[FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
OK, thank you dhamiltony2k5.
[FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
Yes, the text is in the FFL archive here. It is in FFL post#387484 387484Andrew Cohen LightMint Gone Bad https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/387484 https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/387484 Here is his statement: I’m fifty-seven years old and currently find myself facing the biggest challenge of my life. I’ve been a teacher of spiritual enlightenment for twenty-seven years. Enlightenment has always been and always will be about transcending the ego. Over the last several years, some of my closest students have tried to make it apparent to me that in spite of the depth of my awakening, my ego is still alive and well. I’ve understood this simple truth—that we all have egos no matter how enlightened we may be—and even taught it to thousands of people all over the world throughout my career. But when I was being asked to face my own ego by those who were nearest and dearest to me, I resisted. And I often made their lives difficult as a result. I’m aware that many of my students over the years have also been affected by my lack of awareness of this part of myself. And for those of you who are reading this, I apologize. As time passes I intend to reach out and engage in a process of dialogue with those of you who would like to. In light of all this, for the sake of my own integrity as a spiritual teacher and as a human being, I’ve decided that I need to take some time off so I can make the effort to develop in many of the ways that I’ve asked other people to. Starting this fall, once I’ve fulfilled some prior commitments, I’m going to embark upon asabbatical for an extended period of time. During this hiatus, I will be stepping down from the leadership of my organization, I won’t be publishing anything here on my blog, and will not be doing any public teaching. My intention is to become a better teacher, and more importantly, a better man. One of the most beautiful fruits of my work over the years has been the international network of people who have studied, collaborated, and trained with me for so long. They are all examples of Evolutionary Enlightenment in their own right, and I couldn’t imagine a greater community of people to carry forward this movement. I’m looking forward to working with them in a very different way inthe future. . ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Does anyone have a copy of this apology letter from Andrew Cohen? It seem to have been removed from his website. I'd like to read it. An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Please post the letter here if you don't mind. Thanks, B Joseph Kotrich on Facebook
[FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
Does anyone have a copy of this apology letter from Andrew Cohen? It seem to have been removed from his website. I'd like to read it. An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Please post the letter here if you don't mind. Thanks, B Joseph Kotrich on Facebook
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
I think, what you are saying, is that the spiritual path is full of traps. And, nothing, in my opinion, could be more accurate. You take your eye off the ball for a moment, and you get beaned in the head. Much of this site is devoted to pointing out each other's perceived faults. If someone does this to someone whose point of view we agree with, they are labeled a troll. If someone, whose point of view we agree with, does it do someone, whose point of view we don't agree with, they are seen as trying to help that person get over their short shortsightedness. And if that person takes exception to the "analysis", then they are dubbed a cult apologist, or a true believer. This constitutes about 80% of the interactions, I'd say. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Narcissistic tendencies are at the heart of ego. We all have them. We all know how great we are in spite of THEM. What we tend not to know is how our tendencies fit into the world at large. Gurus in particular have a propensity to get caught in a bubble of adoration and those narcissistic tendencies can spiral out of control if they are strong. I sometimes wonder if individuals who are more withdrawn in this way might be better spiritual teachers eventually. One problem is followers seem to like and gravitate to a commanding figure, someone who seems in control of his/her life. A follower tends to be looking for a way out of a definite weakness in this regard, and wants to be told what to do to 'fix' their life. This is an inevitable recipe for disaster. And, it often seems to me, once a follower has acquired some (not a lot) of spiritual memes and some experience, the innate narcissism we have tends to wrap itself around that new spiritualised identity. For now we 'know' we have something all those other unenlightened ass-holes do not have. Except of course that is entirely untrue. In many ways we have become worse than the people we look down upon for failing to see our new found 'truth'. This problem will persist through all stages of 'consciousness' a person experiences, and even persists after a clear awakening and will probably take years following that before it is adequately moderated. From: "steve.sundur@... [FairfieldLife]" To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, May 15, 2015 12:16 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon Barry, Has it ever occurred to you, how "obsessed" you are with NPD? Do you think that says something? I'd say it's one of the great loves of your life, along with Judy Stein. