I was so excited that someone was boldly pushing for this and that it was gaining support that I ended up sending audios of Andrew to friends. (They became involved too, unfortunately.) Then I started going to meetings, and I liked the people and I was inspired by the fact that we seemed to all be on the same page regarding improving the world and the spiritual scene.
Six months later, Andrew came back to Australia to hold a retreat. When I asked him questions, I was dissatisfied with his answers. But instead of admitting he didn’t know the answer, he just got annoyed with me. I also told him a dream: Muslims are all agreeing to kill me, and I blurt out “I’ll die when God wants me to die.” Andrew said, “Don’t worry. It was just a dream.” It seems to me now that it was a clear warning dream that Andrew was pushing for something unnatural and untimely - I don’t remember if he was talking about ego death at the time, but I suspect the dream was picking up on that vibe.
Then I started noticing a pattern where people from his entourage would transmit messages from Andrew to us and transmit info about us back to Andrew. Also, one of his main people, Debbie, said to me, “In Tibet, they have a tradition - if a new guru defeats your guru in debate, the new guru wins all the old guru’s disciples.” That seemed odd to me, but I didn’t think too much about it. I was too focused on maintaining connection with the community. Actually, Debbie seemed to be playing the role of seducer and emissary. She would say things like, “Andrew really liked your question.” Or she would explain why Andrew was irritated with a question. Andrew also seduced by praising people, but then he criticised them when they got out of line.
Soon it was time for what would turn out to be the last Bodhgaya retreat. I didn’t want to go because I had been to India only two years earlier and I had a $5,000 debt, but I kept feeling Andrew’s indirect pressure , “It’s your ability to respond that counts.” Somehow, my ideals got mixed up with Andrew’s demands - that’s a key point. Anyway, I really wanted to stay connected to the community and stay involved in spreading the idea of a better world, so I borrowed money to go. Just before we left, one of the community members returned from America and told us that there are 3 or 4 levels of students - something like, casual, formal, committed, and senior. This seemed ludicrous to me. By this point, I wasn’t so impressed with Andrew, so the idea of a hierarchy below him amazed me. What could these “students” be learning? I actually laughed with derision at this idea of a hierarchy, and started openly making jokes about it until the person who told us about it groaned, “I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
During the retreat in India, my joints ached from sitting on the ground and I had a bad cold or flu. Nevertheless, I did the surrender technique he recommended as best I could and I showed up for every session. I told him that I was doing everything he asked but nothing special was happening (others were gasping about experiencing spiritual fireworks). He was irritated and said, “Is that it?”, then he just moved on to the next question. The international model who was part of the organisation at the time gave me some tissues. I thought she was being considerate, but now I wonder if it was an indirect insult from Andrew - I’ve heard that’s how he operates when confronted with weakness.
By this time, I had started to notice that after every session, the senior students sitting at the table would invariably say, “Wasn’t Andrew great!” or “Wasn’t that a fantastic session!” or “Andrew’s amazing!” This was even after the most boring session or after Andrew had said or done something really dubious. And the others were doing likewise. So now I started feeling like an outsider. I wondered if I was missing something, since I was the only unhappy one there. I wanted to think and argue and get to the truth on various topics, not just praise Andrew. But I was already a bit too far committed to the process to pull out.
Anyway, our group had decided that we wanted to start a FACE centre in Sydney. So we met with the senior students who sat us all in a circle and asked about why we wanted to start a centre. I saw people strangely lying and exaggerating, as if they were really keen to impress these senior students. For example, one guy said he was committed to the teachings when I heard him mocking the teachings earlier and I reckoned he really wanted to go for a holiday. Like me, he wasn’t committed to “the teachings”, he just wanted to be part of the community. Anyway, I flatly said to the senior students something like “I’ve been interested in spirituality and changing the world all my life. That’s it.” They seemed to think they were doing us a big favour by letting us serve Andrew or something. Bizarre.
Afterwards, Andrew kept us waiting for over an hour standing in the field. When he finally arrived with his entourage, he said he would let us start a FACE centre. Then he said he was surprised to see me there. Naturally, I was offended. I had gone to every meeting in Sydney, went to the retreat in Sydney, shared his audio tapes and books with other people, gone into more debt, sat through his dubious meetings while sick, and basically did the best I could, but he wasn’t satisfied. I guess he could see that I would be the one to rock the boat.
Then he said some really weird things. He said, “I don’t love any of you.” How bizarre is that? Then he said, “I’ve proven myself to you all so now you’ve got to prove yourselves to me.” Well, words failed me. When had he proven himself to me? And what did proving ourselves to him mean? More significantly, why did he think he was so important? In fact, the whole scenario seemed to be based on the premise that Andrew Cohen was a VIP, and that it was some kind of honour to be in his glorious presence. As far as I could tell, we were interested in pursuing spiritual community and improving the world, but he seemed to think we were interested in him. Then he criticised someone else who wasn’t at the meeting. When I told that person, he went to confront Andrew and Andrew denied it. Liar!
I contemplated the situation over the next week and kept a diary. It seemed to me like things weren’t leading to freedom, truth, improving the world, or experimenting with spiritual communities. Rather it was leading into a spider-web of illusion and control. It felt like it was becoming more and more about Andrew. Also, it seemed that it would only get worse over time. But I wasn’t sufficiently sure of myself at the time. After all, I was the only one not conforming. And I had just been insulted, so was I just reacting to that? And this is about improving the world, isn’t it? How could I have any doubts? But then I saw him strutting around with his rapt entourage like he owned the world. It really felt like he was in his own bubble of narcissism. And it seemed like his senior students were propping up his illusions because they wanted to believe those illusions too.
So I wrote a smoke-and-mirrors letter to excuse myself from the group, and I faxed it to the main Sydney guy. Strangely, I felt I had entered a ghostlike limbo, like I had just denied the only thing that really mattered. It took me years to realise that somehow Andrew gets people to link their highest ideals to him, so that going against him means going against yourself. I don’t know how he does it, but it’s very sneaky. (Indeed, after the big exposes, Andrew and his supporters said that those who left him went against their own souls.)
Then, about five years ago, I did some web searches and saw all this stuff about Andrew advocating the guru-disciple relationship, slapping students, and saying no one should ever leave him, and it all clicked. Back in 1996, it was all indeed heading towards illusion and control - an outright cult! And Andrew had become even more of a Special Person according to the “disciples”. They seemed to be making him out to be a Buddha or a Jesus...
So that’s my story. I take responsibility to the degree that I was susceptible (although only for one year). Yes, I noticed that rich people in the community were given special treatment by everyone. We all knew that money would help the cause. That’s obvious. Money oils everything in this world. However, I wasn’t rich. I was just trapped by my own idealism and by my attachment to the group. Others were trapped the same way or by having big spiritual experiences and interpreting them as signs of Andrew’s wonderfulness.
Now I’ve written a profound book titled “Worldwide Happiness”, so I’m glad I got out when I did. If I hadn’t, I’d probably be some mindless Andrew Cohen acolyte somewhere, spouting Cohenism like the other brainwashed zombies. And boy oh boy I would have gotten hundreds of face-slaps! (Actually, I wouldn’t have accepted one.) It’s really embarrassing to think I almost fell into a cult. I’m a pretty smart guy and I never follow crowds. Maybe it was like my last temptation. In fact, idealism is often the last temptation before naked reality.
Heere commmes anooother onnnee!!!!!! -- Monty Python
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: June 14, 2014 05:17AM
Monty Python Meets Ken Wilber
Heere commmes anooother onnnee!!!!!!
Endorsement, that is.
(quote)
[integral-options.blogspot.com]
What's Up with Ken Wilber?
