(This essay is a hunch, a speculative hunch, about the power dynamics wielded by Andrew Cohen upon his disciples.

Cohen gave himself credit for not abusing sexuality, contrasting himself with the many other gurus who had been caught with their pants down.

Corboy suggests that Cohen's preferred
métier was in an area far more taboo than conventional sexuality.

Corboy suggests, from an outsider's perspective, that Andrew Cohen conducted much of his power scenarios via financial, rather than erotic battery.

Cohen seems to have had a immense interest in money as the medium of power.

(It is worth noting that when Cohen did interfere in one student's sexual life, he did so by commanding that student to visit prostitutes daily.

See here:

IMO, in this episode, Cohen did abuse sexuality through use of a student as a surrogate.

The student had to find and pay a prostitute in order to execute this command - in effect the student had to pay money for his own humiliation in order to please Andrew Cohen. In this scenario, Cohen used this student as though that student was an action figure to be manipulated upon command to act out Cohen's personal hang-ups.)

Former members of Andrew Cohen's group might find some interesting material in this article.

"Fifty Shades of Green: Exploring Financial Domination"

(Text-only Google cache copy of same article -fewer pop ups)

My perspective, based on descriptions of Cohen's behavior via What Enlightenment? blogspot and American Guru is that Andrew Cohen sought domination of disciples -- and that Cohen used students' money as a medium through which to dominate and torment them, to own them.

I would suggest calling this fiscal BDSM.

Money and fears about losing money can bind us as tightly as beryllium steel handcuffs.

An adroit BDSM power junkie does not need to dress in black leather or latex, and does not need to own or rent a sound proofed brick and mortar dungeon.

He or she can create that dungeon within the subject's mind and body -- create a dungeon that is invisible but no less binding, and create the leashes, collars, whips and other tools as well.

That guru can do it through the medium of MONEY and puncture/penetration
of a person's financial privacy.

The first step to building that dungeon is to inspire curiosity, and elicit excitement, hope, trust, love in a potential recruit.

Next, persuade that recruit to remain friends with only the persons already associated with the guru.

Persuade the recruit to drop outside friends and family, then move in with the friends who share devotion to the guru.

At this point the invisible dungeon has been constructed. You forget there is a worthwhile outside world you can return to. You have been taught to regard that world as inferior, perhaps evil.

You have had the most astounding experiences in your life, experiences that feel beyond .your earlier limits.

You and your friends are convinced you are, with your guru, on the cutting edge of the world's evolution.

Your mind, heart and entire body participate in this shared discovery.

But you have forgotten there is a worthwhile life and a world of friends and family outside of all this.

But, you're actually in a dungeon and do not yet know it. Mentally and emotionally, the collar is around your neck and it is locked. Attached to that collar is a long leash.

You do not know this yet, because the guru has not yet yanked that leash.

The leash is your money and your financial privacy.

Any minute now, that leash will be yanked and that collar will give you an electric shock.

When that happens to you and you scream and freak out, your friends will pressure you to engage in full financial surrender. They've already done so.

Your shred of remaining autonomy and privacy is a reproach to them. They want you to give your financial surrender to the guru. And you have come to love and rely on those same friends.

YEEEEIUIIIII$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You are in chaos. The neurobiology that supports your critical thinking
is disrupted by mega stress and utter shock.

You regress.

You are so fried that you cannot sleep. You're in torment due to terror, shame, conflicted loyalties.

You forget there is a world outside of this. And if you do remember, you
know that you'll prove yourself a worm if you run away.

YEEEEIUIIIII$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You're in chaos and primitive. You need something to hold onto for stability. The only source of stability is the guru who has orchestrated your torment. The guru who has crafted the entire social context that makes you scream.

You've been turned into a suffering animal with a few shreds of verbal awareness
clinging to the turmoil.

You don't have access to your full adult mind or to your outside friends and family. After all, you moved in with this guru -- who was flattering and welcoming when you were still autonomous and had a life of your own.

But you cant remember when you had a worthwhile life without that guru. You cannot remember because you are a stressed out wreck.

Let us look at Cohen's financial Dungeon Master status. He got more power than the IRS. Amazed at this assertion? Look more closely.

In the meat-space world, the only entity empowered to demand access to all aspects of our cash flow is the Internal Revenue Service.

If the IRS wants to audit us, we do not face that audit alone. We can arrange to be accompanied and represented by a CPA and if need be, an attorney. When audited by the IRS, we can go to our own homes at night and see our families and friends.

Look at Cohen's status.

