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An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
Be ScofieldBe Scofield is a queer/trans writer & digital strategist who has worked with and advised NYT bestselling authors, The Yoga Alliance, Chani Nicholas and Greenmedinfo among others. She is the founder of the online yoga school Mettaversity and the popular online magazine Decolonizing Yoga. Her writings on social change, spirituality and LGBTQ issues have reached hundreds of thousands of people and have appeared in Huffington Post, Tikkun Magazine, Alternet and Integral World amongst other places. She also has a chapter in the book 21st Century Yoga: Culture, Practice & Politics.
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Reposted on www.gurumag.com (December 10, 2018).

Integral Abuse

Andrew Cohen and the Culture
of Evolutionary Enlightenment

Be Scofield

"Andrew Cohen is a Rude Boy. He is not here to offer comfort;
he is here to tear you into approximately a thousand pieces."
—Ken Wilber

Luna Tarlo spent over three years living with her guru Andrew Cohen (founder of What is Enlightenment? magazine now called EnlightenNext) in India and the United States. After she experienced extreme forms of public condemnation and humiliation she broke from him and wrote a book depicting Cohen as an “arrogant, power-hungry, dangerous figure who practices mind control over adherents.” She is, however, different than the hundreds of other disciples who followed him. Luna Tarlo is Andrew Cohen’s mother. In an interview with the Boston Globe in 1998 she stated, Cohen “requires total surrender to him. You have to obey everything he says and trust him 100 percent, and anybody who disagrees is subject to derision and verbal abuse.” In tragic fashion she ended what had previously been a healthy and loving relationship, “I know my life with him is over, and it’s very sad. I love him a lot.”

Twelve years after Tarlo’s “The Mother of God” (1997) was published, William Yenner a follower of Cohen’s for over 13 years and insider of his Foxhollow ashram has released a scathing book which chronicles the abuse that Cohen’s mother spoke of. “American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing—former students of Andrew Cohen speak out” (2009) is an insider’s look at how this self-proclaimed “rude boy” manipulated, abused, pressured and controlled his followers. The accounts given (an excerpt from the book is below) are very disturbing. After reading them I feel saddened, shocked and angry. And as I note below Cohen’s contemporaries have an ethical responsibility to speak out. Yenner was certainly in a position to know about these abuses as he was a central player in Cohen’s operation. He explains his role, “I was a member of the “inner circle” of Cohen’s students; in fact, I lived in his personal residence for several years, was a member of the EnlightenNext Board of Directors, and was the real estate scout who located and helped arrange the purchase of the 220 acre, nearly three-million-dollar, EnlightenNext “World Headquarters” at Foxhollow, as well as the EnlightenNext Centre in London.” And like many others in the group Yenner had “donated” a very large amount of money ($80,000) to Cohen. These large sums of money were part of Cohen’s plan. Yenner writes,

Andrew Cohen
Andrew Cohen

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.

Survivors of Jonestown speak similarly about how once they gave their money, assets and signed over their homes to Jim Jones and the “church” it was the final step in the loss of their identities. I don't mean to suggest that Cohen is comparable to Jim Jones or that his followers are about to commit mass suicide. But rather I am merely highlighting the similarity in these actions to illustrate how the giving over of yourself includes money, property and belongings. And furthermore this loss of property is directly linked to the increasing loss of the ability to remain an autonomous agent within the group.

For years after his departure in 2001 Yenner remained silent. Like the others he was pressured under “extreme psychological distress and in an emotionally crushed state of mind” into giving his $80,000 and a few years after he finally broke with Cohen he wanted it back. Cohen agreed but made Yenner sign a five-year non-judicial but binding gag order to not speak about his experiences at Foxhollow or with Cohen. This enforced silence was, Yenner states, but yet another reminder to him that Cohen wasn’t ready to let him go. But the gag order expired in 2008 and now Yenner’s book is published.

Luna Tarlo and William Yenner’s books are not the only criticisms of Cohen to surface. Prior to the release of Yenner’s book some of Cohen’s former followers had set up a website, What Enlightenment?, in 2004 that chronicled his abusive and controlling methods with advice on cult recovery. Yenner’s book also contains the passages from other former Foxhollow members. In 2003 former What Is Enlightenment? editor Andre van der Braak published “Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru”. An eleven year disciple of Cohen’s, van der Braak chronicled the abuse and manipulation he witnessed and experienced as part of the Foxhollow community. He reports that one of the more mild but still disturbing elements of daily life in the community consisted of 600 daily prostrations while repeating the required mantra, “To know nothing, to have nothing, to be no one.” And Geoffry Falk in his Stripping the Guru’s: Sex, Violence, Abuse and Enlightenment dedicates an entire chapter ‘Sometimes I feel Like God’ to Cohen. It places Cohen in context of his guru Poonjaji and provides a short history of his life. (This is an excellent and important book with startling revelations about everyone from Krishnamurti and Osho to Trungpa, Sai Baba and Yogi Amrit Desai just to name a few. My endorsement of this book is not about its level of scholarship as I must humbly admit I am in no position to evaluate this. Rather I appreciate the book because it draws attention to the phenomenon of cults, gurus and spiritual abuse. The whole book is available free online. Here is a link to the chapter on Cohen).

What did Cohen do? This is an excerpt from American Guru.

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, “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 Mikaela, [who was a] physician, to come see him…. Andrew told Mikaela 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 Mikaela visited Jeff, he had barely slept in about a week. He was in a desperate state…. Mikaela [later] confirmed…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.

****

Face slapping and name-calling, while they were uncalled for and may have been damaging, were mild in comparison to other questionable manifestations of “crazy wisdom” that occurred at Foxhollow. One such incident involved a student (Mikaela) who was responsible for the marketing of Andrew’s publications and who had fallen out of favor by reminding him that something he had criticized her for doing had been his idea in the first place. He decried her as evil and ordered that the walls, floor and ceiling of her office (which had been relocated to an unfinished basement room) be painted red to signify the spilled blood of her guru. She was ordered to spend hours there contemplating the implications of her transgression, with the additional aid of a large cartoon on the wall depicting her as a vampire and the word “traitor” written in large letters next to it.