Over at Headthegong
[headthegong.com],
Bob posted an interesting observation on a recent blog post from Ken Wilber (or at least attributed to him on his blog). Wilber posted A Narrative on Guruji, a rather rambling, and disturbing endorsement of another guru, in this case a man who claims to be able to alter the molecular structure of matter.
Here is a brief piece of Wilber's post:
What I am claiming—and supporting—is that Guruji's capacity to conduct and transmit universal spiritual energy (or "shakti") is utterly remarkable, as proven by scientific experiments themselves. It is these direct, specific, scientific experiments and their results that I am reporting, and on which I am basing my endorsement. This is a scientific conclusion, not a spiritual one (although, of course, you are free to make those as well—but I am reporting the direct science, which is indeed astonishing).
To put it briefly, Mr. Trivedi has an empirically demonstrated capacity to alter the atomic and molecular structure of phenomena simply through his conscious intentionality. The number of experiments done on this capacity (known in Sanskrit as shaktipat) that have been done in coordination with Mr. Trivedi is quite extraordinary—so far, over 5,000 empirical studies by universities and scientific research organizations all over the world (including the world renowned materials scientist Dr. Rustum Roy at the University of Pennsylvania).
So I took the bait and did some deep searching of the internets to find these studies. But I couldn't find any of the 5,000 scientific studies - aside from Trivedi's own site, there is almost nothing on the web (nothing from a known, peer-reviewed journal), and Dr. Rustum Roy is not exactly a reliable source - he is a very vocal proponent of homeopathy.
So what's up with all of this?
Bob posted an interesting take on Wilber's history of wanting to identify and attach himself to individuals who appear to support his "integral" model of spiritual development.
Has Ken Wilber jumped the shark?
want to make clear right from the start that Ken Wilber has authored several of my all-time favorite nonfiction books. I dig a lot of his work and use his “four quadrants” to frame my own understanding of Integral Health. I remember reading Wilber’s Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and thinking to myself, “This guy is the shit!” Yesterday, however, after reading Wilber’s latest blog post (A Narrative on Guruji), I couldn’t help but think, “This guy has lost his shit!”
The first thing that struck me as odd about Wilber’s post was the style of presentation, which was riddled with rambling redundancies, poor reasoning, and flat-out bad writing. This from a man capable of exquisitely lucid prose. Now, maybe he meant it as an off-the-cuff type of thing and I’m being a bit unfair, but this is a guy who rarely posts on his own blog, so I was surprised he’d go on record with this scattered post. Then there’s the content of the post, which is a strong public endorsement of a spiritual teacher named Mahendra Kumar Trivedi.
And this:
Wilber seems to have a lot of confidence in the conclusions of one researcher in particular, the “world renowned” Dr. Rustum Roy. It should be noted, however, that Roy, like his associate Deepak Chopra, is not exactly lauded by mainstream scientists, as I’ve seen his name (perhaps unfairly) paired with words like “woo” and “pseudoscience” on more than one occasion (for instance here and here). Of course, there are plenty of science-based crusaders out there who would tear me apart, along with many of my intellectual heroes, so that kind of criticism in-and-of-itself doesn’t put Wilber’s endorsement on shaky ground. Rather, it’s Wilber’s credulity and weak justifications that have me scratching my head, and even cringing in embarrassment at times.
Check out the whole post - and be sure to check out the comments section where Julian Walker makes some very clear and compelling points.
It's sad to see this pattern repeating itself with Wilber (think Adi Da, Andrew Cohen, Marc Gafni, and so on).
Tags: Integral, Science, gurus, Ken Wilber, Dr. Rustum Roy, Mahendra Kumar Trivedi, Has Ken Wilber jumped the shark?, Guruji, A Narrative on Guruji, Headthegong (unquote)
Mahendra Kumar Trivedi
[www.google.com]
a comment from the listserve Fairfield Life
[webcache.googleusercontent.com]
(quote)[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: Trivedi Lecture - Sondheim Theater - Wednesday Night 7:30 PM
Buck Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:37:54 -0700
He's a sidha.
The meeting,
a 'yes to excess' tour-de-force performance marketing in to the TM community by
Deb & Fred Poneman along with Janet Atwood. Are movement building around
Trivedi and going to do great things. First stop was the TM movement to
pick-up some volunteers, some capital, endorsements (the mayor and Vicki
Malloy) and build a direct marketing list. You might get in early so you could
be close to the middle along with these shakti people who discovered him. Was
a quick $8 or 10K receipts in one meeting. Most all the slots for personal
healings are full before the public meeting. Only he can do it. It will be
scientific, so no one can say anything against it. Some people are just not
conductors, so mightn't notice anything. That is nature, so it is. Oh, there
might be a few personal sessions available, talk to Debra. Also looking for
some special people to work with him. Some very special people to study with
him.
A real nice group meditation with an auditorium full of the FF meditating
community.
The meditation technique was sanyama with a prayer.
-FF
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "pranamoocher" <bh...@...> wrote:
>
> When will they ever learn?
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote:
> >
> > This marketing piece -- this advertisement to FFLers -- is close to
> 100% bullshit in that the host of links to Web pages giving detailed
> proofs that would be necessary to back up these outlandish claims are
> not offered.
> >
> > I once paid a psychic nurse to diagnose my family and she missed
> cancer in one of my kids that had to have an emergency operation the
> very next week, but this nurse had half the FF community eating her,
> well, her shit is what was. At $125 a pop.
> >
> > Shame on you Debby for espousing yet another miraculous foreigner --
> let's see you post a youtube video of the Great Randi having at this
> charlatan. Let's see some of this vaunted scientific research in actual
> published papers -- not a mere listing of vile bragging such as this
> page contains:
> >
> > [www.trivedifoundation.org]
> >
> > This guy'll get maybe 200 people to come to the lecture -- that's
> $3,000 -- how much of that are you getting Debby for being the
> mouthpiece for yet another draining influence on FF?
> >
> > Tell us again how wonderful his personality is so we can all have an
> experience of Unity in Puking.
> >
> > Edg
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" rick@ wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Friends,
> > >
> > > Another interesting healer has been brought to my attention and I
> wanted to
> > > share him with you. This one sounds really unbelievable, like the
> others
> > > that have come before him, just different.
> > >
> > > His name is Mahendra Kumar Trivedi and he is from India. He worked
> as a
> > > mechanical engineer until the voice of the divine called him to
> begin living
> > > his dharma. It appears he has the ability to change the molecular
> structure
> > > of cancer cells, radioactive water, virus, bacteria, fungus etc.. He
> returns
> > > cells to their original structure before they were polluted. He has
> had
> > > success with advanced cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia,
> chronic
> > > headaches and many other health challenges.
> > >
> > > Mr. Trivedi will be giving a public lecture on Wednesday, March
> 17th, at
> > > 7:30 PM in the Sondheim Theater, where he will give some of the
> results of
> > > scientific studies on his abilities. At the end of the evening he
> will give
> > > a group energy transmission for the health and well being of
> everyone in
> > > attendance. Tickets can be purchased online at
> www.TrivediFoundation.org or
> > > at the door.
> > >
> > > Mr. Trivedi has worked with top research scientists in the world and
> more
> > > than 4,000 scientific studies have been done to verify his gift to
> heal. The
> > > studies have measured his thought transmission ability and how it
> affects
> > > large numbers of samples from micro-organisms, metals, human cells,
> and
> > > more. Seeds that he has blessed produced healthier, stronger plants
> and had
> > > 400 times the vitamin C than the control group, without the bacteria
> and
> > > fungus that attacks plants. He also does blessings on people's
> > > relationships, homes and businesses and has had huge success with
> this as
> > > well.