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Here's an interesting "apology" letter from one of the most embarrassing examples of "Neo-Advaita" teaching ever, Andrew Cohen. If you're interesting in this particular branch of spiritual craziness, I advise skimming the "mea culpa" letter (which I regard as total bullshit and being as clearly symptomatic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as many of Robin Carlsen's similar "mea culpa" postings), and instead reading through many of the comments, especially the one from Rick Taylor. You might also look up comments made by Cohen's *mother*, who became his student at one point, and was told "to give way to him or their relationship would end" and forbidden "to express an opinion on anything". She says that she "knew if I seriously objected to anything, I'd be kicked out" and stated that her son, formerly the "sweetest, sensitive kid, had changed into an unrecognizable tyrant." All in all, this is an example of how badly a supposed spiritual teaching can go wrong, when people are stupid enough to just believe someone when they claim to be "enlightened." It also points out the problems with this whole faux "lineage" of Neo-Advaitans: "One of the tragedies of Poonjaji's teaching ministry is that he either told, inferred, or allowed hundreds of individuals to believe they were fully enlightened simply because they'd had one, or many, powerful experiences of awakening. These "enlightened" teachers then proceeded to enlighten their own students in a similar way, and thus was born what is known as the "neo-Advaita" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Advaita, or "satsang" movement in western culture." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sab
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
From: "Xenophaneros Anartaxius anartax...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]" Narcissistic tendencies are at the heart of ego. We all have them. We all know how great we are in spite of THEM. What we tend not to know is how our tendencies fit into the world at large. Gurus in particular have a propensity to get caught in a bubble of adoration and those narcissistic tendencies can spiral out of control if they are strong. I sometimes wonder if individuals who are more withdrawn in this way might be better spiritual teachers eventually. One problem is followers seem to like and gravitate to a commanding figure, someone who seems in control of his/her life. A follower tends to be looking for a way out of a definite weakness in this regard, and wants to be told what to do to 'fix' their life. This is an inevitable recipe for disaster. And, it often seems to me, once a follower has acquired some (not a lot) of spiritual memes and some experience, the innate narcissism we have tends to wrap itself around that new spiritualised identity. For now we 'know' we have something all those other unenlightened ass-holes do not have. Except of course that is entirely untrue. In many ways we have become worse than the people we look down upon for failing to see our new found 'truth'. This problem will persist through all stages of 'consciousness' a person experiences, and even persists after a clear awakening and will probably take years following that before it is adequately moderated. Thanks for understanding. IMO, understanding the concepts and definitions of narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder are *key* to understanding spiritual practice on this planet. And the worst thing about NPD is that it's "catching," infectious in the same way that any other nasty virus is. Spend enough time studying with an NPD teacher, and most people take *decades* to eliminate the NPD traits they've picked up from him, or her. If they *ever* manage to get rid of them. In my opinion, any spiritual seeker who has ever "committed" to a living spiritual teacher for more than a decade and, reading the DSM-IV definitions of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, claims to *not* see his spiritual teacher in those definitions, is almost certainly still carrying the NPD virus themselves. :-)
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
Narcissistic tendencies are at the heart of ego. We all have them. We all know
how great we are in spite of THEM. What we tend not to know is how our
tendencies fit into the world at large. Gurus in particular have a propensity
to get caught in a bubble of adoration and those narcissistic tendencies can
spiral out of control if they are strong. I sometimes wonder if individuals who
are more withdrawn in this way might be better spiritual teachers eventually.
One problem is followers seem to like and gravitate to a commanding figure,
someone who seems in control of his/her life. A follower tends to be looking
for a way out of a definite weakness in this regard, and wants to be told what
to do to 'fix' their life. This is an inevitable recipe for disaster. And, it
often seems to me, once a follower has acquired some (not a lot) of spiritual
memes and some experience, the innate narcissism we have tends to wrap itself
around that new spiritualised identity. For now we 'know' we have something all
those other unenlightened ass-holes do not have. Except of course that is
entirely untrue. In many ways we have become worse than the people we look down
upon for failing to see our new found 'truth'. This problem will persist
through all stages of 'consciousness' a person experiences, and even persists
after a clear awakening and will probably take years following that before it
is adequately moderated.
From: "steve.sun...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2015 12:16 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita"
phenomenon
Barry,
Has it ever occurred to you, how "obsessed" you are with NPD?
Do you think that says something?
I'd say it's one of the great loves of your life, along with Judy Stein.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote :
Here's an interesting "apology" letter from one of the most embarrassing
examples of "Neo-Advaita" teaching ever, Andrew Cohen.
