[www.enlightennext.org]

(information on ordering collectors set of EnlightenNext)

Quote

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[americanguru.net]

(quote)
News, notes, and links to relevant articles, which will be updated periodically. Contributions of relevant materials welcome, please send email to americanguru@ymail.com

10/28/11
Visitation from the Unknown on BuddhaGeek.

A hot discussion on the merits of Andrew Cohen’s philosophy gets shut down by the site owner. Why? Well, because it’s better to have such discussions in person, or at least somewhere else besides his blog. See it here:
[www.buddhistgeeks.com]

9/12/11
BREAKING: Marc Gafni’s Sexual Impropriety Re- Emerges
- Will Integral Leadership Step Up this Time?


[integral-options.blogspot.com]

“Integral Abuse” by Be Scofield has more background, (scroll down to section about Marc Gafni)
[www.integralworld.net]
There’s a discussion on Integral World Forum


[integralworld.proboards.com]

…plus Ken Wilber weighs in on the issue

[www.integralesleben.org]

The article from Integral Options covers a lot of ground and has URLs from prior discussions.

Marc Gafni is the third troubled spiritual leader endorsed by Ken Wilber, (Adi Da, Andrew Cohen, Gafni)--and if one lists Genpo Roshi, the list now extends to four. This calls Ken Wilber's discernment into question.

[integral-options.blogspot.com]

Monday, September 12, 2011BREAKING: Marc Gafni's Sexual Impropriety Re- Emerges - Will Integral Leadership Step Up this Time?
[NOTE - the title got confused during editing - the correct title is now attached. My apologies for the confusion on such an important post.]


There have been two recent developments regarding Marc Gafni, already a controversial, polarizing figure following a very public sex scandal five years ago.

[jewschool.com]

While many organizations and teachers would have nothing to do with him, the Integral world did seem to believe his version of events and took him back.

What's new:

Integral life has removed Gafni as a contributor to their website and as MC of the Integral Spiritual Experience 3 Conference.
Sounds True has cancelled publication of his upcoming book and severed ties with his Center for World Spirituality.
In an effort to discover what might be behind these developments, I have been in conversation with both Robb Smith, CEO of Integral Life, and Tami Simon, owner and publisher of Sounds True.


Robb and I have not had a chance to speak personally, but Tami kindly sent me the following response (posted with her permission):

When I first started working with Marc a couple of years ago, Marc and I spoke openly about his history and what he claimed were false accusations against him related to alleged sexual improprieties. Several influential people spoke up in his defense and equally several people warned me not to trust Marc. I came to believe that whatever had happened in the past, Marc was beginning a new chapter in his life. Marc explicitly stated to me that he was not going to be involved in sexual relationships with students, that even if he deemed such relationships to be consensual, he did not believe that engaging in relationships with students would support his efforts to be an effective teacher. In considering publishing Marc's work, the most important thing to me was the actual quality of the written work. When he submitted "Your Unique Self" in its edited form, I appreciated the content and message of the book. The quality of the book combined with the force of his conviction regarding how he would conduct himself as a teacher moving forward convinced me to take a risk on publishing his work.

In the past several weeks, new and incontrovertible information came to light that made me aware that Marc was involved in a sexual relationship with a student and that the relationship was shrouded in secrecy. There was an obvious lack of alignment between Marc's words to me and his actions. I learned about Marc's sexual relationship with a student from another woman who was having a sexual relationship with Marc. This woman was also asked by Marc to keep her relationship with him a secret. In talking with this woman, I learned how emotionally damaging this secrecy was for her, how it cut her off from emotional support and connection. I also learned quite a bit about how she felt manipulated by Marc, about how often she witnessed Marc telling lies to cover his tracks, and how upset she was to find herself caught in such a web of lies.

Discovering this new information, it became clear to me that it was not in integrity for me personally or for Sounds True as a company to publish Marc's books or to support him as a spiritual teacher in the world. I do not trust Marc Gafni. I do not trust what he says, and I do not trust that he acts in the best interests of his students or his professional alliances.

