Comments following this article are worth a peek

[integral-options.blogspot.com]

A masterful and concise summary by Mr Kevin R D Shepherd

'American Guru' entry No 34 on Mr Shepherd's On Philosophy blog


[kevin-rd-shepherd.blogspot.com]

Urban Zen Chopra Cohen Huffington

[fora.tv]

Now, just in case people have forgotten, here is an old
report from the What Enlightenment blog:

Quote


Shame, Guilt and the Guru's Blood

[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]

Quote

The sense of guilt and shame, and the feeling that one was constantly “betraying one’s Master” could inspire the willingness to make sacrifices that seem extreme and irrational from the outside. Andrew seems to encourage this behavior, even relish it. Some years ago at Foxhollow, a student named Jeff, a very good writer, was having a great deal of trouble with a writing project he had been assigned to do. He was supposed to write an introduction to a book Andrew was publishing, but he was having no success. Feeling terrible guilt about this, he wrote in a desperate letter to Andrew that “if I don’t come through, I will cut my finger off.” Andrew seemed to like this idea. When Jeff still did not succeed at his writing, Andrew called for Michele, the physician, to come see him. My informant was present when Andrew instructed Michele what to do. Andrew told Michele to go to see Jeff, and to bring her medical kit. She was instructed to tell Jeff that Andrew was taking him up on his offer to sacrifice a finger. She should take out her scalpel, her mask, her gloves, a sponge—everything she would need for such an operation—and lay them all out. She was told to carry through the charade up to the very last minute, and then stop.

When Michele visited Jeff, he had barely slept in about a week. He was in a desperate state. Nobody was there but Michele, who is still a student of Andrew, and Jeff, who I do not know how to contact. But Michele confirmed to another informant of mine that she had followed Andrew’s instructions precisely. Jeff was severely and obviously shaken by the incident. He left Andrew and Foxhollow a few weeks later.

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When I left the Andrew Cohen community in late 1996, before its move to Lenox, Massachusetts, Andrew had already begun to speak openly of his fondness for guilt. It went along, in his mind, with his emphasis on conscience and “doing the right thing.” I remember Andrew saying at a special retreat of close students in Mill Valley, California that I attended that while other teachers talked of unconditional love, self-acceptance and forgiveness, he did not agree with such talk. “I’m not into unconditional love or forgiveness,” he said. “I’m into conditional love and guilt.” Andrew would say that while it was not his preference, if that is what it took to force change, using guilt and shame was perfectly alright.

Over the years, Andrew instilled a sense of guilt and shame in various ways, as he deemed necessary. He would often highlight student’s weak points by giving them an embarrassing or insulting name. A student who received such a name could only use that name in the community, and community members were required to use that name when addressing or referring to that person, until Andrew said it could stop. Some examples of these names include Vacance, Mad Dog, Raging Bull, Furious, Dizzy, Casual, Unreal, Mephisto, Q the Clown, Sherma the Tank, Tamasa and His Greatness or “HG.”

The shaving of heads was also used to mark someone who was in trouble. While it was sometimes a voluntary act symbolizing renunciation, shaving one’s head became more and more something that you were required to do when Andrew was unhappy with you.

These devices of inducing shame were already in force before the move to Foxhollow. But after the move to Foxhollow, the use of guilt and shame as a teaching device seemed to increase dramatically.

At Foxhollow, Andrew also began to speak openly of what he called “healthy shame.”

However, it now appears that brain science is demonstrating that this kind of shaming is the WORST way to assist people to reach their full capacity and talent as human beings.

Let us look again at Jeff, who was having trouble completing his assigned work project for Andrew Cohen and blamed himself.


The following quoted information undercuts Wilbers rationale that people need Rude Boy gurus to whip them to the greatest possible height of evolutionary development. Science shows us that cruely does not bring out the best in us.

The information is from a blog for attorneys entitled Lawyers Wellbeing. [lawyerswellbeing.com]

The following quoted information undercuts Wilbers rationale that people need Rude Boy gurus to whip them to the greatest possible height of evolutionary development. This new research by neurologists contradicts Wilber and Cohen's celebration of Rude Gurus.