Andrew often employed red paint in this fashion to create environments designed to induce shame and guilt in students that he felt had questioned his judgment or disobeyed him. Another female student who had displeased Andrew and, after leaving the community, had returned to help out on a weekend painting project, was summoned to another basement room. There she was met by four female students who, having guided her onto a plastic sheet on the floor, each poured a bucket of paint over her head as a “message of gratitude” from Andrew. She left the property traumatized and fell ill in subsequent days (during which she was harassed by phone calls from another student who, at Cohen’s instigation, repeatedly called her a “coward”) and never again returned to Foxhollow. “Crazy wisdom” is the most charitable possible explanation for these often traumatic and disturbing incidents, many of which have already been related on the whatenlightenment.net blog. Several of these student accounts of Andrew Cohen’s “acts of outrageous integrity,” employed to dubious or damaging effect, are reproduced below.

Read more disturbing details from American Guru.

In 2006 Cohen finally "responded" to his critics with a "Declaration of Integrity" [taken offline but available from Yenner's website]. While you can read for yourself, his 11-page response is more of a treatise on how he is an amazingly revolutionary and groundbreaking teacher than any refutation of charges. And the website Guru Talk was established by other followers who support him to respond to those students of Cohen's who set up WhatEnlightenment? in 2004 which contains more examples of his abusive behavior. But I must ask, if Cohen's tactics are so revolutionary and "crazy wisdom" is needed to become enlightened, why haven't any of his students become enlightened? And why are these tactics so necessary when neither Cohen or Wilber attribute their awakenings to these sorts of experiences?

Andrew Cohen's Supporters

These people have an ethical responsibility to speak out against the abuse that Cohen was responsible for.

Despite years of allegations, two books and numerous followers who have broken from him to tell their stories Andrew Cohen still has his supporters. These people, many of them well known psychologists, therapists and spiritual teachers have an ethical responsibility to speak out against the abuse that Cohen was responsible for. His longtime friends, supporters and anyone who shares a stage with him or interviews him has a duty to confront him on these abuses if they know about them. Otherwise they simply provide legitimacy for him and support the culture of denial that surrounds these kinds of personality cults.

Craig Hamilton
Craig Hamilton

Craig Hamilton, now a Berkeley based “evolutionary spiritual teacher” was in a similar position to Yenner. For fifteen years he was a close disciple of Cohen’s and for eight of those he worked as senior editor of EnlightenNext magazine. Now Hamilton runs Integral Enlightenment. Hamilton here is speaking about how much he loved being in the community with Cohen, “And the inner life of everybody there was elevated to a profound level of well-being—I mean, in this environment everybody was living in a non-ordinary state of consciousness most of the time; there was a sort of enlightened Buddha-field…that permeated the place…” And from his website:

But the most profound influence on the teachings and practices of Integral Enlightenment is without a doubt the Evolutionary Enlightenment teaching of contemporary spiritual trailblazer Andrew Cohen. IE founder Craig Hamilton spent 13 years at the heart of Cohen’s living “laboratory of evolution” now known as EnlightenNext. As part of the core leadership team guiding this international movement, and editor of its communication arm, What Is Enlightenment? magazine, Hamilton was nourished by, and played a formative role in the development of this powerful force for spiritual and cultural evolution.

Yenner questions Hamilton for his silence on Cohen’s abuses and his continued praise of “rude boy.”

Interestingly, however, in the same period during which Andrew Cohen’s reputation has been so stoutly defended by guru-talk.com’s cadre of “fallen” or “unsuccessful” students, the integral community has also seen the emergence of another of Cohen’s former disciples, Craig Hamilton, as a self-proclaimed “teacher” in his own right. As I implied in a footnote of American Guru, no one who knows Andrew Cohen is likely to believe he was pleased by Hamilton’s surreptitious departure from Foxhollow, much less by Hamilton’s own subsequent (and well-planned?) ascent to integral guruhood—but if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Cohen ought to be feeling swell. As a “successful” former student, Hamilton has outdone his fellow alumni not only in his wholesale assimilation of Cohen’s “teaching model” but in his astute—some might say opportunistic—emulation of his teacher’s tried-and-true PR strategy of using public dialogues with famous “luminaries” as a means of enhancing his own reputation. That Hamilton was able to cultivate such relationships while selflessly “serving” as his guru’s senior editor and ambassador to high-level interfaith conferences is yet another manifestation of that “something other than enlightenment” that seems to be Cohen’s less than inspiring human legacy.

At such moments, it is worth remembering that the list of spiritual leaders who have “fallen on their faces”—often with catastrophic results for their followers—is a long one indeed. In his foreword to American Guru, Stephen Batchelor suggests that things might have turned out far differently if, at the time of Andrew Cohen’s “emergence” as a teacher, those who felt they had reason to question his motivations or qualifications had spoken out more forcefully. This is all the more reason to scrutinize Hamilton’s account of his many years “working side by side” with Andrew Cohen; yet despite his acknowledged involvement in “trying to guide and work with [Cohen's] global body of students,” Hamilton remains curiously silent on the issue of the abuses that took place under his nose (and mine) at Cohen’s Foxhollow ashram. As Daniel Shaw has observed, “It would be wonderful to see…honesty and courage demonstrated by…leaders of the New Age movement. Instead of rationalizing and minimizing the extent of [Cohen's] abuses, instead of ignoring and dismissing the experiences of former followers, wouldn’t it be wonderful if people like Ken Wilber, Genpo Roshi, Rupert Sheldrake, Deepak Chopra, Bernie Glassman, etc., could have the courage and the integrity to pay attention, to take up the cause of Cohen’s former members, and confront Cohen publicly?” As an up-and-coming “spiritual luminary”—not to mention one who was actually there!—Craig Hamilton certainly deserves to have his name added to that list. The dangers of a “free pass” based on charisma and inspiring intentions having been borne out by history, I feel it ought to be perceived as reasonable, rather than gratuitously destructive, to raise questions about anyone representing himself as a “pioneer” of a cutting-edge spiritual discipline.