~ Tami Simon, Sounds True
Just to be clear here, Gafni was sleeping with two women, both of whom were in a power differential to Gafni - one was a private student.

However, the other woman was receiving marriage counseling (as was her husband, separately) as her marriage was ending. To my knowledge, Gafni is not licensed to provide counseling in Colorado

[www.dora.state.co.us]

All of this was happening while he was "partnered" with Mariana Caplan, who is the mother of his child, and who risked her own reputation to write a chapter in her book, The Guru Questionhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/1604070730/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=integraloptio-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1604070730&adid=0P1VVT1V5XVXPYKZ56Q5
, arguing for his supposed innocence regarding the Israel incident in 2006; [jewschool.com] Publisher's Weekly questioned that final chapter.[www.publishersweekly.com]


That a very intelligent woman who has written a book on discernment around spiritual teachers was taken in by one is ironic, but it is also testament to Gafni's ability to seduce otherwise intelligent people. Her fate serves as a stark warning to others who think they are immune from his seduction.

(Corboy note: Mariana Caplan was a long time disciple of self proclaimed God Man Lee Lozowick, who died November of last year. She wrote and published Halfway Up the Mountain: The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment. The book contained much quoted material from Lozowick, Andrew Cohen, EJ Gold and some material from Ken Wilber, interspersed with material from gurus and roshis with honored reputations. The book in retrospect seems almost to have been an info merical for Lozowick, Cohen and EJ Gold and to some extent, Wilber, for most of the quoted material was from the first three. )

As is his pattern, Gafni has sworn both women to silence (as Tami described above) - and, according to sources in contact with the victims, in this case one of the women came forward and "failed to hold that space." If you look back through the record of allegations against Gafni (this article contains statements by his early victims),[www.ynetnews.com] it is always the women who come forward who are to blame for not being able to maintain his bohemian, "post-conventional" lifestyle.

In a long and rambling article [www.ievolve.org] to the Integrales Forum position paperhttp://integralesleben.org/de/il-home/il-integrales-leben/anwendungen/religion-spiritualitaet/if-paper-on-the-discussion-about-spiritual-teachers/ on Integral Teachers and ethics, Gafni essentially offered a defense of his right as an "enlightened" teacher to have sexual relations with students. This is the defense he is currently offering for his affairs: he was involved in post-conventional relationships and the women failed to hold that space.

I have not had a chance to speak with Robb Smith directly, so the following information is based on reports from various people with access to the inner workings of Integral Life.

As mentioned above, it seems that Gafni has been removed by Integral Life from his usual leadership role of ISE3. Apparently, he will still be a presenter, but he won't be the MC and won't be running the event as he has for the previous two events (Jeff Salzman, Diane Hamilton, and Terry Patten will be leading this year's event).


Robb Smith was very displeased[www.facebook.com] that I implied Gafni's material (articles, interviews, and so on) had been removed from the Integral Life site in secret. Yet, they removed the content of one of their most visible, most promoted, and most prolific teachers with not a word of explanation and that is "post-conventional governance"?


Robb and I have been playing phone tag since that Facebook conversation at the end of August. [www.facebook.com] hope he makes a public statement - and if he wants to alleviate suffering, he will join me in proposing and working to ensure that no student ever engages with Marc Gafni in ignorance of his past behavior.


Gafni's Defenders


When Gafni first emerged from his two-year absence to resume his teaching (in 2008), his principle supporters were Robb Smith, Sally Kempton, Clint Fuhs, and Diane Hamilton. Robb offered an eloquent defense of Gafni and welcomed him back. I wonder if he now regrets those words, which Gafni has used as confirmation of his innocence and the legitimacyof his teaching.


Sally Kempton and Ken Wilber offered a long defense of Gafni and asserted that the women in Israel had lied (the letter was posted in the comments on this blog in response to my questioning of Gafni's presence at the 2010 Integral conference). Of those mentioned in the letter, Robb Smith, Rocky Anderson, and Diane Hamilton have all moved away from Gafni.