His students were not accompanied by a CPA or attorney of their own choosing when they were ordered to give access to their financial assets.

(How else could Cohen have known that Jane O'Neill had two million dollars? That Bill Yenner had eighty thousand dollars?)

His students could not go home to their families and friends at night - because by the time Cohen was pressuring them for money, they'd already burned their bridges and given full emotional and social investment to Andrew Cohen and his community. Their friends were in that same community! Jane's friends were told to avoid her, so Jane had no one to confide in while being pressured for that two million.

The IRS does not cut you off from your friends and family who are outside the IRS. The IRS focuses on your tax returns, not on who your friends and family are.

The IRS doesn't demand that you surrender ties to your friends and families. So, if the IRS puts you under the stress of an audit, you're not alone.

In Cohen's fiscal BDSM space , his students were under more pressure than even the IRS could inflict.

What I would dare call "monetary" bondage/sadism, Domination/submission
was enacted many times in Cohen's fiefdom.

Cohen was preoccupied with obtaining liquid money from the beginning.

Many students gave Cohen gifts freely and from love. Here is what Cohen did with some of that swag.
This person ("Disculta")described how, in the 1980s, Cohen secretly exchanged student gifts for cash.

[www.ex-premie.org]

Quote

He used to operate around here - used to hold his satsang in my old yoga school in fact, and I know several ex-followers. He is a big sleaze. My ex-husband used to work in a fancy men's clothing store. All his devotees used to come in to buy him presents. Then he would come in with some guys he hung out with (and my ex-hub said they definitely seemed to be gay, but this could be his imagination) and they would exchange these sacred gifts for cold, hard cash.

His mother wrote a book about him - I believe it's called Mother of God, or God's Mother, or some such thing. Apparently it's a pretty funny expose.

The thing is, he's clever. He manages to seem intellectual and spiritual and get people like Ken Wilber to respect him.

Later, however, Cohen displayed a much more troubling behavior pattern -
he orchestrated not one but a number of incidents in which students gave him money amidst suffering. Students were forced to affirm Cohen's dominion
of them by enagaging in acts of financial self mutilation - I dare say financial abasement, financial masochism..

Various incidents

* Demanding that disgraced students give painfully large sums of money
so as to be forgiven

* Subjecting students to immense emotional suffering whilst demanding money from them. (Jane O'Neill)

[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]
Andrew Cohen and Donations - his secrecy

[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]

[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]

* Demanding that a student vandalize a valuable and cherished automobile.

(The Volvo Incident)

What Corboy finds most interesting is that a Google search reveals
that former Cohen students who wanted Cohen to return their money were required to sign gag orders as a condition of regaining their money.

In exchange for having money you gave under duress returned to you, submit to a different version of duress: a gag order forbidding you to stay publicly silent about your time with Cohen for X number of years.

In exchange for regaining your control over this money, you agree that Andrew Cohen owns your tongue for the next few years!

In consensual and safe kinkery, prior to the scene, the participants negotiate gestures that the gagged person can use to signal that the dominant partner stop, remove the gag, and so they can discuss whether the submissive person wishes to end the scene or request a change.

"Unpaid emotional labor" is another powerful concept provided by the Fifty Shades of Green article.

Look at the vast amount of emotional nurture Andrew Cohen demanded from his students. He demanded their gratitude, demanded it repeatedly Students had to attend to Cohen's emotional well being 24-7.

It went further. Students paid huge sums of money to give emotional nurture to Andrew Cohen.

Was there reciprocation?

In the comments section of this article, a former student mused:

Quote


[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]

.... I'm trying HARD to remember a single instance of Andrew expressing gratitude to another human being in the years I was around him. And I mean gratitude, not praise.

Gratitude seemed to flow unceasingly toward him but not much flowed out. This is an amazing reflection on not only Andrew but also me for not noticing it before.

In Cohen's world, the energy donors (emotional energy, fiscal energy) give it all away to Cohen, and got contempt in return.


Bill Yenner wrote:

Quote

Andrew let it be understood that his good favor could also be had for a price, establishing a practice that was morally reprehensible, legally questionable and indicative of a degree of corruption that had warped his ideals and would eventually stain the fabric of his entire organization. It is a testament to the faith that so many of us had in Andrew that, despite the questionable nature of these new financial arrangements, we complied – some of us taking on enormous and ill-advised debt. Though it may be difficult for outsiders to comprehend, our desire to please our guru was so great that we were prepared to mortgage our futures in order to do so.