While Hamilton evaluates himself rather differently than most of his fellow former students—insinuating references to his own “awakening” into his “free preview,” to a virtual audience of nearly 700 spiritual seekers, of a 9-week “teleseminar” for which he is charging each participant $285—he shares with guru-talk.com’s contributors the same abiding nostalgia for a community very different from the one I remember (a community in which abuses such as those documented in American Guru took place over a period of two decades) as well as their retrospectively rose-colored notions about the significance of what happened there.
Ken Wilber
Ken Wilber

It isn’t surprising that Andrew Cohen’s best friend Ken Wilber continues to be a supporter as well. There is probably no more of a featured figure than Wilber in Cohen’s EnlightenNext (formerly What is Enlightenment?) magazine. Wilber, the leading figure in the integral movement is another subject entirely but his support for Cohen his uncompromising. This isn’t surprising because Wilber believes in the same sort of authoritarian teaching style as Cohen (and employs it himself in many ways). Here is what Wilber has to say about Cohen:

[Rude Boys] 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)….
Andrew Cohen is a Rude Boy. He is not here to offer comfort; he is here to tear you into approximately a thousand pieces … so that Infinity can reassemble you….
Every deeply enlightened teacher I have known has been a Rude Boy or Nasty Girl. The original Rude Boys were, of course, the great Zen masters, who, when faced with yet another ego claiming to want Enlightenment, would get a huge stick and whack the aspirant right between the eyes…. Rude Boys are on your case in the worst way, they breathe fire, eat hot coals, will roast your ass in a screaming second and fry your ego before you knew what hit 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?”

Wilber has received attention for the abusive way he treats critics and the insular nature of his Integral project. One book written about Wilber is called “Norman Einstein: The Disintegration of Ken Wilber.” This is a link to a chapter called "Bald Narcissim." And this is a great summary of Wilber's ordeals from Frank Visser's Integral World called The Wild West Wilber Report:

In June 2006 Ken Wilber embarrassed himself in front of the world by abusing and insulting those of his critics who did not “understand” his work, and invited those who “did” to come to his integral “sanctuary…” Obviously, this alerted some cult-watchers to reflect on what on earth is currently going on in the integral scene. Here’s a listing of most of the relevant blog postings and articles, including my three personal replies to Ken Wilber. Compiled for future historians, Wilberologists—and psychiatrists!
Terry Patten
Terry Patten

Craig Hamilton works closely with Terry Patten another Bay Area Integral teacher who is also a senior trainer in Wilber’s Integral Institute seminars and contributor to Cohen’s EnlightenNext magazine. Patten and Wilber share another common theme: they were both students of the controversial spiritual teacher Adi Da also known as Adi Da, Da Free John and Bubba Free John (birth name Franklin Jones). The followers of Adi Da believed he was “an ‘adept,’ a person who came into this world already enlightened with eternal truth. The sect’s publications also call Jesus an “adept,” but make it clear that Jones is considered more important.” In 1974 Da claimed to be “Divine Lord in Human Form.” Da also had nine common law wives. For more see the section on Rick Ross’s cult watch site and the chapter on Adi Da from Stripping the Gurus from which this is taken:

"Also in 1974, during his “Garbage and the Goddess” period, Bubba apparently started his “sexual theater,” involving the switching of partners, sexual orgies, the making of pornographic movies and intensified sexual practices (Feuerstein, 1996).The Mill Valley Record (Colin, et al., 1985) further reported:

[James] Steinberg [head of the Hermitage Service Order] says the destruction [of the pornographic films] took place a few months after they were made. Steinberg also says that the church’s dildo collection was either sold or destroyed, he isn’t sure which."

Wilber has made many statements in support of Adi Da. Wilber wrote in the intro to one of Da’s books:

[M]y opinion is that we have, in the person of Da Free John, a Spiritual Master and religious genius of the ultimate degree. I assure you I do not mean that lightly. I am not tossing out high-powered phrases to “hype” the works of Da Free John. I am simply offering to you my own considered opinion: Da Free John’s teaching is, I believe, unsurpassed by that of any other spiritual Hero, of any period, of any place, of any time, of any persuasion.

Terry Patten’s biography claims that he was “a longtime student of the late American spiritual teacher, Adi Da Samraj.” And not surprisingly Patten is also a supporter of Andrew Cohen. The “Great [Integral] Awakening Online Teleseminar” which Patten was involved in with Hamilton features Wilber and Cohen front and center.

Marc Gafni
Marc Gafni

And then there is Marc Gafni, founder of iEvolve and (he is also featured in the above Global Awakening teleseminar) another controversial spiritual teacher who is part of the Integral inner circle, supported and defended by Wilber, Cohen, Patten and Craig Hamilton, Sally Kempton and Diane Musho Hamilton among many of the other figureheads of the movement. Gafni also works closely with Wilber at the Integral Institute. Gafni fled his position as head of the Bayit Chadash in Israel after several members of his community accused him of sexual misconduct. These were only the latest in a string of sexual accusations that has plagued Gafni. He was also stripped of his ordination as a Rabbi. While he apologized for his relationships with these women at Bayit Chadash he claims they were “loving and mutual,” (a claim which they strongly dispute). But if it gives any perspective he also says that his relationship with a 13 year old girl when he was 19 and 20 was “loving and mutual.” This is the testimony of the young girl who he claims he was in a mutual and loving relationship with.

The abuse went on through the year I was in 9th grade. The school year was almost over, I remember it was warm out. He called me on the phone one day to tell me that he would no longer be coming over. He realized that what he really needed was to get married soon, and he explained that this would give him a proper outlet for his sexuality. Its hard to describe how I felt at that moment, because it is complex. My molester finally decided to stop abusing me, to leave me alone, to move on. You would imagine I would feel great relief, but actually the full weight of the abuse I had endured in silence came crashing down on me. Here I was, left with this horrible experience, still with no one to talk to about it, and no language for it anyway. And he wasn't retreating because I had some how managed to make him stop, but because he decided it just wasn't worth the risk any more. He was terrified that he would do more and make me pregnant- then there would be no way to keep his secret. Until then, his abuse included exposing my body against my will, forcibly touching my breast, grabbing my hand and forcing me to touch his penis, and forced digital vaginal penetration. All were the most horrifying, degrading and painful experiences for me. All this only a year or so after my bat mitzvah...

Unfortunately, I knew Mordechai very well. He told me a lot about himself, and I knew him as a sexually compulsive, sexually violent man. After talking with counselors, lawyers, and professionals who advise and counsel sexual perpetrators, I learned that in 99% of cases, people who compulsively sexually abuse girls or women, especially those who were abused themselves as children, don't stop. These are dangerous people. The more we are silent about them, the more they have the freedom to act out their sexual compulsions. Further first hand accounts show that Mordechai continued to molest young women after he was married. Unfortunately, marriage did not solve his problems. There is no reason for me to assume he is not still victimizing girls and women. Back when I knew him, he was a refined manipulator, "groomer", "brain-washer", and he used those skills in order to victimize girls and young women. I have no doubt that, years later, he has honed his skills as a predator.