> > >
> > > I was contacted to organize a group of doctors, scientists, and
> other key
> > > people to meet with him when he comes to Fairfield in March. Fred
> Travis has
> > > already been contacted. Mr. Trivedi will be giving a public lecture
> on
> > > Wednesday, March 17th. I will host him on March 18th for the more
> private
> > > sessions. It will not be publicly announced so I can also have some
> control
> > > who shows up at my house given the high profile position Ed and I
> are in. So
> > > this email is a personal invitation to you and if you have friends
> or family
> > > you want to have see him they must contact me.
> > >
> > > Hopefully you will be in town to meet Trivedi and perhaps have a
> private
> > > session with him. I am just giving an early heads up to you all so
> that you
> > > will have the opportunity to at least see him at the Civic Center.
> The fee
> > > for one of his sessions is $150.
> > >
> > > I truly believe these wonderful healers are divine blessings of
> light sent
> > > as protection against the dark energies of GMO'S, pesticides and the
> general
> > > pollution of our food, air and water and can also transform any
> inherent
> > > weaknesses we may have in our DNA. I also believe we are moving into
> > > developing our own subtle healing abilities and we can learn a lot
> from all
> > > these wonderful healers that are being drawn to our beautiful fair
> fields.
> > >
> > > To learn more about Trivedi, go to his website:
> trivedifoundation.org He
> > > has a very sweet face and I immediately felt good when I saw it. I
> will be
> > > in touch as the time gets closer to his visit, but, if you don't
> hear from
> > > me send me an email.
> > >
> > > Yours in perfect health,
> > > Vicki (Malloy)
> > >
(unquote)
Heere commmes anooother onnnee!!!!!!
Endorsement, that is.
(quote)
[integral-options.blogspot.com]
What's Up with Ken Wilber?
Over at Headthegong
[headthegong.com],
Bob posted an interesting observation on a recent blog post from Ken Wilber (or at least attributed to him on his blog). Wilber posted A Narrative on Guruji, a rather rambling, and disturbing endorsement of another guru, in this case a man who claims to be able to alter the molecular structure of matter.
Here is a brief piece of Wilber's post:
What I am claiming—and supporting—is that Guruji's capacity to conduct and transmit universal spiritual energy (or "shakti") is utterly remarkable, as proven by scientific experiments themselves. It is these direct, specific, scientific experiments and their results that I am reporting, and on which I am basing my endorsement. This is a scientific conclusion, not a spiritual one (although, of course, you are free to make those as well—but I am reporting the direct science, which is indeed astonishing).
To put it briefly, Mr. Trivedi has an empirically demonstrated capacity to alter the atomic and molecular structure of phenomena simply through his conscious intentionality. The number of experiments done on this capacity (known in Sanskrit as shaktipat) that have been done in coordination with Mr. Trivedi is quite extraordinary—so far, over 5,000 empirical studies by universities and scientific research organizations all over the world (including the world renowned materials scientist Dr. Rustum Roy at the University of Pennsylvania).
So I took the bait and did some deep searching of the internets to find these studies. But I couldn't find any of the 5,000 scientific studies - aside from Trivedi's own site, there is almost nothing on the web (nothing from a known, peer-reviewed journal), and Dr. Rustum Roy is not exactly a reliable source - he is a very vocal proponent of homeopathy.
So what's up with all of this?
Bob posted an interesting take on Wilber's history of wanting to identify and attach himself to individuals who appear to support his "integral" model of spiritual development.
Has Ken Wilber jumped the shark?
want to make clear right from the start that Ken Wilber has authored several of my all-time favorite nonfiction books. I dig a lot of his work and use his “four quadrants” to frame my own understanding of Integral Health. I remember reading Wilber’s Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and thinking to myself, “This guy is the shit!” Yesterday, however, after reading Wilber’s latest blog post (A Narrative on Guruji), I couldn’t help but think, “This guy has lost his shit!”
The first thing that struck me as odd about Wilber’s post was the style of presentation, which was riddled with rambling redundancies, poor reasoning, and flat-out bad writing. This from a man capable of exquisitely lucid prose. Now, maybe he meant it as an off-the-cuff type of thing and I’m being a bit unfair, but this is a guy who rarely posts on his own blog, so I was surprised he’d go on record with this scattered post. Then there’s the content of the post, which is a strong public endorsement of a spiritual teacher named Mahendra Kumar Trivedi.
And this:
Wilber seems to have a lot of confidence in the conclusions of one researcher in particular, the “world renowned” Dr. Rustum Roy. It should be noted, however, that Roy, like his associate Deepak Chopra, is not exactly lauded by mainstream scientists, as I’ve seen his name (perhaps unfairly) paired with words like “woo” and “pseudoscience” on more than one occasion (for instance here and here). Of course, there are plenty of science-based crusaders out there who would tear me apart, along with many of my intellectual heroes, so that kind of criticism in-and-of-itself doesn’t put Wilber’s endorsement on shaky ground. Rather, it’s Wilber’s credulity and weak justifications that have me scratching my head, and even cringing in embarrassment at times.
Check out the whole post - and be sure to check out the comments section where Julian Walker makes some very clear and compelling points.
It's sad to see this pattern repeating itself with Wilber (think Adi Da, Andrew Cohen, Marc Gafni, and so on).
Tags: Integral, Science, gurus, Ken Wilber, Dr. Rustum Roy, Mahendra Kumar Trivedi, Has Ken Wilber jumped the shark?, Guruji, A Narrative on Guruji, Headthegong (unquote)
Mahendra Kumar Trivedi
[www.google.com]
a comment from the listserve Fairfield Life
[webcache.googleusercontent.com]
(quote)[FairfieldLife] Re: FW: Trivedi Lecture - Sondheim Theater - Wednesday Night 7:30 PM
Buck Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:37:54 -0700
He's a sidha.
The meeting,
a 'yes to excess' tour-de-force performance marketing in to the TM community by
Deb & Fred Poneman along with Janet Atwood. Are movement building around
Trivedi and going to do great things. First stop was the TM movement to
pick-up some volunteers, some capital, endorsements (the mayor and Vicki
Malloy) and build a direct marketing list. You might get in early so you could
be close to the middle along with these shakti people who discovered him. Was
a quick $8 or 10K receipts in one meeting. Most all the slots for personal
healings are full before the public meeting. Only he can do it. It will be
scientific, so no one can say anything against it. Some people are just not
conductors, so mightn't notice anything. That is nature, so it is. Oh, there
might be a few personal sessions available, talk to Debra. Also looking for
some special people to work with him. Some very special people to study with
him.
A real nice group meditation with an auditorium full of the FF meditating
community.
The meditation technique was sanyama with a prayer.
-FF
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "pranamoocher" <bh...@...> wrote:
>
> When will they ever learn?
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote:
> >
> > This marketing piece -- this advertisement to FFLers -- is close to
> 100% bullshit in that the host of links to Web pages giving detailed
> proofs that would be necessary to back up these outlandish claims are
> not offered.
> >
> > I once paid a psychic nurse to diagnose my family and she missed
> cancer in one of my kids that had to have an emergency operation the
> very next week, but this nurse had half the FF community eating her,
> well, her shit is what was. At $125 a pop.
> >
> > Shame on you Debby for espousing yet another miraculous foreigner --
> let's see you post a youtube video of the Great Randi having at this
> charlatan. Let's see some of this vaunted scientific research in actual
> published papers -- not a mere listing of vile bragging such as this
> page contains:
> >
> > [www.trivedifoundation.org]
> >
> > This guy'll get maybe 200 people to come to the lecture -- that's
> $3,000 -- how much of that are you getting Debby for being the
> mouthpiece for yet another draining influence on FF?