Gafni posted a good deal of defense on his blog when he first returned to teaching. Most of it is questionable at best - especially the psyche evaluations. I documented that in a post last summer - in that same post I offered a bit of a speculative psychological explanation for Gafni's behavior, which is not to be seen as an excuse.

*For the rest of the live links, read the Integral Options paper--Corboy


Gafni has had many opportunities to confront his own patterns and seek help, but he seems unwilling to do so as long as he has supporters like Sally Kempton and Mariana Caplan who enable his behaviors and find ways to rationalize them.


Going Forward - My Personal Views




Robb seems to think - this is the message he has given to the staff at Integral Life in asking them not to speak with me - that I am "on a mission." Yes, I most certainly am, but not the one he thinks.


My mission is to help prevent any other women from being victimized by Marc Gafni.


It is my hope that this post will offer a place for all of Gafni's victims (many of whom have never come forward publicly because of the fear of abuse and harassment they are likely to receive from him and his enablers) to tell their stories.


It is also my hope that other leaders, especially in the integral community, will follow the fine example set by Tami Simon and make a public stand against Gafni's lies and manipulations.


Allowing Gafni back into the Integral community - and defending him - has provided him with a platform to teach and begin his own organization - which has allowed him to bring chaos into the lives of two more women (that we know of - there may be others who are still silent). This need not have happened.


With his own organization now established at The Center for World Spirituality, it will be much tougher to discover or monitor his abuses than it would have been if he had never been allowed back into the integral community in the first place. When he is in charge, who monitors him? Who protects his students and employees?


I hold his enablers partly responsible - they willingly disregarded the experience of the women in Israel, the statements of his third ex-wife (much of what she says has been confirmed to me by other women who have been with him - for example, the "debasing sexuality" has been reported to me by other women who have been involved with him), and the statements of other organizations who had removed him from leadership positions.


However, the women willingly entered into these relationships - but would they have done so if there was a more public record of Integral leadership exposing his abuses?


So far, Tami Simon stands as the only leader willing to take a public stand on Marc Gafni. She should be applauded, but it is a sad testament to Integral post-conventional leadership that no one from that world has done the same.







[www.amazon.com]

The comments are of the utmost interest. One of the most insightful is this one.

"It’s been said before, but I think any reasonably intelligent observer could have predicted that the adoption of a metaphysic (Ken Wilber's system)which tells people they’re in the top 2% of human development and incomprehensible to the lower orders whom it is their destiny to lead would eventually devolve into this sort of guru-cult nonsense.

If you’re really still tied to “developmental” perspectives, you might want to meditate on what ex-Wilberites have yet to outgrow. "

Another commenter noted this:

"said...
Anonymous at 5:11 -

I know, it is hard to put your finger on it. The manipulation is subtle. I am not a professional like freedomofmind, but I can tell you my observations of him when he participated in the TEDx talks recently.

My first thought was that it was interesting that he chooses to use a handheld microphone. Most speakers prefer to use the headset type that allows both hands to be free. A few still choose to use the lavalier type fastened to their chest. Gafni was the only one who chose to use a handheld mike. It's kind of an authority symbol, and helps to set him up and separate from the audience. Then he starts by insulting the audience "I don't really know where I am, I know it's TED talks and it's Sin City. It was on my schedule so I'm showing up." The next thing was to try to engage the audience in a "chant". He encourages them to repeat his words after him. When they do that, then he encourages them to start waving their arms with him. He can asess the audiences' level of maleability by seeing how far he can persuade them to keep doing stupid people tricks. Then he tells some really bad jokes to see if he can elicit some polite laughter from people even though they didn't think it was funny. This gives him an idea of how much he can manipulate responses. He will also acknowledge someone at the start to let people know that he can feel specialness, and later he might even let you know how special you are.

And this sizing up the audience was just preparation...

Then he started his talk and the real manipulation started taking place.

Maybe freedomofmind can describe better what takes place.