His defenders repeatedly claim that “he as done nothing illegal,” and ask us to believe that Gafni is the victim of a widespread attack up on him. All of the women (over ten) exaggerated, distorted and lied about what really happened. Gafni also claims to have passed a polygraph test that proves that the relationships with the women were loving and mutual. You can read it for yourself but I would question the nature of the questions he was asked as well as the polygraph itself. You don't have to be an Einstein to know that they are not admissible in most courts of law and are widely thought to be based on junk science. In other words they aren't reliable or accurate. You can read more about them here. And here is a "WikiHow" on how to cheat a polygraph test. Here is a link to a Marc Gafni's website where he responds to the controversy.

There are many places to read about Gafni. "Rabbi Mordechai Gafni accused of sexually exploiting women" from the Haaretz, "Rabbi Gafni accused of sexual assault" from YNet News and The Re-Invented Rabbi from the Jewish Week. This is an article from the Jewish Daily Forward, Rabbi Fired Over Sex Claims Defenders Offer Mea Culpa,

At least five female students and staff members have come forward to accuse Rabbi Mordechai Gafni of luring them into sexual relationships through intimidation, psychological manipulation and deception. Late last week, Gafni, an Orthodox-trained rabbi who has become a star of the New Age-style Jewish Renewal movement, was dismissed from his position as the head of Bayit Chadash, a center on the Sea of Galilee that he co-founded six years ago.

Gafni subsequently issued a public apology for having “hurt people I love,” and said that he would seek in-patient treatment for what he called “a sickness.”

…He was originally ordained as an Orthodox rabbi and moved to Israel more than a decade ago, after leaving posts in New York and in Boca Raton, Fla., amid rumors of sexual misconduct. He assumed an Israeli name and transitioned into the world of Jewish Renewal….

Rosenblatt said he had interviewed about 50 supporters and critics, including two prominent Orthodox leaders—Rabbi Yosef Blau, spiritual mentor at Yeshiva University, and Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Efrat—who had known Gafni since the 1980s. Blau and Riskin, who both criticized Gafni, told Rosenblatt that over the years they had spoken with a number of women who had complaints about the rabbi.

Rosenblatt interviewed several alleged victims. One was a woman named Judy, who first accused Gafni of molesting her in 1986, when she was a 16-year-old member of a youth group he directed. Shortly thereafter, Gafni left New York for a pulpit job in Florida. Another woman, Susan, who was an adviser for the group at the time, said that Gafni had threatened her when she tried to intervene on the girl’s behalf.

When asked about the allegations, Gafni told Rosenblatt that Judy was a troubled, unstable teenager who fabricated the story after he rebuffed her advances.

But he admitted to having had a sexual relationship with another girl, when she was 13 and 14 and he was 19 and 20, studying to become a rabbi.

“I was a stupid kid and we were in love,” Gafni was quoted as saying in The Jewish Week. “She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her.”

The woman told Rosenblatt that Gafni had “repeatedly sexually assaulted her” when he stayed at her house for the Sabbath. The rabbi also told her that she would be “shamed in the community” if she told anyone.

Conclusion

The ultimate irony is of course that these spiritual teachers are supposedly on the forefront of instructing us on how to confront the shadow.

As Frank Visser says, “Integral confirms integral confirms integral.” I have heard people defend Marc Gafni by stating that Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber support him. But it actually is a silly game they all play because they all defend and support each other. It goes something like this. Patten, Hamilton, Gafni and Wilber support Cohen. Cohen, Wilber, Hamilton and Patten support Gafni. Cohen, Gafni, Hamilton and Patten support Wilber. Wilber and Cohen support Patten and Hamilton. Wilber and Patten support Adi Da….etc. And they all appear on each others integral programs, websites, conferences, book chapters, magazines and platforms. Among the various offerings is Integral Life Practice, Integral Naked, Integral Institute, Integral Spiritual Center, Integral Enlightenment, EnlightenNext magazine…etc. And as Yenner notes above, they seem to employ the same tactic: surrounding themselves with other luminaries, celebrities, and public faces who agree with them and provide much needed support. If all of these amazing people support Cohen he must be ok, right? Nowadays it seems all you have to do is add the word integral in front of something to boost its credibility. Add the word integral and you have a sexy and attractive product ready to be sold to eager spiritual seekers who are hungry for idealism and more purpose in life. The whole thing equates to a very large money making machine.

I want to be clear that this article is not an attack on integral theory or the nature of the teachings that many of the people here offer. I am a fan of integral theory in general—not of the Wilber sort, but the principle behind it. One can recognize that many of these teachers have said wise things while simultaneously being aware of their shortcomings.

Is it wrong to call out Cohen’s enablers? Is it wrong to expect them to break the silence on Cohen’s legacy of abuse, manipulation and cultish behaviors? In the face of the sadistic acts of Cohen isn’t it problematic when Wilber says “Cohen is here to tear you into a thousand pieces?” What about accountability? Responsibility? Ethics?

I would never appear on a program with Cohen, Wilber or Gafni let alone work with them. And if I was in a position of power as Cohen’s friends and supporters Ken Wilber, Craig Hamilton, Terry Patten, Marc Gafni, Genpo Roshi, Diane Hamilton are I would speak out against him. Do they deny the multiple, disturbing claims made by former disciples of Cohen? Or do they merely brush it aside as “Crazy Wisdom?” How can someone like Craig Hamilton continue to praise Cohen given the overwhelming evidence against him? After spending fifteen years with Cohen I suspect that Hamilton is still in Cohen’s cult trance. Can Cohen’s supporters be deemed legitimate if they are unable to call out his abusive, manipulative and sadistic behavior? There is really no excuse for the silence because it only enables Cohen further. In a post-Jonestown and present day Catholic Church scandal era we simply cannot afford their silence. I doubt any accountability will be had because this particular integral community is a family of “evolutionary thinkers,” who has discovered a revolutionary truth and will defend it to the end. They simply employ a form of group think that rationalizes, justifies and spins the truth to meet their agreed upon conclusions about each other.