[webcache.googleusercontent.com]

Worse, so very many "spiritual" celebrities have countenanced Cohen and associated with him.

The most dangerous thing of all is that human beings can adjust to any situation, no matter how dire, and forget they can leave.

Why?

Because under stress, we regress.

Chant this.

Under stress, we regress.

That is why is important to remove oneself as quickly as one can from
any situation that makes you feel "icky". So what if someone calls you
First Tier, close minded, or ego ridden.

We forget there is a life outside of the scenario.

Just remember Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment. People were told they could leave, but all of them forgot that they could leave.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2016 11:20PM by corboy.

Andrew Cohen Authentic Self Evolutionary Enlightenment EnlightenNExt

Corboy note: Let's hope this documentary gives attention to those who enabled
Cohen, particularly Ken Wilber and the various celebrities who continue to allow their names to be linked to Andrew Cohen.

[www.conscious2.com]

How I Created a Cult

The Story of Andrew Cohen and EnlightenNext
A 6-part documentary produced by Conscious 2
Episodes weekly starting 16th October (2016)

Andrew Cohen is one of the most controversial spiritual teachers of the last 30 years. In 2013 his organization EnlightenNext collapsed amidst claims of abuse and the shocking revelation it had been a cult.

This groundbreaking 6-part series features interviews with Andrew Cohen, former students including William Yenner (author of American Guru) and Marlowe Sand (author of Paradise and Promises), and commentary from experts such as Dr. Roger Walsh, Tami Simon and Steve McIntosh.

How I Created a Cult explores the danger of unchecked power in the hands of a charismatic leader. This powerful documentary investigates three decades of psychological abuse and what happens when people risk it all in the name of spiritual awakening.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2020 02:05AM by corboy.

.Additional information about the upcoming Andrew Cohen documentary and how to see the first two episodes for free.

[americanguru.net]

Worrisome news: Cohen is attempting to relaunch his career.

Quote

Latest development…Andrew Cohen is currently attempting to re-launch his career as a spiritual teacher with a speaking engagement at the “Forum for the Evolution of Consciousness”, an effort opposed (for obvious reasons) by many of those who were abused by Cohen as recently as three years ago …as more details become available they will be posted here.

Forum for the Evolution of Consciousness

[www.evolutionconscience.com]

Where things currently stand:

1. The Relaunch(es)
Cohen went on sabbatical in 2013, purportedly “to become a better man”—having discovered that, like his comparatively unenlightened followers, he, too, had “an ego.” He issued his first of two public apologies. He then departed for India, and wasn’t heard from (or about) for the next two years.

When he returned to the U.S. following his two-year “sabbatical” (a term that itself indicated an intention to resume “teaching” at some point), there were rumors about his potential re-emergence as a “thought leader,” if not a wholesale “relaunch” of his guru career. He issued his second public apology“, and began an “apology tour” that entailed visiting several former students while avoiding former members of his inner circle (and others) from whom he knew he could expect the harshest criticism.

As part of Cohen’s rehabilitation campaign, he now claimed that his role and authority had been undermined by his former core group of students, who, he also claimed, had closed down EnlightenNext without his knowledge or approval while he was on his “sabbatical.”

Meanwhile, several leaders in Cohen’s organization, some of whom during the course of Enlightennext’s final years had begun their own careers as authors and seminar leaders (some independently and some under the wing of EnlightenNext), had been gradually emerging from Cohen’s shadow. (See “Baby Andrews,” below.)

This has led to widespread suspicion that Cohen’s “abdication” might actually have been the result of a coordinated putsch by those emerging leaders who had begun to regard Cohen’s authoritarian ways as an impediment to their own professional ambitions. There were potential careers to be made, and money to be “earned.”

Some members of this former leadership group posted public complaints about how much they had sacrificed for the sake of “the Revolution” only to find themselves in middle age with no track record outside of Cohen’s orbit, which made for embarrassingly thin resumés.

2. The Money

The local non-profit legal entities of EnlightenNext, both in London and the U.S. (the Foxhollow estate in Lenox, MA) have been forced to acknowledge that their stated missions are defunct and to determine what to do with their substantial assets, invested almost entirely in real estate.

EnlightenNext London sold its Centre (for approximately $4 million) and has spent the past couple of years in a decision-making process regarding how to allocate these funds.

At Foxhollow, real estate holdings (once worth $7 million according to previous EnlightenNext financial statements) have been liquidated in pieces, and all having been sold at this point.