> >
> > Tell us again how wonderful his personality is so we can all have an
> experience of Unity in Puking.
> >
> > Edg
> >
> > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" rick@ wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Friends,
> > >
> > > Another interesting healer has been brought to my attention and I
> wanted to
> > > share him with you. This one sounds really unbelievable, like the
> others
> > > that have come before him, just different.
> > >
> > > His name is Mahendra Kumar Trivedi and he is from India. He worked
> as a
> > > mechanical engineer until the voice of the divine called him to
> begin living
> > > his dharma. It appears he has the ability to change the molecular
> structure
> > > of cancer cells, radioactive water, virus, bacteria, fungus etc.. He
> returns
> > > cells to their original structure before they were polluted. He has
> had
> > > success with advanced cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia,
> chronic
> > > headaches and many other health challenges.
> > >
> > > Mr. Trivedi will be giving a public lecture on Wednesday, March
> 17th, at
> > > 7:30 PM in the Sondheim Theater, where he will give some of the
> results of
> > > scientific studies on his abilities. At the end of the evening he
> will give
> > > a group energy transmission for the health and well being of
> everyone in
> > > attendance. Tickets can be purchased online at
> www.TrivediFoundation.org or
> > > at the door.
> > >
> > > Mr. Trivedi has worked with top research scientists in the world and
> more
> > > than 4,000 scientific studies have been done to verify his gift to
> heal. The
> > > studies have measured his thought transmission ability and how it
> affects
> > > large numbers of samples from micro-organisms, metals, human cells,
> and
> > > more. Seeds that he has blessed produced healthier, stronger plants
> and had
> > > 400 times the vitamin C than the control group, without the bacteria
> and
> > > fungus that attacks plants. He also does blessings on people's
> > > relationships, homes and businesses and has had huge success with
> this as
> > > well.
> > >
> > > I was contacted to organize a group of doctors, scientists, and
> other key
> > > people to meet with him when he comes to Fairfield in March. Fred
> Travis has
> > > already been contacted. Mr. Trivedi will be giving a public lecture
> on
> > > Wednesday, March 17th. I will host him on March 18th for the more
> private
> > > sessions. It will not be publicly announced so I can also have some
> control
> > > who shows up at my house given the high profile position Ed and I
> are in. So
> > > this email is a personal invitation to you and if you have friends
> or family
> > > you want to have see him they must contact me.
> > >
> > > Hopefully you will be in town to meet Trivedi and perhaps have a
> private
> > > session with him. I am just giving an early heads up to you all so
> that you
> > > will have the opportunity to at least see him at the Civic Center.
> The fee
> > > for one of his sessions is $150.
> > >
> > > I truly believe these wonderful healers are divine blessings of
> light sent
> > > as protection against the dark energies of GMO'S, pesticides and the
> general
> > > pollution of our food, air and water and can also transform any
> inherent
> > > weaknesses we may have in our DNA. I also believe we are moving into
> > > developing our own subtle healing abilities and we can learn a lot
> from all
> > > these wonderful healers that are being drawn to our beautiful fair
> fields.
> > >
> > > To learn more about Trivedi, go to his website:
> trivedifoundation.org He
> > > has a very sweet face and I immediately felt good when I saw it. I
> will be
> > > in touch as the time gets closer to his visit, but, if you don't
> hear from
> > > me send me an email.
> > >
> > > Yours in perfect health,
> > > Vicki (Malloy)
> > >
(unquote)
Analysis of Trivedis claims
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: June 14, 2014 05:28AM
Many trusted Wilber's endorsement of Andrew Cohen.
So it is part of this history to monitor others whom Wilber has
endorsed.
Corboy
(quote)The mystic says: the ordinary world we live in is an illusion. There is a higher state of existence in which can know reality.
The scientist says: prove it!
Or as David Lane, a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College in southern California, suggests:
Why can't you produce something in our present state of awareness which would give us confidence that your claims are true?
Mahendra Kumar Trivedi Lane, a sympathetic observer who claims to have experienced higher awareness himself, is not denying that it may have value. He's questioning whether it's anything more than a personal—or if one likes, transpersonal—experience, with no wider relevance to our understanding of the universe. If the mystic really does see a higher reality, let alone the only reality, shouldn't he/she be able to provide some evidence, in the form of phenomena observable by scientists?
The traditional response to this is that such evidence is impossible. Higher consciousness can no more be proven to those in the ordinary state than our ordinary waking state can be proved to someone who is fast asleep, or dreaming. Perhaps it would be better to leave it at that. But as science expands its scope, driven by the assumption that everything must have an explanation in material terms, some become tempted to accept this challenge.
A recent example is one Mahendra Kumar Trivedi, whose claim of “unique gifts” has caught the attention of integral philosopher Ken Wilber:
Mr. Trivedi has an empirically demonstrated capacity to alter the atomic and molecular structure of phenomena simply through his conscious intentionality. The number of experiments done on this capacity (known in Sanskrit as shaktipat) that have been done in coordination with Mr. Trivedi is quite extraordinary—so far, over 5,000 empirical studies by universities and scientific research organizations all over the world
Really?
Five thousand studies?
And none of them managed to find its way into, say, Pub Med, or Google Scholar?
So I went to Trivedi's website. There weren't five thousand publications listed, but there were seven (with promises of many more to come).
(unquote)
(quote)
In order to carry out statistics, one generally needs to replicate an experiment, and this wasn't done. For example, each test of a particular antibiotic should have been carried out on a minimum of three different samples, and the mean and standard error of the three results (MIC) compared with the mean and standard error of the controls. Lacking that, there is no way to determine whether a change from, for example, a MIC of 8 in the control to 16 in the treated is significant.
(unquote)
(Quote)In other words, there is no attempt in the paper to explain the results in terms of current scientific theory—on the contrary, the authors seem to think the fact that no theory can possibly explain them is some kind of recommendation: “These results cannot be explained by current theories of science, and indicate a potency in Mr.Trivedi's energy…” Yet if he is claiming physical effects, there has to be a link somewhere with physical theory, and even a minimal theory base is lacking.(unquote)
For more, read here.
[www.integralworld.net]
This essay was written in July 2010 and is reposted with permission of the author.
WE ALL WANNA
CHANGE THE WORLD
A Scientific Analysis of the
Claims of Mahendra Kumar Trivedi
Andrew P. Smith
So it is part of this history to monitor others whom Wilber has
endorsed.
Corboy
(quote)The mystic says: the ordinary world we live in is an illusion. There is a higher state of existence in which can know reality.
The scientist says: prove it!
Or as David Lane, a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College in southern California, suggests:
Why can't you produce something in our present state of awareness which would give us confidence that your claims are true?
Mahendra Kumar Trivedi Lane, a sympathetic observer who claims to have experienced higher awareness himself, is not denying that it may have value. He's questioning whether it's anything more than a personal—or if one likes, transpersonal—experience, with no wider relevance to our understanding of the universe. If the mystic really does see a higher reality, let alone the only reality, shouldn't he/she be able to provide some evidence, in the form of phenomena observable by scientists?
The traditional response to this is that such evidence is impossible. Higher consciousness can no more be proven to those in the ordinary state than our ordinary waking state can be proved to someone who is fast asleep, or dreaming. Perhaps it would be better to leave it at that. But as science expands its scope, driven by the assumption that everything must have an explanation in material terms, some become tempted to accept this challenge.