The ultimate irony is of course that these spiritual teachers are supposedly on the forefront of instructing us on how to confront the shadow. However, I won’t take their advice until they confront the very large shadow of Andrew Cohen.






Comments

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Integral Stanley · Aug 15, 2022

Ken Wilber's Integral Life Corporation would like people to believe that they are benevolent saviors of the Kosmos. To this day they continue to support malevolent and harmful leaders such as Marc Gafni, Andrew Cohen, Bence Ganti, and Corey DeVos. They are quick to try to censor people who tell the truth about them. It is correct to say, that at best, "The whole thing equates to a very large money-making machine". My advise has to be, "Buyers beware!"

Alina · June 6, 2020

So is Deepak Chopra no good?

Serena-Kim · Jan 27, 2019

I just got off the “free” call today with Andrew Cohen that it an ad for the upcoming online course he will be teaching. I knew nothing about him prior to the call so was feeling pretty open.

Spiritually I am on a healing journey where my Kundalini energy was awakened my earth shattering trauma yet after a few years of therapy & recent Reiki, Kundalini yoga & meditation & JourneyDance Healing experiences I am JUST beginning to try & learn how to hear my own inner Guidance & develop my own sense of perceiving my Spirit Guides, my inner Wisdom. Unlike my experience with a Goddess Reiki Teacher & channeler who gives ALL credit for her teachings & messages as from Spirit-not her- Andrew Cohen’s energy & presentation from that was in stark contrast.

As a psychologist I noticed a lot of I statements, “30 years of teaching experience,” reverence for his teacher, & great confidence that his plan for us (about 126 people were on the call this morning). His energy was stern, rarely did he smile or exude the childlike joy & giggles emitting from truly loving & enlightened teachers like the Dali Lama for example. A lot of testosterone but no love, joy or gratitude...

Because I am such a newbie to going inside & finding my own Inner Guide I’m not sure I would have been as discerning as I sound now while I write this & think “out loud” had I not read these pages...as I was considering taking the upcoming course, maybe, if I could afford it... but ironically the facilitator did NOT present my 2 questions to him during the discussion time although she originally described the question & answer time as the most important...

I asked what were his plans to incorporate embodied transformation of our bodies into his vision we would become leaders of a community & cultural transformation of elders of an enlightened culture of folks in the “3rd & 4th” stages of life
since I understand healing & enlightenment to require working with our Body-Minds (Candice Pert) our entire bodies including our chakras & auric fields via spiritual practices such as meditation, energy healing & Kundalini yoga

She did not bring that question to the discussion nor my 2nd one—-“ what scholarships or discounts can you offer those of us living in poverty, homeless shelters, or newly disabled as these spiritual teachings seem to present a painful economic class barrier for many who can barely afford their survival lifestyles...

She did however present my comment that many of us are lonely & alone with our journey into enlightenment & the idea of a community is very attractive- Andrew stated “what is the question?” She stated “it’s not a question it’s a comment.” I had posted the thank you comment AFTER I posted my 2 questions first. Since only 2 people before me ask d questions I was eager for him to reply to mine as well... I wonder if he will ever know or see my questions since they were forwarded via the chat room to the GateKeeper girl...

Looking back I see a man who has a big idea that left me feeling cold, it was not an open honest transparent exchange of a potential student of his truly offering her heartfelt questions ( I had my hand raised the whole time as well with the icon) & when the first 2 men asked their questions the facilitator turned on their microphones so they could dialogue with him. I was the first woman to ask a question but my voice was silenced & reduced to only my acceptable thank you statement that strokes his ego...

I saw only one person of color on the call, a Black woman...

I’m grateful that the past 6 months HAS blessed me with profoundly powerful loving teachers truly living enlightened lives of love who have published their healing transformative loving gifts into accessible books & CD’’s that unlike this brief experience with an alleged & self-proclaimed wise teacher - are truly teaching me & equipping me with the loving tools for self love, healing & hope during the dark night of the Soul into becoming the enlightened sage that I am....

Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit & Sacred Contracts
Cyndi Dale, Kundalini: Divine Energy, Divine Life;
The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy
Jamie Sams & David Carson, Medicine Cards
Shakila Sharamon & Bodo Baginski, The Chakra Handbook
Sally Kempton, Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga
Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance
Barbara Ann Brennan, Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field
Veronica Ruiz & Lisa Gniady, Goddess Reiki I (Self-published
David S. Shannahoff-Khalsa, An Introduction to Kundalini Yoga Meditation Techniques That Are Specific for the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders (Journal article)

Elfriede · Nov 7, 2018

IT and AQAL philosopher Ken Wilber diminished his own credibility and violated ethical standards by his poor picks of fellow contemporary gurus who he called both "asshole gurus" and "very dear friends". KW chose to promote and remain friends with a garb of abusive teachers / "integral …ists", even after they had come under public fire – more than once.

Chögyam Trungpa, Adi Da [Da Free John], Genpo Roshi, Andrew Cohen, Marc Gafni, Mahendra Kumar Trivedi (the only one KW actually stopped endorsing and cleaned his name from his webpage) - all were exposed multiple times.

at 3 occasions (2007/2008/2014) Wilber has been warned about his protege Robert Augustus Masters' unredeemed past as a serial community cult leader - each time to no avail. in 2014 it was me who emailed with KW primarily on RAM's unredeemed past. he expressed his intention to me to delete all digital traces where he hosted or promoted RAM, yet one phone call from RAM and Wilber recoiled. Rick Archer, another early host of RAM, fulfilled RAM's request to DELETE a host of disclosing comments from former Xanthyros cult members or cult related individuals. RAM's hosts were unwilling to recant from him, they covered for him instead.

The term "spiritual bypassing" was introduced in the early 1980s by John Welwood, a Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist referring to a "tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks". Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_bypass

Robert Augustus Masters (RAM) (70) – an unredeemed serial community cult leader of 17 years and industrious writer who gained popularity via his most prominent proponent Ken Wilber - made the term “spiritual bypassing” known on a broader level with articles and books issued 2010 onwards.