7:51 AM
"

and

said...
I want to thank everyone here, including Robb Smith for his letter (despite Tom G.'s sentiments, which I can also understand, at least in part), Tami Simon, Bill Harryman, etc., and also express my sorrow to everyone who has suffered so greatly around all of this.

I have been involved in the Integral community for some time now and, while having a deep respect for much it, have found myself questioning its leadership and support of certain individuals with such a documented past of causing suffering to others. I am very happy to see that Robb and team are taking a stand here.

I know this has been batted around now many times, but while the topic is fresh, will there be a similar type of exploration of Andrew Cohen? The amount of narcissistic-laden suffering and confusion spread by Andrew over the years (this is no longer controvertible, is it?) is immense, I would argue on par with Marc's, though not as much in the sexual arena, per se.

The continued direct support of Andrew Cohen by ken (ken Wilber)and the Integral movement has made many of us question what it is we are involved with here, and what sort of shadow is really lurking in the background. Robb in his letter mentions he does not feel that these sorts of issues are part of the Integral shadow, however for many of us they very much are.

12:10 PM

Anonyomous

said...
I'm responding here to the critique of "victim language" here, which has been used by Tom Goddard and others I've seen defending Gafni. The gist of it is that everything was consensual and everyone bears full responsibility.

What I find interesting in this is that I never see this kind of critique when a financial con comes to light. Those who lost their money to Bernie Madoff's lies and schemes were not accused of excessive victimhood. Why is it so much easier to find compassion for those who have been conned financially than those who have been conned emotionally? In many ways, the stakes in an emotional con are even higher than those of a financial con.

6:55 AM

Simcha said...
This comment posted on Bill's blog last year bears repeating. I have no doubt that Gafni's current students face similar disillusionment.

"...The sad thing for me is that I remember trying to persuade friends that he seduced, friends who were brilliant, charismatic, highly educated and adept at seeing people's 'stuff'. They offered every counter argument I've read from people like Diane Hamilton and Sally Kempton. Every defense they offered, taken out of context, seemed possible. And then, after all of the abuse, the lying, the secrets, the double binding, the mind games, the fear, the pathology of the narcissist laid bare before their eyes--it was so obvious that he had been transparently sick from the first time they met him.
I know many, many of his former 'students', who LOVED him, were taken by him, thought he was a holy man, so good natured and selfless. They attacked those who warned that he was a liar, a manipulative, power hungry person. All evidence was 'manufactured' by those who were 'jealous' of him. And of course, these people said, he is so 'human', he shows us his imperfections every day. We're not being duped, thank you very much. We weren't born yesterday. We would never follow someone blindly. Well, in the end, after the extent of his lying was revealed, these same people, the ones who bought his act, were left wondering how they could have allowed themselves to be so blind."

DGA said...
Why so many teacher scandals in the integral world? Think of Dennis "Genpo Roshi" Merzel or Gafni, or back to good ol' Adi Da and Osho: when you make these teachers into commodities, there is always a contradiction between the expectation of the consumer and the totality of the product's behavior. (Hypothesis: you don't consent to go on the Zig Ziglar & Tony Robbins & Ken Wilber Buy This Now trip unless and until you have a personality that allows for that kind of whoredom.)

Solution: the integral studies scene needs less consumerism (of teachers, of media items, of "practices") and more critique. Thought is a valuable tool. Apply it appropriately. Rend the veil between the self-fashioning and secret-keeping guru, and the paying john.

for-the-turnstiles.blogspot.com

11:26 AM


7:33 PM
Anonymous said...
Has Ken Wilber made any public statements about this yet? Right now (Tues. 9/20/11), the top item on Wilber's blog is about 3 short talks by Wilber, Gafni, and Andrew Cohen. Wilber has no doubt influenced any number of people to become students of Cohen and Gafni, not to mention the late Adi Da (for example, in 1997, Wilber wrote, "Many people have made their way to Master Da because of my own writings. I am completely happy about that, and I hope I can continue that positive influence.").

I consider this a major ethical failure on Wilber's part, and an indication that his faculty of judgment where spiritual teachers are concerned is eclipsed by a massive blind spot. This also reflects poorly on all the students and followers who let him get away with this. The few who do speak out demonstrate maturity, integrity and courage.