A recent example is one Mahendra Kumar Trivedi, whose claim of “unique gifts” has caught the attention of integral philosopher Ken Wilber:
Mr. Trivedi has an empirically demonstrated capacity to alter the atomic and molecular structure of phenomena simply through his conscious intentionality. The number of experiments done on this capacity (known in Sanskrit as shaktipat) that have been done in coordination with Mr. Trivedi is quite extraordinary—so far, over 5,000 empirical studies by universities and scientific research organizations all over the world
Really?
Five thousand studies?
And none of them managed to find its way into, say, Pub Med, or Google Scholar?
So I went to Trivedi's website. There weren't five thousand publications listed, but there were seven (with promises of many more to come).
(unquote)
(quote)
In order to carry out statistics, one generally needs to replicate an experiment, and this wasn't done. For example, each test of a particular antibiotic should have been carried out on a minimum of three different samples, and the mean and standard error of the three results (MIC) compared with the mean and standard error of the controls. Lacking that, there is no way to determine whether a change from, for example, a MIC of 8 in the control to 16 in the treated is significant.
(unquote)
(Quote)In other words, there is no attempt in the paper to explain the results in terms of current scientific theory—on the contrary, the authors seem to think the fact that no theory can possibly explain them is some kind of recommendation: “These results cannot be explained by current theories of science, and indicate a potency in Mr.Trivedi's energy…” Yet if he is claiming physical effects, there has to be a link somewhere with physical theory, and even a minimal theory base is lacking.(unquote)
For more, read here.
[www.integralworld.net]
This essay was written in July 2010 and is reposted with permission of the author.
WE ALL WANNA
CHANGE THE WORLD
A Scientific Analysis of the
Claims of Mahendra Kumar Trivedi
Andrew P. Smith
Re: International Enlightenment Fellowship/Andrew Cohen
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: June 20, 2014 10:29PM
Life with a Narcissist: Their Own Personal Mini-Cult - MailChimpWhether that cult is a Mini-Cult, .... Some theorists would say that cult leaders are
narcissists who have ..... Visit her Website: The Roadshow for Therapists.
gallery.mailchimp.com/.../files/Living_On_Cloud_Cuckoo_Land.pdf - - Cached - Similar pages
narcissists who have ..... Visit her Website: The Roadshow for Therapists.
gallery.mailchimp.com/.../files/Living_On_Cloud_Cuckoo_Land.pdf - - Cached - Similar pages
People be vigilent - Update from William Yenner's Site
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: June 29, 2014 09:47PM
[americanguru.net]
Update and Closure
Rumor has it that Andrew Cohen has been in regular contact with various spiritual teachers for personal counsel–and also, perhaps, regarding what it would take for him to make a comeback, i.e., to rehabilitate his reputation and restore himself to a position of power and influence he didn’t deserve even when he had it.
Meanwhile, Cohen’s ex-followers are divided over what went wrong and how to proceed with their lives, both individually and collectively. Predictably, the ongoing dialogue within the post-apocalyptic community of EnlightenNext alumni covers a complete spectrum of views, from anger to forgiveness, and from clarity to (from my point of view) self-delusion.
Obviously, the process of discrimination will take some time–and unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any guarantee, on an individual level, of complete recovery. As Len Oakes and others who have studied such groups point out, the types of adjustments ex-followers make in the aftermath of such a collapse are both various and predictable.
Whatever the case, EnlightenNext no longer exists as a functioning organization, and at this time its outreach no longer poses a serious threat to people’s loved ones.
(Enlightenixt letter)
[americanguru.net]
Should that change, an update will be posted on this site.
I would like to express my appreciation for all the support I have received in the challenging endeavor of writing and publicizing American Guru and maintaining this website; it really has made all the difference
Update and Closure
Rumor has it that Andrew Cohen has been in regular contact with various spiritual teachers for personal counsel–and also, perhaps, regarding what it would take for him to make a comeback, i.e., to rehabilitate his reputation and restore himself to a position of power and influence he didn’t deserve even when he had it.
Meanwhile, Cohen’s ex-followers are divided over what went wrong and how to proceed with their lives, both individually and collectively. Predictably, the ongoing dialogue within the post-apocalyptic community of EnlightenNext alumni covers a complete spectrum of views, from anger to forgiveness, and from clarity to (from my point of view) self-delusion.
Obviously, the process of discrimination will take some time–and unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any guarantee, on an individual level, of complete recovery. As Len Oakes and others who have studied such groups point out, the types of adjustments ex-followers make in the aftermath of such a collapse are both various and predictable.
Whatever the case, EnlightenNext no longer exists as a functioning organization, and at this time its outreach no longer poses a serious threat to people’s loved ones.
(Enlightenixt letter)
[americanguru.net]
Should that change, an update will be posted on this site.
I would like to express my appreciation for all the support I have received in the challenging endeavor of writing and publicizing American Guru and maintaining this website; it really has made all the difference
Re: International Enlightenment Fellowship/Andrew Cohen
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: July 11, 2014 11:24AM
Interesting discussion and some books mentioned as resources.
Just change pronouns and do some other minor adjustments.
[www.shrink4men.com]
One person commented:
(Quote)"You can’t know why because they probably don’t even know why, and at some point you come to the acceptance that you don’t need to know why.
"It is just that you need to KNOW they are people you can’t be in contact with. ANY contact opens old wounds, they love hearing how they hurt you, they enjoy going over the painful details so you feel like crap.
"Hey, I’ve even learned to cut the friends out of my life that were abusive to me, or high conflict. I don’t need it.
"Am I curious about these people and their “stories” and motivations? Of course. I’m curious about everything. But you will go crazy yourself trying to figure it out. Not worth the time. Yep, go for the upgrade!
"(Unquote)
Just change pronouns and do some other minor adjustments.
[www.shrink4men.com]
One person commented:
(Quote)"You can’t know why because they probably don’t even know why, and at some point you come to the acceptance that you don’t need to know why.
"It is just that you need to KNOW they are people you can’t be in contact with. ANY contact opens old wounds, they love hearing how they hurt you, they enjoy going over the painful details so you feel like crap.
"Hey, I’ve even learned to cut the friends out of my life that were abusive to me, or high conflict. I don’t need it.
"Am I curious about these people and their “stories” and motivations? Of course. I’m curious about everything. But you will go crazy yourself trying to figure it out. Not worth the time. Yep, go for the upgrade!
"(Unquote)
How Jerome Flynn escaped the Andrew Cohen Sect -- UK
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: September 28, 2014 09:32PM
[www.dailymail.co.uk]
(The URL above has many links to samples of Mr Flynn's work.)
How Jerome Flynn escaped the sect that cost him EIGHT years of his life - and the woman he loved
Made his name with Soldier, Soldier alongside Robson Green
In 1995 the pair recorded hit record Unchained Melody
Abandoned his career in 1996 and joined a religious sect
Won rave reviews for his return to acting and appeared in the hugely popular HBO series Game of Thrones in 2010
Now appearing in BBC's Ripper Street alongside Matthew Macfadyen
ByRichard Price
Published: 20:00 EST, 17 January 2013 | Updated: 12:18 EST, 18 January 2013
Read more: [www.dailymail.co.uk]
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2014 07:10AM by corboy.
(The URL above has many links to samples of Mr Flynn's work.)
How Jerome Flynn escaped the sect that cost him EIGHT years of his life - and the woman he loved
Made his name with Soldier, Soldier alongside Robson Green
In 1995 the pair recorded hit record Unchained Melody
Abandoned his career in 1996 and joined a religious sect
Won rave reviews for his return to acting and appeared in the hugely popular HBO series Game of Thrones in 2010
Now appearing in BBC's Ripper Street alongside Matthew Macfadyen
ByRichard Price
Published: 20:00 EST, 17 January 2013 | Updated: 12:18 EST, 18 January 2013
Read more: [www.dailymail.co.uk]
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Quote
There are many unusual situations in which you might expect to find one of Simon Cowell’s proteges — but quiet meditation is probably not one of them.