Per the latest publicly available financial report, “EnlightenNext EIN: 22-2951275? reports in its most recent report of 2014, income of $507 and assets of about $1.5 million. According to Massachusetts Law, a charity that ceases operations must donate its remaining assets to another charity with similar goals, failing which its remaining funds must be turned over to the state. Meanwhile, EnlightenNext’s U.S. Board of Directors has issued no communications regarding its intentions with respect to the distribution of its funds on hand.

3. Baby Andrews

Former members may have a variety of reasons for not wanting to accept that Andrew Cohen’s organization was a sham, and they may employ elaborate mental strategies to avoid doing so, but failing to recognize pathology for what it is has to make their lives more difficult at some crucial level, usually in ways they may not be even slightly aware of. (In many cases, of course, this lack of awareness is precisely the point.)

Ultimately, though, an important event in the unfolding of this kind of pathology is that some people become sufficiently immunized against its euphemistic overtures (and their own rationalizations) to be able to recognize it for what it is. It’s a matter of being the canary in the coal mine, or of being able to see all the way through the emperor’s new clothes.

People like Jeff Carreira, Craig Hamilton, and Pete Bampton, on the other hand, who have chosen out of personal expediency to avoid accepting responsibility for their part in the debacle that was EnlightenNext, continue to portray themselves as enlightened purveyors of salvation through “higher consciousness” to a species they condescendingly regard as frozen in its collective adolescence.

The obvious irony here is that their so-called “evolutionary worldview” was nurtured in an alarmingly dysfunctional environment.

But these slick new “spiritual teachers,” with their free webinars and early-bird discounts, would rather have a career than a conscience to show for the endless hours they spent enduring, enabling and perpetrating emotional abuse (and worse) during their much-touted decades of “transformative spiritual practice” in a “living laboratory of spiritual evolution.”

Because this kind of self-deluding hypocrisy can’t fail to leave its imprint on the new “communities” and “collectives” that such individuals have in turn attracted and gathered about them, it’s important for all concerned to know more about their backgrounds, and to think carefully about what their prospective or existing followers may be getting themselves into.

I’m not (necessarily) suggesting that these self-appointed “leaders” have nothing to offer, but at the very least they owe their customers an honest admission of the nature of their past participation in EnlightenNext, regardless of its potential to diminish their aura of authority or their bottom line. Their unwillingness to own up to the more questionable aspects of their “apprenticeship” is an indication that what they’re offering people is at best an attractive illusion and at worst a form of self-serving manipulation that merely extends the tentacles of Andrew Cohen’s unfortunate legacy.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2016 08:13PM by corboy.

[forum.culteducation.com]

[www.theatlantic.com]

If you have trouble accessing the article via the URL, here is the cached link

[webcache.googleusercontent.com]

How Well-Meaning, Intelligent People End Up in a Cult

Sep 26, 2016 | 39 videos
Video by The Atlantic

EnlightenNext was an organization, founded by self-styled guru Andrew Cohen, that aimed to facilitate spiritual awakening. Cohen’s most devoted students meditated for hours—at times, months—on end, were often celibate, and lived together. However, what started as an idealistic venture quickly turned into a complicated, often-sinister world that revolved around Cohen. The story of EnlightenNext’s rise and fall begs a deeper question: How do otherwise well-intentioned and rational people end up in a cult? In this documentary, The Atlantic talks to former members, as well as Cohen himself, about their stories in order to uncover the life span of a new religious movement that, after 27 years, collapsed nearly overnight.

Authors: Jaclyn Skurie, Nicolas Pollock

What Happens When a Skeptical Science Writer Meets a Cult Leader?

Was the spiritual leader Andrew Cohen enlightened or a super-egomaniac?

[blogs.scientificamerican.com]

[www.integralworld.net]

Reposted from brokenyogi.blogspot.com (11/18/2009) with permission of the author.
THE HYPNOTIC TRANCE OF CULTS AND CULTISTS
CONRAD GOEHAUSEN

Cohen felt free to assault people with brutal questions in person.

Here is what happened when a former student posted a polite
letter to Cohen's website. This information provided by the American Guru website.

[americanguru.net]

Quote

"Below is the aforementioned letter from Cohen’s long-time former student L., who posted it on Cohen’s website only to discover that it had been quickly removed. Please feel free to pass it along to others who might wonder what Andrew Cohen is actually up to."

Quote


* * * * * * * *

Thank you, Andrew for sharing your version of the story, and how you emphasize that you need utter humility. I am impressed! I love what you are saying about those books, all negative that were written about you, and how you should have listened to what was exposed in them.