9:40 AM



William Harryman owner of the blog sums it up

One of the dozens of people named Anonymous asked the following question (three times, to boot):

"I want to ask if WH feels he was thorough and patient in gleaning all the data he could, all the perspective of those involved, before posting the initial blog? And that he weighed in on the various intepretive possibilities of what might be the case given that extensive data?"

I waited almost three weeks from the time I found out about all of this before posting - I fact checked with several sources who are/were in contact with the women involved, including one of the women herself - I have been required, in order to protect the identities of those involved, to withhold facts that would be completely damning to Gafni's version of events, as well as to "Marcy"'s version of events - I weighed the merits of contextualizing the actions of Gafni within a psychodynamic interpretation, but decided the initial post should contain the facts of the situation - to present a multiperspectival account of the situation would have required a post that is so long as to have been largely unreadable by most visitors, and it would have detracted from the repetitive nature of Gafni's actions

**the REAL issue here is not about Gafni sleeping with multiple women (I could care less) - the real issue is that he sleeps with students, that he does so in an atmosphere of secrecy, and that he lies to the women he is with and to others (such as Tami Simon) about his actions, all the while holding himself up to the community as an enlightened and highly evolved teacher***(corboys asterisks for emphasis)

so, yes, I did exactly what you are asking about

6:54 AM

Anonymous said...
I have known Gafni for decades.
I note three interesting patterns over these decades:
1. His accusers are all liars, but he's sorry for what he did to them.
2. As his current generation of supporters come to regret their support, a new group always takes their place. It's hard, when you're close to Svengali, to turn your back on him. But you will, eventually.
3. In this latest scandal, the first words out of everyone who's known him over the years are "It was only a matter of time."
I once read in great detail the statements of those young girls in New York, and Gafni's lie detector tests. He sailed through those tests. Know why? Simple: the questions he was asked ("Did you rape her") did not match the girls' charges ("He made me touch him.") Who do you suppose wrote the questions.
So, to his supporters (that is, those who believe he is not a psychopath), ask him to sit one more time for the lie detector test - and let the questions track the girls' statements. Of course, if you are his true supporter, then the fact the his current website is a pack of lies will be nothing more than “ancient history” which he has transcended.
Of course, you supporters would never present such a challenge to Gafni, because you are infected with that toxin that he injects into all his friends and supporters and students and victims.
And it's the same reason that so many of you, who would never otherwise do so, have uncharacteristically chosen to write anonymously:
Fear. He works through

About Marc Gafni, Ken Wilber wrote:

But going through each relationship carefully, and breaking it down into each of these issues and risk factors, and then deciding in each case whether the situation was right or wrong in regard to that particular issue, is the only way each of us can proceed. This demands the very best of each of us—we must reach for our own very highest capacity for spiritual discernment, judgment, compassion, mercy, insight, and awareness. The same is definitely the case with this recent incident involving Marc.

Isn't it interesting how Wilber asks for gentle sensitivity when discussing Gafni, yet he praises Andrew Cohen's blatant aggression:

"But if you want Enlightenment, if you want to wake up, if you want to get fried in the fire of passionate Infinity, then, I promise you: find yourself a Rude Boy or a Nasty Girl, the ones who make you uncomfortable in their presence, who scare you witless, who will turn on you in a second and hold you up for ridicule, who will make you wish you were never born... Rude Boys know better. They are not here to console but to shatter, not to comfort but to demolish. They are uncompromising, brutal, laser-like. They are in your face until you recognize your Original Face—and they simply will not back off, they will not back down, they will not let up until you let go—radically, fully, completely, unhesitatingly. They live as Compassion—real compassion, not idiot compassion—and real compassion uses a sword more often than a sweet. They deeply offend the ego (and the greater the offense, the bigger the ego). They are alive as Truth, they are everywhere confronted with egos, and they choose the former uncompromisingly... I have often heard Nice-Guy teachers say that Andrew Cohen is rude, and I think, "You don't know the half of it." I have often heard it said that Andrew is difficult, offending, edgy, and I think, "Thank God." In fact, virtually every criticism I have ever heard of Andrew is a variation on, "He's very rude, don't you think?" And I smile the biggest smile you can imagine. If it weren't for the Rude Boys and Nasty Girls of God Realization, Spirit would be a rare visitor in this strange land."