Jerome Flynn has never been a standard-issue celebrity, however. While the 49-year-old actor’s peers might frequent the flashy bars and plush restaurants of London’s West End, he is more likely to be found in a state of ecstatic rumination on his remote farm in Wales.
It may have been Mr Cowell whose entrepreneurial endeavours funded this retreat — he was the man behind Robson And Jerome’s hit record Unchained Melody in 1995 — but these days that is as far as their association goes.
Because, at the height of his fame, Jerome abandoned his screaming fans, ploughed his share of the celebrity spoils into a dilapidated farm in Pembrokeshire, and disappeared from the spotlight on a spiritual quest which was to last for nearly a decade.
Even now he meditates daily in a whitewashed hut with a turfed roof designed to fit with the rural setting.
After a period of his life in which he all but disappeared from the public eye, however, Jerome is now back on our television screens in a role which is making him a household name all over again.
Two decades ago he won an army of female fans as the blond, wholesome corporal Paddy Garvey in the hugely popular ITV series Soldier Soldier, then went on to find unlikely pop success with his friend and co-star Robson Green.
Older, craggier and with his once-blond hair now a muddy shade of brown, Jerome is appearing in the BBC’s new period crime drama, Ripper Street, starring alongside Matthew Macfadyen as two detectives working the streets of 19th-century Whitechapel.
It is a series that has attracted much controversy already for its shocking plotlines featuring torture, pornography and visceral violence (in the first episode Jerome was seen picking a broken tooth out of his fist after a brawl), but the actor is no stranger to the darker side of life.
After all, he shelved his career as a primetime television star to join a religious sect, surrendering eight years of his life in the process.
In an age of vapid celebrities such as Katie Price and the cast of The Only Way Is Essex, no one could accuse Jerome Flynn of predictability.
His father, Eric Flynn, was a leading man in West End musicals and took the title role in the 1970 BBC series Ivanhoe. As Jerome’s own career took off — his single Unchained Melody remains one of the top-ten selling British records of all time, and is said to have earned Cowell his first £1million — he was always more inclined to escape to the country than to spend his nights dining in The Ivy or attending industry awards ceremonies.
The red-carpet lifestyle left Jerome cold, and he yearned to find meaning in his life. When an actor friend introduced him to the works of the American spiritual guru Andrew Cohen, his life changed almost overnight.
That friend was Linus Roache, the son of Coronation Street actor William Roache and a leading light in Cohen’s so-called Enlightenment movement.
Controversy: Andrew Cohen's organsiation has been condemned by critics
Jerome was fascinated by Cohen’s spiritual teachings, essentially a reworking of Hindu mysticism and Tibetan Buddhism dressed up for Western consumption, and at the height of his fame fled to Rishikesh in India on a two-week retreat.
On his return to Britain in 1996 he threw everything in with Cohen’s sect, abandoning his career and moving into a commune in North London with a group of fellow believers, including his long-standing girlfriend, Anna Jacobs.
It was, in Jerome’s own words, ‘a very intense spiritual life?...?equivalent to being a monk for eight years’.
Inspired by his new spiritual leader, Jerome made Cohen’s teachings his life’s work, travelling the country to give readings from Cohen’s texts and embarking on grand plans to make plays and films based on the Enlightenment message.
Not everyone has been so enamoured with the movement, however.
Critics condemn Cohen’s organisation, now known as EnlightenNext, over allegations it has broken up families and gained financially from vulnerable devotees.
Jerome’s involvement in the movement was seized upon by sections of the Press, with some newspapers suggesting he was driven to convert after his girlfriend, Anna, miscarried their twins four months into her pregnancy in the mid-Nineties. But this is inaccurate, Anna explained to me this week.
‘Jerome has always been interested in the spiritual side, and he found out about Andrew Cohen before we lost the children,’ she says.
‘I don’t think anything would have been different. It was just something which happened and it’s very sad but not connected.
‘He’s just a lovely guy with a massive heart who is trying to do some good in the world and be the best person he can.’
The couple had been together for two years before joining Cohen’s movement. Together they became totally immersed in his teachings, spending every day meditating and studying with fellow converts.
Four years later, however, Anna became disillusioned and moved out of the movement’s retreat in London’s Belsize Park. She was convinced Jerome would share her disillusionment and follow her example, but that didn’t happen for two more years.
Their relationship foundered soon after she left, but they remain on good terms.
‘I appreciate there’s a lot of controversy around Andrew Cohen which I think can be largely justified, but at the time we were very committed to the path we were on,’ says Anna.
‘If you want to be serious about spiritual life, you give up a huge amount of your time and attention.’
On joining a sect: ‘[It was] a very intense spiritual life?...?equivalent to being a monk for eight years' Jerome Flynn
In the end, however, Jerome, like Anna, reached the end of the road with Cohen. He has admitted he became convinced Cohen was ‘a Christ-like figure’ and has criticised his former guru because ‘he didn’t discourage that in a way that I think he should have’.
Anna, now a successful interior designer with two children by her new partner, agrees.
‘When you give everything in a spiritual context — you give your heart to it — that means your spiritual teacher has a really big responsibility because you’re putting yourself in quite a vulnerable position,’ she says.
‘You give them your trust — it’s a leap of faith. The problem I have with Andrew Cohen was that he did not take that responsibility seriously enough, and I think he abused the power he had.
‘I left because I felt I was being too controlled and was in danger of losing myself. I think you have to be quite strong to extricate yourself from that and leave.
‘Jerome always remained absolutely lovely. He’s a big-hearted guy who approaches everything with self-deprecating humour. He’s funny, and he’s humble with it.’
That humility will have proved invaluable as he’s tried to rebuild his career.
After his relationship with Anna ended and he left the organisation, Jerome spent 18 months taking stock of his life as he renovated the Georgian farm he had bought in Pembrokeshire. Those renovations are ongoing today.
It is in this beautiful corner of Wales, which Jerome has been visiting since his parents bought a holiday home there in 1969, that the Kent-born actor has put down new roots.
His once-dilapidated farm has been transformed into a self-sustaining business, with barns converted into holiday lets and a large walled garden where fruit and vegetables are grown.
Jerome Flynn has endured many trials and tribulations in his extraordinary life, and picking himself up and dusting himself down seem to have become second nature
According to Bob Ogley, who collaborated on a book with Jerome and has known him since he was a child, the farm is the culmination of many years’ hard work.
‘Jerome is hugely talented but he’s also incredibly down-to-earth and has always stayed true to his roots,’ he told me.
‘His image has suffered because he wasn’t the kind of celebrity who would turn up to the opening of an envelope. That was never him.
‘I remember him as a great kid who went to the local secondary modern in Kent. He was extremely good at sports but always wanted to be an actor, because both his parents and his grandfather were actors.
‘He was an immediate hit — it was obvious from the beginning that he’d go a long way.
‘He has built an idyllic life for himself in Wales, surrounded by the people who matter to him. I believe his brother has moved up there from London to be with him — it’s a beautiful home and he’s really very happy.’
The one element missing is a wife and family of his own. While Jerome’s understood not to have been short of female company over the years, there hasn’t been a serious girlfriend since Anna and he’s believed to be single at the moment.
Back with a bang: The actor won rave reviews the following year for his stage performances in a one-man show about Tommy Cooper, which led to him being cast in Ripper Street (pictured)
Following the death of his father, Eric, from cancer in 2002, Jerome has set about rebuilding his career.
He won rave reviews the following year for his stage performances in a one-man show about Tommy Cooper directed by Simon Callow, then in 2010 won the role of Bronn in the hit HBO series Game Of Thrones.