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Professors Richard Boyatzis and Anthony Jack at the Weatherhead School of Management have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show neural reactions based on different coaching styles. Their research has shown that coaches who use encouraging and inspiring language that points out strengths and the potential for improvement precipitate neuro-endocrine changes in the brain that make people think and feel positively. These people are more likely to work hard, give their best and function at their highest level of creativity. When the coaching language emphasized weaknesses, flaws, or other shortcomings, the coached person was affected in the opposite way. Being judged made him defensive and aroused negative thoughts and feelings with reduced motivation to work and reduced creativity. Brain imaging reflected coaching tone.
Their paper Coaching with Compassion: An fMRI Study of Coaching to the Positive or Negative Emotional Attractor was presented at a recent Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Montreal and was awarded as a Best Paper.

The language you choose to communicate with your clients, colleagues, associates, staff, and family, affects your emotional state and their emotional state as well.

If you want to be of use to your client, then speak with him in a respectful, caring way laced with wise, practical advice.

If you prefer to serve your own ego needs, then speak down to your client in an authoritarian, bullying way. The language sets the emotional dynamic. You have the power to set an intention for the interaction and choose the appropriate language or you can operate on autopilot and let whatever language comes into your head dictate the emotional dynamic.

From the findings of this research, the horrible cruelty visited upon Jeff and the students would not have assisted their creativity--it would most likely hampered creativity and increased the likeihood the tormented person suffering writers block.

Contrary to Ken Wilber's praise of Rude Gurus as being necessary for evolution--cruelty and stress hamper human achievement.

Again:

"If you prefer to serve your own ego needs, then speak down to your client* in an authoritarian, bullying way..."

*students, disciples

Worth re-reading:

[americanguru.net]

You need to check out where this insane blog. This person used to post here as dsm but she was banned. Now she is taking on other groups. She had a huge rage up against Andrew Cohen but she often doesn't leave her blogs up once she "calms" herself in the morning and thinks about the lawsuits she is dealing with as she libels people.

I hope people do view her hideous videos and blogs and leave her a piece of their mind for the nasty way she slanders people.

I would encourage people to speak out about her lies and abuses as she is hurting a number of people who have done nothing wrong, they just don't like her idol, Dave McKay, cult leader.

[www.youtube.com]

[www.youtube.com]


People need to see her junk and let her know how inappropriate it is the way she attacks people.

Styxxx,
I don't think that there is anything to be gained by giving this person the attention she craves. She has a persecution complex that has completely taken her over.

Let her rant, she is showing the world what is inside her head and it is not pretty. She will continue to make her appeals regardless. Fuelling the fire will only increase her rage and hatred and she is directing that against Zeuszor and others because she unfortunately has their real world identities. (She has it ass-backwards as she finds piece of information then constructs a story around whatever piece of information she has--good for fiction writers but not for reality.)
Don't make life harder for them than it already is, ignore this woman, she is just another internet crazy with a grudge. The people she has identified need to protect themselves against her bile, the rest of us need to not inflame the situation.

This person is way past any appeal to reason or appropriate behaviour. Leave her to her self-constructed and very painful isolation.

According to Dante, there is more than one circle of hell and not all of them are hot:

Inferno, Dante



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2010 11:20PM by Stoic.

Once someone has been banned here it is probably wisest to leave them be.

"People need to see her junk and let her know how inappropriate it is the way she attacks people"

It is Andrew Cohen's junk that needs to be understood for what it is--and the junk peddled by the celebrity New Age types who associate with Cohen despite the staggering amount of documentation concerning Cohen's treatment of people.

Best thing is focus on powerholders, the abusive leaders, and powerful groups that recruit and dont inform their targets of how painful and dangerous long term commitment to that group actually is.

Anyone can put stuff on youtube, but that does not make the person a major powerholder with a twenty plus year career as Cohen has, and who continues to somehow (WHY??) get associations with New Age celebrities who are failing use their fame in a manner that is responsible.