Incredible cognitive dissonance from a supposedly super-evolved being.

The rules according to Ken Wilber:

1. Gurus and teachers may physically and psychologically violate disciples and students.

2. Disciples and students should be extremely gentle with gurus and teachers.

Sometimes I wonder if Ken is corrupt or stupid, but maybe he just has a gigantic blind spot when it comes to gurus and teachers. Either way, his implied claim of being super-evolved obviously collapses when you see his glaringly foolish treatment of gurus/teachers vs disciples/students.

I think that Wilber has to maintain his championing of these 'Rude Boy' gurus such as Cohen, as that position is all that props up his own claims to super-evolutionary development. It is an ego-defence that if dropped will render him just another joe making his way in the world any way he can--and Wilbur is heavily invested in being special and exalted, not in being that ordinary joe.

Whether he has any inkling of this or is a true believer in his own specialness is anyone's guess, the really deluded ones delude themselves first and most comprehensively.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2011 05:20PM by Stoic.

Ken Wilber wrote:

Quote

But going through each relationship carefully, and breaking it down into each of these issues and risk factors, and then deciding in each case whether the situation was right or wrong in regard to that particular issue, is the only way each of us can proceed. This demands the very best of each of us—we must reach for our own very highest capacity for spiritual discernment, judgment, compassion, mercy, insight, and awareness.

Let us examine Ken's RX more closely.

*KW puts the onus not on the abusive powerholder but on on those persons troubled by the powerholder's abusive behavior. It is those persons who already have functioning consciences who are told, by KW to 'reach for our own very highest capacity for spiritual discernment, judgement, compassion, mercey, insight and awareness'.

You'd not be troubled by the behavior of a powerholder unless you had conscience.

Problem is, we are dealing with persons who have been abusive not once, not twice but systematically, for YEARS. The powerholders whom KW defends and advocates for to be restrained by a functional conscience.

But-KW isnt publicaly telling Adi Da, Andrew Cohen or Marc Gafni to stop what they are doing and to exercise 'spiritual discernment, judgement, compassion, mercy, insight and awareness'--even though they are the ones who have injured their disciples!

Wilber who has had no training or licensure as a mental health professional, who is a self appointed guru who has been astute at PR is giving this advice concerning Gafni w who has reportedly engaged in clergy abuse. KW advises:

Quote

But going through each relationship carefully, and breaking it down into each of these issues and risk factors, and then deciding in each case whether the situation was right or wrong in regard to that particular issue, is the only way each of us can proceed.

If one does this, one vaporizes the dreadful abuse of students, 'breaks it down' and intellectualizes it into vapor. One also misses the grim point that the many others are making: That each of the gurus endorsed by Ken Wilber, including Gafni, followed a pattern.

That this is systematic abuse of human beings and has been perpetrated by Ken's friends and enabled by Ken's PR machine not once, not here, not there, but sytematically, for years.

This is a pattern, folks. A pattern.

And professional mental health professionals study patterns. They do this to determine whether a perpetrator is statistically likely to change if given remedial therapy, or whether the perpetrator should lose his or her license and whether yet more severe sanctions be imposed.

Here is a page from a work on Psychiatry and the Law, giving a typology.

[books.google.com]

The problem is, one is isnt licensed to be a guru. Its in a legal grey zone.

Two, in Ken Wilber's Integral world, abuse and cruelty have been normalized and rationalized as being accelerated to human spiritual/evolutionary development.

Mental health professions and forensic psychiatry have yet to identify a catagory for serial enabler of predatory powerholders.