“I saw myself – looking back – as bypassing big time. I was probably an ideal person to write a book like ‘Spiritual Bypassing’.”
Audio interview with Robert Augustus Masters and Diane Bardwell Masters – "Transformation Through Intimacy" http://beyondawakeningseries.com/blog/general/archive/, minute 30:28ff, aired 4. November 2010

⚡ Notes on the shadow  ♦◊♦  Robert Augustus Masters failing to walk his talk all the way de.spiritualwiki.org/Wiki/RobertAugustusMasters#toc10
when above shadow chart sketching RAM was posted on the google open Facebook accounts of various multiplicators who shared his quotes (regularly posted on his frequented Facebook fan page) in 2015, Masters hastily terminated his Facebook account. RAM could control his own FB account, however, he could not control the kind of discussions that went out shared from there on Google. hence, he finally sacrificed it.

“I see a lot of people caught in spiritual bypassing as having such poor boundaries they cannot say a clear NO. They are overly attached to being nice, and sweet, and go to look positive. There is this addiction to being positive. And, they are, in a sense, being negative about their negativity.”
Audio interview with Robert Augustus Masters, PhD (*1947) Canadian psychologist, psychotherapist, cult leader of Xanthyros community, author, “What Really Matters”, web radio station New Dimensions, program #3392, host Michael Toms, 23. November 2010

as a visiting unpaid volunteering guest from abroad in RAM’s Xanthyros cult community in Vancouver in spring 1991, i said NO to RAM’s request to set up a dependence of his cult in Germany. In 4.5 weeks i had seen enough of RAM’s violent community system (little did i know of the crimes committed by him and on his behalf). neither did i receive a thank you, nor a handshake, nor a farewell from three of RAM’s shadow bearers, his inner circle members, but was screamed down by all three of them instead. to say NO to the guru’s wishes was anathema and therefore punished by means of entrained group bullying. it took me five weeks to recover from the vicious attack / cult visiting experience – losing income that way. in leaving cults the guru’s representatives either hurled a curse at me or afflicted utter humiliation.
incidentally, the very same people who acted cruel on behalf of the guru, did exit the cult – decades or only years later – as well, reaping dire repercussions for their soul freeing NO.

in December 2011 - 20 years after my approach to test RAM’s community cult - i asked RAM on his facebook fan page “i wish to read an article written by you where you offer a report how the conversion of a former cult leader looks like.” Robert Augustus Masters replied with a Facebook comment ♦ 31. December 2011: “Such an article does not exist, but I plan to write one.”

⚡ "A Needed Shattering" – RAM's 1st incomplete report on his cult history (February 2015) de.spiritualwiki.org/Wiki/RobertAugustusMasters#toc11
RAM's 1st public blurb on his cult history was issued 21 years after the meltdown of his 2nd unredeemed community cult Xanthyros contained two major omissions and two lies. he extended no apologies and offered no restitution to his victims.
subsequently, it was erased in October 2018, when RAM - under pressure - felt urged to release a 25-paragraph long admission statement addressed to his readers and clients - this time offering contrition and general apologies to former cult members, yet still no restitution.

after the release of Be Scofield's recent Medium article "Spiritual Bypassing Guru Robert Augustus Masters Was an Abusive Cult Leader" medium.com/@bescofield/spiritual-bypassing-guru-robert-augustus-masters-was-an-abusive-cult-leader-b58366f3ddb7 issued October 2nd, 2018 Robert Augustus Masters suffered from failing health. He had denied her an interview when asked.

out of concern of losing readers / clients / multiplicators / endorsers / supporters RAM responded with another undated admission statement "Robert Augustus Masters: Clarifying My Past" robertmasters.com/about-robert/robert-augustus-masters-clarifying-my-past/ issued October 16, 2018
RAM's public admission and apology, void of a pledge of factual redemption, was copied in full and assessed here: ⚡ "Clarifying My Past" – RAM's 2nd incomplete report on his cult history – 10/2018 de.spiritualwiki.org/Wiki/RobertAugustusMasters#toc14

former members of the inner circle of the Xanthyros cult came up with following review: Rebuttal and suggestions by inner circle Xanthyros members addressing RAM's 2nd public admission – 10/2018 de.spiritualwiki.org/Wiki/RobertAugustusMasters#toc15

as of now Robert Augustus Masters exemplifies “masterfully” what spiritual bypassing looks like. To this day Masters’ criminal cult history - only spuriously revealed by himself (2005/2006) and by former cult members in 2014, then in a 2018 article - remains unredeemed. failed cult leaders (wolves) are not known for properly digesting the stones sown in their bellies.

why was a bastion of 15 luminaries asked to endorse RAM’s latest book "Bringing Your Shadow Out of the Dark: Breaking Free from the Hidden Forces That Drive You"? www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bringing-your-shadow-out-of-the-dark-robert-augustus-masters/1127915436
among them are first endorsers Gabor Maté · Thomas Hübl and serial endorsers Jeff Brown · Andrew Harvey · Terry Patten · Arjuna Ardagh. partaking in the well oiled “awakening market circular sales machine”, they neglected due diligence i.e. missed out on checking the background news on their endorsee.
however, there is one remaining silent exception - radical truthteller Danielle LaPorte. the original version of Masters’ new book had a foreword by LaPorte which the final version did not.

see also my quora entry: www.quora.com/What-is-spiritual-bypassing/answer/Elfriede-Ammann

Christine Marr · Aug 9, 2018

Thank you for this article. I became a bit of a student of cult dynamics as a former Waldorf/ Steiner nursery school mom of 3 years. I learned of Craig Hamilton through his wife, Claire Zammit's 7 week Feminine Power program, which I feel was generously and well done. Listening to a meditation of Craig's I heard him say, "life is about sacrifice" and I shot up with alertness and researched him learning about Cohen, etc.

I've spent the last 3 years trying to understand how I almost handed my son over to a cult, and separating out what was useful from what was not. I am not minimizing Waldorf abuse (or Cohen's) in the least. I do think separating out what is useful is a part of the process of healing and self-forgiveness. And while subject only to very early aspects of grooming and no abuse, the danger my son and family were unknowingly in was beyond scary and I've taken learning lessons from this experience most seriously. I agree with Be that it's important to speak truth to power rather than enable abusers through silence (though I do feel it's the typical victim/ survivor's choice, compared to people of influence like CH), and though I did with the local Waldorf school, surprisingly other family's didn't care. "It's easier to fool people than convince them they were fooled." maybe Mark Twain, I learned and am still learning from my experience with Waldorf, how intelligent, confident, well adjusted people can fall prey to being indoctrinated. Despite nonsensical readings and writings being brought to light of spiritual racism and teachers being priests of children whose job is to separate children from their parents' unhealthiness, me and only 1 other family out of 75 left this small school.