As you know, there are at least over 200 [former] close students who have signed a ‘petition’ that they don’t see you fit to teach. I know many students who haven’t even bothered to sign, since you will do your own thing anyways, or just don’t want to get involved in any way. Also you must have had hundreds of letters from ex-students pointing out the same thing.

Any interest in finding out what that means about your conclusions now?

The blue meme treatment was sometimes helpful, I agree. But that was not really what the problem was.

Did you ever tell your new students the really traumatizing and mean things you put us through? Like cursing people, who wanted their independence back, and that they would go to hell, and that they had betrayed the deepest of their commitments (to you, as you would understand that)?

That’s what was the problem.

Also you contradict yourself in describing your students: very intelligent, beautiful people–and weak people who wanted a father figure. I agree with the first, not with the latter. These beautiful intelligent people had the courage to give up everything to try to realize a vision of oneness and communication in a higher consciousness. Instead you would sabotage that and set people up against each other.

So you might as well add that to your story of how bad a teacher you were. And for not listening to the current criticism I would say that you failed utterly in your fresh intentions to have an open, vulnerable and humble heart.

– Letter shared by L., a former long time student

American Guru summation:

"In yet another example Andrew Cohen’s shameless willingness to censor his critics, Cohen deleted the following letter from a former student which she had posted as a comment on his website. In spite of the many recent declarations Cohen has made with respect to seeing his own ego, facing into the harm he has done, having learned his lesson “the hard way,” etc, he continues to practice the gagging of his (former) students when they dare to step out of line and criticize him.

"The ostensible premise underlying Cohen’s intention to teach again is that, because he has learned from his mistakes and somehow managed to cultivate greater humility and depth, his services as a spiritual thought leader should once again be made available to those evolving humans who can benefit from exposure to his timeless wisdom.

"What seems more than obvious, however, is that he’s actually learned nothing of any real value, that his integrity is permanently AWOL, and that he continues to represent a clear and present danger to any spiritual seeker unfortunate enough to enter his orbit."


* * * * * * * *

When the Most Awake Among Us Fall Asleep: Marc Gafni, His Supporters and Wetiko

[www.awakeninthedream.com]

Some interesting speculations on how charismatic yet abusive persons
create and intensify an entire social context of denial.

A few quotations from this lengthy and article - deserves close and attentive reading.

Quote

Wetiko is a deceiving spirit; those who are unconsciously taken over by it—as Gafni certainly appears to be—can manifest as seeming masters of deception. To quote Gafni’s third ex-wife, “He was so efficient and convincing a liar that I view all of his supporters…as victims of his pathology.” According to numerous reports of his victims, Gafni would swear them to secrecy—thereby keeping the whole community in the dark about what was actually happening. This compartmentalization is an externalized reflection of the inner state of fragmentation of the psyche when abuse is involved. In a case where the micro reflects the macro, keeping parts of a whole system separate and dis-associated from each other is how the centralization of power and control gets institutionalized in the body politic of our world.

Corboy note: Perhaps one feature of this process of "keeping parts of a whole system separate and dissociated" is that abusive incidents are each seen in isolation, then minimized. Each incident seen, then minimized, is put in isolation.

This is like entering the number 1 into a calculator, doing so many times, doing so for years -- yet never pressing the sum button.

All you see in this disconnected, dissociated "itemizing" awareness is the number 1, over and over again. Sort of like an eternal present.

Until you press that sum button, you cannot see that all those multiple number ones add up to a big, nasty NUMBER.

Better yet, imagine seeing just one letter or blank space at a time and writing it down, one letter and blank space at a time, yet never sitting back and reading what all those letters and blank spaces spell out.

Anyone who does will be considered mad or bad by those who remain in itemizing awareness. )

Quote

A key way of illumining and getting a handle on the abuse, as if stalking a wild animal, is to follow its footprints as it covertly operates through the unconscious psyche – be it of an individual, a group or within our own minds. When the unconscious becomes visible, if followed with awareness, it reveals itself to be a doorway, potentially leading us back to ourselves.