Now in its third series, the show led to him being cast in Ripper Street. The fact that both series are filmed in Ireland means Jerome can easily catch a ferry home to Wales when he’s not working.
Bob Ogley adds: ‘He gets to play roles which interest him but doesn’t have to go anywhere near London or a red carpet, which is perfect for him.’
The spiritual side of life remains important to Jerome, and these days he practises a form of meditation espoused by the Balinese spiritual master Ratu Bagus.
This, presumably, is why he has filed a retrospective planning application to his local authority for the beautifully-crafted meditation hut which stands on land at the farm.
A vegetarian since the age of 18 and now a patron of the Vegetarian Society, Jerome turns out regularly in the summer to play for Llanrhian cricket club.
Mr Miles, 61, who runs The Sloop Inn in Porthgain on the Welsh coast, admits he was surprised when Jerome turned his back on acting at the height of his fame, but says that local people don’t pry into that side of his life.
‘He’s in the pub every week and he’s just a regular customer, no airs or graces. I know he can hold a tune, but he never sings when we have live music. He’s big mates with Cerys Matthews [the musician], who lives nearby. She often takes to the floor to sing, but not Jerome.
‘He loves the pub quiz nights, and his knowledge is pretty impressive. He was in a team last Friday night with his brothers, Dan and Johnny, but they didn’t win.’
It’s unlikely Jerome will be losing any sleep over that particular defeat, however.
He has endured many trials and tribulations in his extraordinary life, and picking himself up and dusting himself down seem to have become second nature.
Ripper Street is on BBC1 on Sundays at 9pm.
Read more: [www.dailymail.co.uk]
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2014 07:10AM by corboy.
Area Deserves Closer Scrutiny -- Cohen meeting Adi Da??
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: October 07, 2014 10:04PM
Thanks to 'fig lady' a member of this message board community for alerting
us to this new article on Integral World.
[www.integralworld.net]
This information is interesting.
Luna Tarlo, Cohen's mother, wrote the earliest
description of Andrew Cohen's behavior - and she
saw Cohen before and after his fateful encounter
with Poonja.
(The Mother of God by Luna Tarlo)
[www.google.com]
Tarlo visited her son in India, some months before
his encounter with Poonja.
From Tarlo's description, Andrew showed no sign of
charisma, though she was perturbed when he said he
no longer wanted to pursue music because he knew
he would never be famous as a musician.
A few months later, Andrew summoned his mother back
to India to meet Poonja, and Tarlo described how
her son's behavior had changed -- that he was
"suddenly endowed with a silver tongue" and
a newfound confidence.
It all seemed as though Poonja had effected some
magical transformation of Cohen via 'enlightenment.'
and by telling him to go out and teach
and "start a revolution among the young'.
It never occurred to Tarlo that her son, who
enjoyed a modest private income, could have
used his freedom to learn techniques of
verbal manipulation, concealed what he knew,
concealed his ambition to become a guru,
then went to India to find someone who
could give him legitimacy and - a plausible
backstory.
It appears that Tarlo was glad to see
her troubled son seemingly healed. And
possibly that she was in shock due to
her son's sudden change, his new and startling
verbal cruelty, and Poonja's
own arrogance (he told Tarlo "This is my son!"
and also, to Tarlos confusion, told her she was
enlightened.)
It would be very desirable if more persons formerly
involved with Adi Da could confirm whether Cohen
was in the Adi Da community before Cohen went to India and
was supposedly zapped into enlightenment by Poonja.
If (????????) Cohen did meet Adi Da in the US before going on to
India, it might be worth learning whether Cohen studied
the guru business in other venues, in addition to
Adi Da. Did he take courses in NLP? Did he sit in on the
est or Landmark Forum trainings, or those of some other
LGAT?
For going by Tarlo's account in The Mother of God,
right after Cohen encountered Poonja, he was already
adept at recruitment, attracting disciples, then
sending them off to spread word about him at places
frequented by spiritual seekers.
One cannot learn debate skills, people handling, retreat logistics,
and recruitment just from non dual realization.
All by it self, enlightement is just what it is.
To embark on a public roadshow as a guru, one has to learn to handle
people, the way a cowboy must be taught to wrastle cattle.
One has to be taught by others how to twirl that lasso, and
taught the fine points of herding people into groups -- and
ways to handle the money and travel arrangements.
For from the start, Andrew also seemed to know how to find
congenial places in other parts of the world.
One isnt born knowing how to drum -- one must be taught.
One isnt born knowing how to stun and shame people into
submission with a glance, a smirk, a gesture, a few
well chosen words.
One isnt born knowing how to recruit followers.
One has to learn these skills.
And then craft an attractive backstory/legitimation narrative.
One needs art to conceal art.
One needs an artful beguiling 'front' (in Cohen's case, the Poonja Zap story) behind which one hides the darker arts of manipulation, shaming,
recruitment, victim blaming, and financial skills learned and
used by other cult leaders.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2014 09:31AM by corboy.
us to this new article on Integral World.
[www.integralworld.net]
This information is interesting.
Luna Tarlo, Cohen's mother, wrote the earliest
description of Andrew Cohen's behavior - and she
saw Cohen before and after his fateful encounter
with Poonja.
(The Mother of God by Luna Tarlo)
[www.google.com]
Tarlo visited her son in India, some months before
his encounter with Poonja.
From Tarlo's description, Andrew showed no sign of
charisma, though she was perturbed when he said he
no longer wanted to pursue music because he knew
he would never be famous as a musician.
A few months later, Andrew summoned his mother back
to India to meet Poonja, and Tarlo described how
her son's behavior had changed -- that he was
"suddenly endowed with a silver tongue" and
a newfound confidence.
It all seemed as though Poonja had effected some
magical transformation of Cohen via 'enlightenment.'
and by telling him to go out and teach
and "start a revolution among the young'.
It never occurred to Tarlo that her son, who
enjoyed a modest private income, could have
used his freedom to learn techniques of
verbal manipulation, concealed what he knew,
concealed his ambition to become a guru,
then went to India to find someone who
could give him legitimacy and - a plausible
backstory.
It appears that Tarlo was glad to see
her troubled son seemingly healed. And
possibly that she was in shock due to
her son's sudden change, his new and startling
verbal cruelty, and Poonja's
own arrogance (he told Tarlo "This is my son!"
and also, to Tarlos confusion, told her she was
enlightened.)
It would be very desirable if more persons formerly
involved with Adi Da could confirm whether Cohen
was in the Adi Da community before Cohen went to India and
was supposedly zapped into enlightenment by Poonja.
If (????????) Cohen did meet Adi Da in the US before going on to
India, it might be worth learning whether Cohen studied
the guru business in other venues, in addition to
Adi Da. Did he take courses in NLP? Did he sit in on the
est or Landmark Forum trainings, or those of some other
LGAT?
For going by Tarlo's account in The Mother of God,
right after Cohen encountered Poonja, he was already
adept at recruitment, attracting disciples, then
sending them off to spread word about him at places
frequented by spiritual seekers.
One cannot learn debate skills, people handling, retreat logistics,
and recruitment just from non dual realization.
All by it self, enlightement is just what it is.
To embark on a public roadshow as a guru, one has to learn to handle
people, the way a cowboy must be taught to wrastle cattle.
One has to be taught by others how to twirl that lasso, and
taught the fine points of herding people into groups -- and
ways to handle the money and travel arrangements.
For from the start, Andrew also seemed to know how to find
congenial places in other parts of the world.
One isnt born knowing how to drum -- one must be taught.