Friends, here is what Wilber wrote back in 2006. This was shortly after the first publicity about Gafni's bad behavior broke out. Persons already troubled by Wilber's endorsements of Adi Da and Andrew Cohen could point to a third abusive leader whom Ken Wilber had endorsed.

In this context Ken Wilber wrote his infamous Wyatt Earpy diatribe.

Note the title, What We Are That We See

Therefore if we see a powerholder perpetrating injurious behavior, we are seeing our own inner shadow, not what that powerholder is doing to another human being.

This mental judo can be used to deflect attention from any misbehavior by a powerholder.

Now, lets see what Ken produced in writing this expression of shadow insight.

At this time, Frank Visser a long time admirer of Ken Wilber's had defected.

Jewschool blog had published an article on an earlier scandal concerning Marc Gafni and challenged Ken Wilber's alliance with Gafni.

[jewschool.com]

Many, already troubled by Wilber's endorsements of first Adi Da and then of Andrew Cohen, were pointing to this being the third time that Ken Wilber had selected a troubled powerholder and called his discernment into question.

During this troubled summer when many of his admirers were expressing valid concerns, Ken Wilber published this.


What We Are, That We See. Part I: Response to Some Recent Criticism in a Wild West Fashion
June 08, 2006 16:24

[www.kenwilber.com]

Final note: though Marc Gafni is refered to as Dr Marc Gafni, inquiries made to Oxford University tell a different story.

[www.lukeford.net]

One can easily verify whether someone has received a graduate degree.

Contact the library of the university. Ask the librarians whether the person has a master's thesis or Ph.D dissertation on file at the library.

To repeat, KW tells us to "But going through each relationship carefully, and breaking it down into each of these issues and risk factors, and then deciding in each case whether the situation was right or wrong in regard to that particular issue, is the only way each of us can proceed."

Mental health professionals do the opposite. They do look at each relationship carefully, but they do something KW does not do. THey then look at that troubled relationship *in context* look for patterns. Did this happen once, or is this the most recent of a long series of injurious episodes?

Whom did the perpetrator select, if he or she acted out long term? Persons already vulnerable?

Did the perpetrator behave in a naive manner, socialize in public, broadcast his or her infatuation to the world?

Or did the perpetrator engage in planning, pick and chose staff members based on their willingness to ignore evidence, fire people who expressed strong opinions against power abuse? Did the perpetrator select persons already estranged from parents or spouses and thus more vulnerable? Select select venues well away from prying eyes?

(eg Muktananda reportedly arranged to have selected girls placed in bedrooms to which he had easy access; women he was not interested in were placed further away. This kind of behavior indicates an ability to plan a strategy and is evidence of a systematic pattern of abuse--not a sudden usurge of long repressed urges)

Regarding Muktananda this description by one of the young women he used is quite different from the behavior of a "naive" sexual actor:

"I was on Muktananda's staff for 8 years, beginning in 1974. I
was 21 years old when I joined the tour. The events that I am going to
recount occurred after about 5 years on tour with Baba. So I was around 26;
Muktananda was around 73.

The tour stopped In Miami where I went in advance to set up the
bookstore. I was surprised to find that I had been put in a room on the
top floor near Muktananda's penthouse quarters

All the young girls were in the rooms closest to Muktananda and
the older girls were further away. We would meditate in our rooms every
morning and listen to Muktananda walking up and down the hall. I personally
witnessed young girls coming and going from Muktananda's quarters.

A few months into our stay I was alone in my room when
Muktananda came in, closed the door and grabbed me and gave me a big kiss on
the mouth. I was both thrilled and confused - I didn't know what to think.

Shortly after, I was given an invitation by Malti to come to the Boston
Ashram with a small entourage. This was a privilege - I was thrilled to be
included.

In Boston, Baba would roam the halls at night. I would run into
him in the dark on the way to the bathroom. He continued to hug and kiss
me. I didn't understand, but told myself that Baba was God, so it must be
very special; it must be a good thing.

"

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And if you examine the comments section in Harryman's Integral Options blog, there is mention of one of Gafni's friends having formerly been involved with Siddha Yoga.