We can follow the unconscious manifestations of the abuse by noticing the various red flags that signify that we are encountering the energy of wetiko. For instance, many of Gafni’s students, friends and colleagues, responding to the multiple accusations of abuse, have written positively glowing statements in support of him. They talk about how loving, warm, generous, well-intentioned, brilliant and filled with integrity he is. And yet—raising a glaring red flag—none of the people writing these supportive statements are seriously investigating or hearing what the accusers are saying. If Gafni’s supporters listened to and actually responded to the accusations, it would add a level of credibility to their defenses of Gafni that is heretofore lacking. Instead, they are simply making blanket statements about how wonderful Gafni is, all the while subtly (or not so subtly) inferring that the accusers are making “false claims” against Gafni. It is not simply that Gafni’s supporters are not hearing the accusers’ voices (a passive act), but on the contrary, they are actively putting down, invalidating and in some cases actually attacking the very voices to which they are not listening.

The indisputable fact is that the people who are writing these wonderful endorsements of Gafni have no idea what actually happened – they weren’t there during the experiences and never spoke with those directly involved. Yet, they are writing “as if” they not only have an authority to comment on the accusers’ claims, but represent themselves as if they have more authority than those who had the actual experiences with Gafni. This bears repeating: Gafni’s supporters—who are in no position to know what happened—are telling people who are in a position to know what happened, what happened! This is a red flag signifying the unconscious, announcing to all who have eyes to see that the darkness of the unconscious is playing itself out so as to—potentially—come to light.

Wetiko works through the projective tendencies of the mind such that we become entranced—bewitched—by our own projections. When Gafni’s supporters refer to the false accusations made by his accusers—as if it is an irrefutable, objective fact that these claims could not possibly be true—his supporters are actually doing the very thing that they are accusing Gafni’s accusers of doing! By accusing Gafni’s victims of making false accusations, his supporters are themselves making false accusations, for his supporters are in no position whatsoever to know the truth of what they are talking about.

Some of Gafni’s supporters have even suggested that the reason accusers are attacking Gafni is because shadow forces in their psyches have been triggered by and are reacting against “the forces of light and love” that Gafni is bringing into the world! Prominent meditation teacher and long-time supporter Sally Kempton has accused Gafni’s critics of projecting their shadow onto Gafni, which is exactly what his supporters are doing via their accusations. This shadow projection suggests once again that the unconscious is playing itself out in the most maddening of ways.

One comment following the article

Quote

http://www.awakeninthedream.com/marc-gafni/ark Forman says:
August 28, 2016 at 4:00 am
Speaking from being on the inside of the Integral community, there is no need to invoke as a phenomena as flimsy and new-agey as “wetiko.” The truth was much more basic… Gafni did a lot of his alleged perpetration pre-internet (leaving scattered evidence which was not easily compiled until much later) and there was otherwise not a very clear way to discern if he was just slightly damaged or a true victimizer. Gafni existed in this grey area and – like the narcissist that he is – benefited from playing the victim and putting up a wall of earnest denial. That made denouncing him for some time – based on mostly anonymous victim reports and warnings from distant Jewish communities – a dicey proposition.

Also, without invoking “wetiko,” we just have to see that Gafni exploited a bunch of normal individuals who had trouble seeing and recognizing a personality disordered person in action. If there is anything to debunk here, it’s the idea that the leading lights of the Integral community you mention are actually psychologically astute persons beyond what other educated individuals are. They are most assuredly not. Sally Kempton is a very dull woman on that level. Wilber – who is otherwise brilliant as a theorist and is a nice fellow – has relatively weak interpersonal skills and has let several personality disordered teachers get past his radar (he seems to have a blind spot around narcissists). There’s nothing shocking about this and it doesn’t take a major statement to figure out how this happened. It happens all the time in every community and in every culture.

Those of us who saw that Gafni was damaged – though I don’t think most of us knew quite how badly until later – were stuck amongst those who we personally knew and liked and who were swayed by Gafni. It just took time for Gafni to burn enough bridges so that the good will created by his charisma eroded, but it had been eroding in earnest since 2008.

Corboy note:

It is also possible that Gafni, like other abusive persons, developed
a way to identify exactly those persons most likely to freeze and go into a shock/speechless stance in response to a boundary violation.

Very many persons who lack trust in themnselves react exactly this way. A shock
freeze reaction on their part DOES NOT SIGNIFY CONSENT - IT NON VERBALLY SIGNALS FEAR, EVEN TERROR.

This has been termed "reflexive passivity".

A true spiritual practitioner would be someone lovingly attuned to persons and would be able to read this shock freeze speechless reaction as a signal to STOP, STEP BACK, and then mirror to that person that you see them looking frozen, then protect them.

Only a non attuned ox or a predatorially attuned person would read this freeze reaction as consent to go further.

Here are some articles on how "reflexive passivity" operates.

[forum.culteducation.com]

[forum.culteducation.com]