The documentary Holy Hell about the Buddha Field cult does a beautiful job of describing the slow process of indoctrination. It's masterful, abusive manipulation and like a frog in a pot it can be hard to realize the water is moving from warm to hot until you're incapacitated by boiling water. I'm SO thankful that I was awake to a passing comment by a distant acquaintance into anthroposophy about teachers believing gnomes were real. That spurred deeper research (than what shows up on the first 3 scrubbed internet pages of research on waldorf). I'm SO thankful for a former teacher who still believes, but has ethics as a fellow mother not to hide things from parents, who confirmed some teacher beliefs and practices in my early investigation. My own and I imagine others' inclination toward love, beauty, nature, play and community and probably idealistic wishes for my son's education and development were all in play.

With Claire Zammit and Feminine Power it's a sister circle, celebrating and facilitating effective manifesting of one's purpose and deepest desires through a feminine process. As a psychotherapist I recognize the cognitive belief systems and ego state/ parts work in FP combined with the spiritual and community, which therapy is so often missing. The evolutionary framework is a pleasing narrative, a developmental framework, but much bigger as part of the universe appealing to transcendental inclinations. Beautiful stuff and I'm sad to think it may be contaminated with long term cultish plans consciously or not. Or that FP participants may be caught by Craig Hamilton's web. They are certainly both making significant amounts of money. I learned today Claire's current group registered 10,000 participants at $397 so $4 million for the intro group. Or that Claire may be caught in CL's spell. While I hope they use it all for good, that Craig isn't speaking up about Foxhollow and Cohen is disturbing and I agree enabling. That they all don't disown a known sexual abuser in this #me too era is further evidence of lack of ethics and clear thinking on what is actually helpful to people. With CH I can imagine there may be complexity in how he's coming to terms and healing from the cult; that perhaps he wasn't abused and had a different experience (especially being so financially valuable to the cult), or that part of that for him may be some rationalization that he ultimately grew from it, self-accountability and choice or something. Whatever the case he is benefiting and to me it speaks of lessons not learned and ethics not being transparent, reflected on and righted. And while I think that Claire's FP is well crafted and helps many, just as Waldorf nursery schools are very beautiful environments that support children's imaginations and natural development through play, often in these situations fees for the early groups financially empower the organizations that have abused and may repeat abuse down the road.

JNDillard · Jan 14, 2018

"if Cohen's tactics are so revolutionary and "crazy wisdom" is needed to become enlightened, why haven't any of his students become enlightened? And why are these tactics so necessary when neither Cohen or Wilber attribute their awakenings to these sorts of experiences?" Indeed.

anonymous · Oct 13, 2017

Andrew Cohen = the 'spiritual' equivilant of Harvey Weinstein.
Ken Wilber, Marc Gafni, Terry Patton, Craig Hamilton. et al = the equivalent of the enabling Weinstein Co.
An old boys club, who have either drunk the jello-shots, are incredibly gullible, or won't speak up for fear of being ostracized in the community and losing online business.
and losing their place in the business.

Edward · Sept 24, 2017

Thanks very much for a most entertaining essay. Perhaps next time you can include a discussion of Ch�gyam Trungpa....as outrageous as the gurus you discuss are, they can't hold a candle to this nutcase...I must say I find it amazing that adults would put up with the abuse handed out by these psychopaths. Also Be, you state: "The ultimate irony is of course that these spiritual teachers are supposedly on the forefront of instructing us on how to confront the shadow.". Really?,...since when are spiritual teachers supposed to act as trained psychotherapists (notwithstanding Wilber's ridiculous 321 method of dealing with "shadow" material). Yes, some psychologically damaged people turn to so-called meditation teachers as a way to deal with their inner pain. .In many of these cases a pathological idealization of the guru is part of the defensive constellation. In every case these people should be referred to a trained psychotherapist and not expect an spiritual guru will offer them effective relief from there inner conflicts. Ethical guidelines for these gurus should make this clear and explicit.

Christine · Aug 9, 2018

@Edward, maybe check Holy Hell documentary on Buddhafield cult on how adults can become indoctrinated

Christine · Aug 9, 2018

@Christine Marr,
if wanting more info on Waldorf/ Steiner school cult and abuse check Waldorf Watch waldorfwatch.com , PLANS , and steinermentary.com

Philip · Sept 4, 2017

I get Craig Hamilton's monthly Guided Meditations, and I must confess that I enjoy them immensely! However, if they are charlatans I would be very grateful if somebody could give me evidence to this effect. I have been a student of a Course in Miracles for the past 27 years, but I am looking for something beyond ACIM. I am also a follower of Marianne Williamson, who incidentally endorses Craig Hamilton. I also enjoy the material I receive from Terry Patten. I am 78 years old and a bit fed-up with charalatans!

Francesco · Nov 14, 2017

@Philip,
Being fed up with charlatans: just for fun, I'll suggest you look at James Swartz, who teaches traditional Advaita Vedanta. By traditional, I mean he conveys the teaching carried down from a lineage of teachers who don't add their own opinions or theories to the teaching; it doesn't require any. You've been a long time student of the Course in Miracles; therefore, I think you'll find many similarities. I know I did. If you only get one thing out of exploring James and the teaching, it's that he is what a true teacher should be - your friend. Note: in the Vedanta tradition, the highest universal truth is Ahimsa; non-injury to others.

Observer · May 13, 2017

No one needs a spiritual teacher. They already have LIFE that is perfectly calibrated to teach all that is needed for transformation. Evolution is taking care of advancement. Everyone is on automatic pilot. But WAIT! do you mean we might have to wait eons to realize the big truth? Yes! So What? Live naturally and if the movement of evolution deems it time to make a shift into the Big Picture, it will be simple and profound but no more astounding than life as it is. Observe life, observe yourself.

barbara parker · Apr 7, 2017

Anybody who requires followers is to be suspect. I attended CA Institute of Integral Studies shortly after Ken Wilbur left (although he frequently returned as a quest lecturer). He seemed to have a hard time with questions and women. I stayed away from his students and devotees of his teaching(s) as the energy was very, very dismissive of the Feminine. However, it is typically the idealization of teachers that infects the group and groups are the breeding ground for igniting shadow. It is a very common thing for women (especially) to confuse endurance (for suffering) strength.
And, it is the leaders who should be prepared to be betrayed, as students do not come to consciousness learning knowing how to control their projections. And, as a general rule, everyone will eventually feel disappointment in relationships.
Andrew Cohen should never be allowed to teach again. Ken Wilbur needs to be reincarnated as a woman.
Life presents the 'shake ups' that ignite transformation: they should not be inflicted for demonstration of teacher power. There is no learning from humiliation, only recovery.