So lets keep the focus on the bigger fish to fry--namely in this thread, Andrew Cohen and the celebrities who endorse him.

The really interesting question here is to ask what the nature is of the New Age/Dharma Lite circuit that Cohen hasnt been left by himself in the backwoods to twiddle his thumbs--and why he wasnt put out to pasture long ago.

Tell it to the Navy


The US Navy recognizes there is a such a thing as unacceptable cruelty-

--Why cant Andrew Cohen's apologists and enablers recognize it?



Here is yet another question about the New Age/Culture of Integral Abuse/Guru Adulation/Dharma Lite/Spiritual Celebrity/Cultic Milieu Scene

Why is it that someone with a long record as a verbally vicious guru still out there and with no mechanism in place to set limits on the cruelty of his career and put him out to pasture?

No one who wants to keep a full set of teeth will ever accuse sailors in the US Navy of being wimps.

But this officer was relieved of command for cruelty and is now facing the possiblity of her career in the US Navy being ended as well. The hearing begins today.

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Graf board of inquiry to convene Tuesday

By David Larter - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 29, 2010 21:13:14 EST

A cruiser skipper who was fired for cruelty and mistreatment of her crew will go before a Navy board of inquiry Tuesday that will recommend whether she can continue her Navy service.

Capt. Holly Graf was relieved as commanding officer of the Yokosuka, Japan-based cruiser Cowpens on Jan. 13 after an inspector general’s investigation found problems with her “temperament and demeanor.”

[www.navytimes.com]

Related links to this story

[www.navytimes.com]

[www.navytimes.com]

[www.navytimes.com]

Take home lesson is this:

If you want your ego to be challenged and your body tested, and do it as part of a team, a collective, dont let some coddled, entourage cozy guru recruit you.

If you meet the qualifications--join the Navy. You get pay, you have comraderie, you take orders, you get yelled at, but unlike Andrew Cohen, you are serving a larger purpose than to service his ego.

You're serving your nation in a time of need. And the Navy, tough as it is, does understand there is such a thing as cruelty.

And peeps, if the Navy isnt enough, see if you qualify to be a SEAL. If you make it through BUDS you are part of a unique and tiny group.

Or you can go Army and then check out whether you qualify for the Rangers or the Special Forces.

Or see if the Air Force is where you qualify.

And dont forget the US Marine Corps.

Unlike gurus who dont reciprocate your loyalty, in the service, if you're killed or wounded, part of the code is do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to rescue a fallen buddy, whether wounded or dead.

Quite different from the New Age scene where the wounded are despised.

Spirituality for the Future? Included Old Fashioned Fact Checking


Donna Karan hosted an event with Arianna Huffington, Deepak Chopra and Andrew Cohen on how to create a spiritually empowered future.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

One person commented

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If Chopra and Cohen are the future of spirituali­ty, I'd rather live in the past. Chopra is just another self-help guru shamelessl­y distorting modern science to make a quick buck, and Cohen is widely considered an ego-maniac with a messianic complex. His own mother disowned him after years of being his student. I'll pass.

[www.huffingtonpost.com]

Corboys advice on how to create any kind of empowered future, spiritual or otherwise is do some old fashioned fact checking.

In Cohen's case that will lead to

Luna Tarlo's memoir The Mother of God

Andre van der Braak's book, Enlightenment Blues

Bill Yenner (and contributors) American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing

What Enlightenment blog

[whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]

and

[www.americanguru.net]

This thread contains information on how it was made difficult to find Mr Yenners website.

[forum.culteducation.com]
and I advised that the way to be sure to find Mr Yenners website without being distracted by algorithms devised to route ordinar

Andrew Cohen and the Future

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..and Urban Zen hosted a dialogue with Andrew Cohen and Deepak Chopra, entitled “Creating a Spiritually Empowered Future.”

The dialogue was moderated by Arianna Huffington.

(for full text read here)

[americanguru.net]