The Book “Barbara: Memoir of a Love Affair” is a good read and well worth the effort to understand the evolution of Kris Butler and his group. For those of you who love psychology, there is plenty of fodder for analysis! There is a family history of both religious fanaticism and schizophrenia. Most of the book centers on his wife, it is after all the memoir of his love affair with her. All of the children are mentioned and clearly loved. He graciously allows their differing points of views with no bitterness. He does offer his opinion of Kris’s philosophy in humorous ways. He dedicates the book to Bruce and thanked him for all his help. Bruce was with his mother when she passed. (He is a follower of his younger brother still). Kris did spend some time with his dying mother and chanted to her softly. There are several very complimentary paragraphs about Kathy Hoshijo (Katyayani) in his book. She was living on the Quonset hut property when she had her first child.
To understand how the children were raised, one only needs to be familiar with the pedagogy of the French Philosopher Rousseau.
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www.nwlink.com]
“Rousseau expounded a new theory of education emphasizing the importance of expression rather than repression to produce a well-balanced, freethinking child. He explained his views on the benefits of health and physical exercise, and the belief that knowledge acquisition occurs though experience and that reason and investigation should replace arbitrary authority. He also proposed that education should follow natural inclination impulses and feelings (learning styles).”
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scholar.lib.vt.edu]
“In the history of education, Rousseau has usually been viewed as a precursor of human development theory. Sometimes he has also been considered an advocate of non-authoritarian pedagogy, with children selecting and solving problems in a non-directive environment. But Carbone (1985) was critical of this "enduring myth," noting that "there is actually scant justification in the Emile for heavy reliance on the desires and interests of students in the establishment of educational ends and means" (p. 408).”
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www.ed.uiuc.edu]
I was also raised by liberal parents such as this. The irony is that many of these atheist, agnostic, and humanistic liberals created a generation of spiritual seeking kids that got into drugs and/or rebelled by becoming right wing conservatives!
Tuco says, “Waiting for Krishna is like waiting for Godot.”[/color:f3af87bec4][/size:f3af87bec4]