FWIW, this is my analysis of the Gafni incident:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The loftiness of the the romantic spiritual quest can be countered by understanding advaita philosophy: You are already a spiritual being, so you cannot transpform yourself into specialness. They effort to transform yourself is exactly like pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. The point is to drop false beliefs about yourself and the world, not adopt a false belief and then try to live accordin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, that was refreshingly honest! I reckon "gurus" only need to point out how we fall into illusion, and then warn about the dangers of spiritual pretense after liberation. All very quick and easy. If it starts getting: - romantic, - dramatic, - special, - complicated, or - controlling, then it is corrupt.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"In groups with an idealized leader and a huge, huge membership, a very importan t binding factor that keeps people in, and makes it so very difficult to leave is intense merger and bonding one has with ones group-mates. You feel as though you share one soul, one body. And the ache of absence from all that makes it lonely to leave and so tempting to return." Yep. That's
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteCorboy"There are business pay offs. But its possible to run a business, even an LA entertainment firm, without quite the kind of drama being re-enacted here." Drama comes from the feeling of importance. The person is important, or the issue is important, or both are important. Regarding Gafni, Ken concluded that the Gafni is important, the issue (sex with students) is unimportant
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Corboy, There's always a danger in analysing the motives of others because there are so many possible interpretations. Nevertheless, that was an interesting read. Quote"His endorsed gurus (Adi Da, Andrew Cohen, etc) not only fail to embody Wilbers system, but have trouble behaving decently and can only function in rarified social settings with entourages that parent them and prote
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Most... stagger away from abusive situations not even able to afford health coverage..." Yep. Those who commit to some leader's program make the biggest sacrifices, yet it is the leader who is lauded as a hero. Meanwhile, the leader is thoroughly supported and free to pursue his interests and hobbies. The leader blathers on about ideals and sacrifice, but the elephant in the ro
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy, Exactly. If a corrupt teacher gets caught, he merely goes to therapy, then gets called an even greater teacher for doing so. If a student fails to do what a corrupt teacher wants, then the student is a coward, weakling, failure, loser, etc. As Glenn Greenwald recently pointed out, the elites take care of their own and the plebs become the targets.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Ken Wilber took time off to deliberate on the recent Marc Gafni sex scandal. He has now written in support of Gafni, saying that Gafni's recent move to see a therapist "makes him an even more gifted teacher": The Center for World Spirituality has also given Gafni "unequivocal support": Another Integralist, Joe Perez calls for closure: Gafni himself ha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Exactly. Here's a quote from Andrew Cohen's infamous "Declaration of Integrity" (which doesn't seem to be available online anymore). "One thing that has never failed to mystify me is that so few people seem to connect the dots: If I really were the two-dimensional, sadistic, irrational megalomaniac that I have been portrayed as being, why in God’s name would anybo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Disciples and Lovers Andrew Cohen's wife is also his (Cohen's) disciple as far as I know (not totally sure). So how does that work? Does he give her special treatment? Maybe they divide the day up: "You're my disciple from 9-5 Monday to Friday, but you're my wife outside of those hours." But can that work? Surely he would continue to scold her when she's off
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's a brief post I wrote for my own blog: Ken Wilber endorses violent gurus and protects gurus in trouble Ken Wilber is the intellectual of the spiritual scene. Yet, strangely, he endorses violent gurus and protects gurus in trouble. Andrew Cohen is a cult leader who slaps his male disciples and dunks his female disciples in cold lakes, and here's Ken Wilber's enthusiastic
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

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 obviou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

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 spiritu
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotecorboy …after the tension, and heightened experience of being in warzones, civilian life seems insipid, mediocre. Yes, ordinary life seems mediocre compared to the drama. Cohen's favourite movie is The Last Temptation of Christ. He likes it because the Christ character sees how his life could become more comfortable if he turns down his goal and steps away from the cross. But the char
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That was a great post Corboy. It really resonated with me. “One cannot just walk away from a setting so intense that , by Martin Gifford's description a guru has psycholocially impregnated the personality of his or her targets.” He does it by using the most basic technique - reward and punishment. If you say or do things he likes he praises you, otherwise he punishes you. Of course, yo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yenner: "Some strongly disagree with my thesis, and that “heat” adds to the general interest in the book." "(Corboy note: This is very different from the attitude demonstrated by Mr Cohen and his minions, who dislike any 'heat' that issues from any source other than Cohen and his own supporters)" Yes. My experience with the Cohenites is that they read something
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, the whole history of Cohen's relationship to his spiritual teacher Poonja is dodgy. First there was the weird "love affair" where Cohen kept calling Poonja his spiritual father and smothering Poonja with letters and fabulous stories of how wonderful both of them were. Then as soon as Poonja popped Cohen's bubble by criticising him, Cohen threw a fit, then wrote a book de
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteStoicCohen, of couse, works very hard at creating and maintaining the infatuation in his followers, he's probably infatuated with the mental image of himself as the godlike 'illumination' and blessing of his generation, but that doesn't negate the cold calculation he employs to bind his followers to him. Yes. It's ironic that he and his followers claim to be on a d
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

1. Any person who lets others call him or her "His Holiness" or "Her Holiness" is deluded. 2. Any person who lets others form conclusion that he or she is "illumined", a "blesser of a generation", a "modern Western mystic" is deluded. 3. Any person who calls others "His Holiness or "Her Holiness" is deluded. 4. Any person w
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteStoicThis 'getting to be independent people' can only be done one brain at a time and only accomplished, if it is ever to be accomplished, by the owner of that brain. But we can disrupt the culture that is currently conducive to producing sheep. And we can create a society that is conducive to producing independent people.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotecorboyidentify the ways you learned about Cohen, or were told about him. 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 inv
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotebillyenI enjoyed Martin's letter - its analysis is right on; however I have a different conclusion to the whole mess. That is that we are all free agents, it's up to us and there's no one to wait for. I really don't think any Big Man (or Woman) is going to save us, and that is the really Good News. Then you and I and a few others get to be independent people, which is g
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I read the Be Schofield article at Factnet that Corboy linked to. Schofield’s discussion about how these leaders all prop each other up got me thinking: There seems to be an in-group belief system for the ambitious gurus mentioned, and that system is also believed by their disciples. The leaders use that belief system to keep the disciples in their place, e.g. Ken Wilber praising the “rude bo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Stoic: Quote“Pretty much the standard seduction model for abusive manipulation. Crazy-making for the recruit as long as he believes that Cohen is sincere in what he promises he can deliver. The real 'enlightenment' happens when the recruit starts to see through the charade and realises that Cohen is a charlatan himself with a bit of psychological savvy and nothing but utopian fantasi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, he changed his magazine title from "What is Enlightenment?" to "Enlightennext". That was a move from supposed enquiry (really selling his own message) to a more honest title that admits that he's selling his own message. So it's not, and never was, and "attempt at integrity or presenting a reasoned argument". Many people praised What is Enlightenment?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteStoicThere is a sense in which 'worldly' success (of the kind that Huffington embodies--becoming an opinion former) serves to legitimise an organisation, and Cohen is very calculating in that he consciously seeks out and aligns himself with such prominent successful types in order to gain legitimacy by association. This is most obvious in his self-published house magazine which fe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"