One isnt born knowing how to stun and shame people into
submission with a glance, a smirk, a gesture, a few
well chosen words.
One isnt born knowing how to recruit followers.
One has to learn these skills.
And then craft an attractive backstory/legitimation narrative.
One needs art to conceal art.
One needs an artful beguiling 'front' (in Cohen's case, the Poonja Zap story) behind which one hides the darker arts of manipulation, shaming,
recruitment, victim blaming, and financial skills learned and
used by other cult leaders.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2014 09:31AM by corboy.
Moksha, then EnlighteNEXT - now "Emergence"
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 10, 2014 02:28AM
Quote
http://americanguru.net/news-and-reviews/bod-letters/
From American Guru websiteQuote
(Bill Yenner)
Editor’s Note:
The letter from former UK EnlightenNext (now Emergence) Board of Directors has some refreshing elements in it; however, it leaves lamentable gaps in crucial areas, namely transparency, democracy and finance.
Who participated in the decisions involving changing the name to Emergence?
What community-wide involvement has there been regarding whether to carry on at all as opposed to closing down the entire enterprise? And if the charity is to continue under a new name, is it really entirely up to an unelected Board to make all (or any) of the calls about where it is headed?
Does the renamed entity have a right to the funds which were originally donated to and intended for Andrew Cohen’s “teachings”? Imagine the Catholic Church, having been totally discredited, then deciding to rebrand itself unilaterally without consultation or oversight from its worldwide community. In the case of EnlightenNext, with approximately Euros 2 million (about $3,000,000) at stake, should there not be a surfeit of openness about decisions regarding the future disposition of funds which, after all, are and remain the common investment of a large community of seekers, students, and practitioners who have every right to wonder how credibly their interests are represented by the Board members of a discredited organizationQuote
Board of Directors letters: USA and UK
During summer of 2014 the Boards of both USA EnlightenNext and UK EnlightenNext have issued letters explaining their respective approaches to the organizational and financial issues raised by Andrew Cohen’s stepping down.
From the USA EnlightenNext Board of Directors, May 2014:
Dear Friends and Fellow Students,
We wanted to follow up on our previous correspondence, below, and provide an update on the Board of Directors’ efforts to bring EnlightenNext, Inc. to an orderly, timely, and dignified close.
Because EnlightenNext, Inc. is a USA 501(c)(3) Massachusetts not for profit, the cessation of its operations is governed by Massachusetts law. The process of formally dissolving EnlightenNext, Inc. will occur under the supervision of the MA Attorney General’s Office and the MA Supreme Judicial Court.
The dissolution process officially begins with the filing of a request for dissolution with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which has very specific guidelines and requirements for this process. The EnlightenNext, Inc. Board of Directors has been working diligently with EN’s remaining management, as well as private legal counsel, to fulfill all the requirements that must be met before that dissolution request can be formally filed. This includes the liquidation of its remaining assets, including the remaining unsold buildings. While many of these requirements are within our sphere of influence, matters such as property sales are dependent upon many factors which we can only partially control.
Once the dissolution petition is filed, all further action, including the distribution of assets, can only take place with the approval of the MA Attorney General’s office and the MA Supreme Judicial Court.
We can assure you that the EN Board is working diligently to bring this to the best possible end as quickly and prudently as possible, and we will continue to keep you informed as events unfold.
Thanks for your understanding and support.
The Board of Directors
EnlightenNext, Inc.
bod@enlightennext.orgQuote
June 30, 2014
From the Board of Trustees of UK EnlightenNext:
Dear Friends, Associates and Partners
This is a message from the Board of Trustees of EnlightenNext UK. We wanted to give you an update to clarify the current status of the charity during its transition. The charity is alive and well and we have been enjoying some needed downtime since the successful sale of the Islington property in July 2013.
The first news is that the name of the charity has changed as of 30 June. We will no longer be called EnlightenNext UK but known as ‘Emergence Foundation’.
We felt it was important for our future work and identity to end the assumed association and identification with the global (and any other branch of the) organisation EnlightenNext. In fact EnlightenNext UK has always been an independent charitable UK organisation, independent both financially and legally from EnlightenNext Global or any other branches of EnlightenNext. The name change signifies a new step in the transition, which started last summer with the demise of EnlightenNext Global and separately the sale of the London centre.
It needs to be clarified that, in spite of the name change, the aims of the UK charity remain unchanged. The actual aims are, “promoting education concerning spiritual enlightenment and self-realisation”. This fairly broad definition is legally binding and regulated by the UK Charity Commission. In order to deepen our commitment to these aims, over the next year or more we will be developing a new strategy. This will include work to clarify, strengthen, broaden and adapt the aims and activities of the charity (where necessary). We would like to do this together with interested and willing individuals and parties who have a bond with the legacy of the charity in the UK.
Currently the Board is made up of: Patrick Bryson, Steve Jackson, Tabrez Niazi, Chris Parish, Dave Pendle and Willa Geertsema who is the Company Secretary. Over the last few months we have been taking care of the legal responsibilities for the charity in our free time and have worked on a secure investment strategy for the proceeds of the sale of 13 Windsor Street. All Boardmembers are just as committed, as most of them have been for the past several years, to this new phase of successfully managing the transition and beyond.
You are very likely and understandably curious about the founder Andrew Cohen. All we know is that he is well and still on an extended sabbatical and we don’t have any direct news from or contact with him.
We would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank any and all who contributed to any stage of the history and story of the UK branch of the movement, whether this contribution was through giving your time, money, spirit or support. The Board carries and honours all these contributions as their responsibility to make good on and welcomes your continued support and creativity in what the next steps can be.
You are welcome to contact us at: Enlightennext UK, PO Box 68688, London, N1P 2YN or by email at:info@enlightennext.org.uk
Yours truly,
Patrick Bryson, Steve Jackson, Tabrez Niazi, Chris Parish, Dave Pendle and Willa GeertsemaQuote
July 29, 2014
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF EMERGENCE FOUNDATION (FORMERLY ENLIGHTENNEXT UK) TO FORMER STUDENTS AND MEMBERS OF UK ENLIGHTENNEXT
Dear All,
It has become apparent to us that it would be very helpful to offer [former students and members of EnlightenNext UK] a clear statement of reassurance on some important points regarding what was EnlightenNext UK and, as the board, our intentions for the future.
The first is in regard to our present and future relationship with Andrew Cohen. We’d like it to be clearly understood that we have no connection of any sort with Andrew Cohen now, and we have no intention of resuming any kind of working relationship with him in the future. Although this has long been clear amongst ourselves, we realise that it has not been communicated to you all, and that this has caused unnecessary uncertainty.
Another important point that has not been made clear is the board’s recognition that many aspects of the structure and workings of EnlightenNext were unwholesome whilst under Andrew’s leadership. This has caused deep and unnecessary suffering to many of you as well as to us. In this light, we want to learn – as we think we all do – from the past and very much care to ensure the future looks very different.
We have, as many of you know, adopted the name Emergence Foundation to make a clear distinction from the EnlightenNext UK of the past. We feel it is important to point out that Emergence Foundation is a separate entity, entirely unconnected to any other of what were Andrew’s organisations elsewhere. This message, therefore, only refers to the UK charity, and we can’t speak in any way on behalf of anyone else. But we do hope that this message will bring some reassurance to those of you with concerns about the intentions of the board in the UK, as well as supporting the process of reconciliation that is under way and that we ourselves very much appreciate.
It is our hope that some of you who were directly involved with the London Centre and its development will want to become part of the dialogue to find out how best to move the organisation forwards.
With best wishes to you all,
The Board of Emergence Foundation – Tabrez, Steve, Patrick, Chris, Dave and Willa (board secretary)
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