Tara Aders · May 19, 2020

@barbara parker,
I don't know if you'll see this because I'm responding to a 3-year-old post of yours: I had to laugh but with compassion to the idea that Ken needs to be reincarnated as a women. I agree, he is very blocked from the feminine. But look what life gave him to help him learn: The love of his life dying a long death from cancer and his own 30 years of devastating Myaligic Encephalomyopathy. The poor rejected limiting feminine realm of body and earthly life. Even as a woman I have needed a similar life-long lesson due to internalized patriarchy. So my heart goes out to his brilliant mind for its many gifts and to his poor aching body for some comfort and release.

Anonymous · Oct 9, 2016

all is food for the growing aspirant...

Mo · Sept 15, 2016

artifice = article
excuse the autocorrect lol!

Mo · Sept 15, 2016

Hi Be, I was going to attend Craig Hamilton 2.0 meditation. Thanks to your artifice I won't waste my time. Cheers to authenticity and peace.

Claude · Sept 14, 2016

Hello Be,

I just google "Craig Hamilton" along with words "meditation" and "guru" and lucky for me your page came up on the search list. Like Sandra - hi Sandra! - I too tuned into the "Meditation 2.0" seminar today and went in with an open mind and genuine curiosity. I really wanted to know what his big secret technique is, what the so-called masters have been keeping from us etc, but, alas, suprise suprise, you have to sign up to his $547, 12 week program to find out...

Thank you for lifting the lid on these self-proclaimed guru's. They feed off vulnerable people and make themselves rich in the process. Good on William Yenner the so-called "apostate" for writing a book about the founder of this cult. It's worrying to read/discover that Craig Hamilton was once his pupil and now calls himself a spiritual enlightenment teacher just following in his footsteps really. You certainly can learn a lot on the internet the days!

Thanks again,
Claude

Sandra Woodworth · Aug 20, 2021

@Claude, I studied a season with Craig and found his teaching very valuable to practice

Sandra Aidar-McDermott · Sept 14, 2016

I just happened to attend a "Meditation 2.0"(apparently a breakthrough in meditation practices) webcast by Craig Hamilton. The first 15 minutes were devoted to self-congratulatory talk about the 50,000 online attendees. I started to work on a translation as he proceeded to chatter and pause to offer glimpses of "meditation". By minute 45, with my work translated I closed the window and wrote an email to the organizers to take me off their list. Total bs. I had no idea who this guy was, just that he belonged to some Chopra organization (whom I appreciate). I am grateful for your article. People are awake now, these bozos are short lived.

William Sibelius · Mar 27, 2016

Forget gurus. Be your own teacher.

Anonymous · Mar 12, 2016

Be, thank you for this fantastic piece. I was reading a related piece and was perplexed by the comments of those defending Cohen, Wilber, and the rest of the Integral 'gang'. Why was I perplexed? Because the word 'abuse' appears to be studiously and curiously avoided. Given that some of those commenting appear to be endowed with multiple degrees and work in places of influence, including within the spiritual community fields, I found this to be disconcerting. It is intriguing to read many of the comments and notice how the word 'abuse' is typically absent. Cohen's students put their trust in him. He not only abused them in various ways, including physically and emotionally, but he abused their trust. As a licensed Psychotherapist who also studied and served as Core Faculty at a well known Transpersonal Institution, I can say with certainty that it is often the case that children who grew up in turbulent environments with inconsistent or absent nurturing will seek community as well as parental figures (including gurus and 'Gods') as a replacement for the earlier experience of a fractured family unit. If you know anything about trauma and abuse, and the untold damage that can result on multiple levels (psycho-emotionally, especially), then the damage caused by Cohen via his abuse of those who trusted him may be incalculable. Let's not (spiritually) 'bypass' this rather unwholesome reality while acknowledging Cohen's (and Wilber's, et al) supposed 'gifts'. People have suffered, and needlessly so, at the hands of these men and their beliefs about themselves and their own enlightenment. And so I am grateful to you, Be, and to all who were abused by Cohen, for speaking out and further publicizing these rather untoward, ugly, events. Apparently Cohen is still out there presenting himself as 'enlightened', with the caveat that, whoooops, he DOES have an ego - he just didn't transcend it as well as he might have! Really, could it get any more pathetic? Obviously, we still have a culture within spiritual communities that still tolerates and even accepts - and worse, rationalizes - abuse. Let's collectively work together to ascertain WHY. And end it here.

Rebecca C. Mandeville, MA, MFT · Mar 12, 2016

I see my comment posted under anonymous. I am happy to put my name on it. I wrote the above. - Best, Rebecca

Rebecca MFT · Mar 12, 2016

Make that 'the below' - !

Kali · Dec 6, 2015

These men are assholes. They are not awake. They are asleep. Look at them. Then look at Ramana Maharshi. Anandamayi Ma. Neem Karoli Baba. They have used the path to strengthen their own egos and power-trips. They are asleep. There is no hope for a Western guru. There is no such thing. The West is corrupt and everything eventually comes back to ego here. How can I make money off of this? How can I gain power from this? How can I have more sex from this? That is all that matters in the West. If you want a Guru, you will have to look to the East... or better yet, look inside. Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilbur make me ill. I hope that Kali eats them alive. Jai Ma.

David · Aug 29, 2014

I'm very disappointed to find out that Wilber is a good friend and supporter of Cohen. Even before I read about the revelations of Cohen's abuses, it was clear to me from watching him in interviews that he was completely full of it, and had no serenity or peace or wisdom or even clarity of thought to offer. Wilbur is brilliant but it's hard not to conclude that he's also extremely narcissistic, possibly even sociopathic--as Adi Da clearly was. His own puerile, scatological rants posted on his website regarding his critics further suggest his lack of a deep inward attainment. If you cannot name the shadow right in front of you, how the hell are you going to help me name mine?

William Sibelius · Mar 27, 2016

If you claim to be enlightened, then you are not.

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