If you're interesting in this particular branch of spiritual craziness, I
advise skimming the "mea culpa" letter (which I regard as total bullshit and
being as clearly symptomatic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as many of
Robin Carlsen's similar "mea culpa" postings), and instead reading through many
of the comments, especially the one from Rick Taylor. You might also look up
comments made by Cohen's *mother*, who became his student at one point, and was
told "to give way to him or their relationship would end" and forbidden
"toexpress an opinion on anything". She says that she "knew if I
seriouslyobjected to anything, I'd be kicked out" and stated that her
son,formerly the "sweetest, sensitive kid, had changed into anunrecognizable
tyrant."
All in all, this is an example of how badly a supposed spiritual teaching can
go wrong, when people are stupid enough to just believe someone when they claim
to be "enlightened." It also points out the problems with this whole faux
"lineage" of Neo-Advaitans: "One of the tragedies of Poonjaji's teaching
ministry is that he eithertold, inferred, or allowed hundreds of individuals to
believe they werefully enlightened simply because they'd had one, or many,
powerfulexperiences of awakening. These "enlightened" teachers then proceeded
toenlighten their own students in a similar way, and thus was born whatis known
as the "neo-Advaita", or "satsang" movement in western culture."
An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical.
| |
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| An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical.Dear
Ones, It has been almost 2 years since the structures of our shared Utopian
experiment collapsed so violently and so completely. It’s also been almost that
long that I have dropped out of sight. |
| |
| View on www.andrewcohen.org | Preview by Yahoo |
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| |
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[FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
The apology? I did not see the part where he asks his friends to offer a rooster for him as he takes this bitter swill. Did I miss that part in Cohen's apology? “..he said (and they were his last words), "Crito, we owe a cock to Æsculapius; pay it, therefore; and do not neglect it." Evidently these are not Cohen's last words. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Barry, Has it ever occurred to you, how "obsessed" you are with NPD? Do you think that says something? I'd say it's one of the great loves of your life, along with Judy Stein. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Here's an interesting "apology" letter from one of the most embarrassing examples of "Neo-Advaita" teaching ever, Andrew Cohen. If you're interesting in this particular branch of spiritual craziness, I advise skimming the "mea culpa" letter (which I regard as total bullshit and being as clearly symptomatic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as many of Robin Carlsen's similar "mea culpa" postings), and instead reading through many of the comments, especially the one from Rick Taylor. You might also look up comments made by Cohen's *mother*, who became his student at one point, and was told "to give way to him or their relationship would end" and forbidden "to express an opinion on anything". She says that she "knew if I seriously objected to anything, I'd be kicked out" and stated that her son, formerly the "sweetest, sensitive kid, had changed into an unrecognizable tyrant." All in all, this is an example of how badly a supposed spiritual teaching can go wrong, when people are stupid enough to just believe someone when they claim to be "enlightened." It also points out the problems with this whole faux "lineage" of Neo-Advaitans: "One of the tragedies of Poonjaji's teaching ministry is that he either told, inferred, or allowed hundreds of individuals to believe they were fully enlightened simply because they'd had one, or many, powerful experiences of awakening. These "enlightened" teachers then proceeded to enlighten their own students in a similar way, and thus was born what is known as the "neo-Advaita" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Advaita, or "satsang" movement in western culture." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Dear Ones, It has been almost 2 years since the structures of our shared Utopian experiment collapsed so violently and so completely. It’s also been almost that long that I have dropped out of sight. View on www.andrewcohen.org http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Preview by Yahoo
[FairfieldLife] Re: For those interested in the "Neo-Advaita" phenomenon
Barry, Has it ever occurred to you, how "obsessed" you are with NPD? Do you think that says something? I'd say it's one of the great loves of your life, along with Judy Stein. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote : Here's an interesting "apology" letter from one of the most embarrassing examples of "Neo-Advaita" teaching ever, Andrew Cohen. If you're interesting in this particular branch of spiritual craziness, I advise skimming the "mea culpa" letter (which I regard as total bullshit and being as clearly symptomatic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as many of Robin Carlsen's similar "mea culpa" postings), and instead reading through many of the comments, especially the one from Rick Taylor. You might also look up comments made by Cohen's *mother*, who became his student at one point, and was told "to give way to him or their relationship would end" and forbidden "to express an opinion on anything". She says that she "knew if I seriously objected to anything, I'd be kicked out" and stated that her son, formerly the "sweetest, sensitive kid, had changed into an unrecognizable tyrant." All in all, this is an example of how badly a supposed spiritual teaching can go wrong, when people are stupid enough to just believe someone when they claim to be "enlightened." It also points out the problems with this whole faux "lineage" of Neo-Advaitans: "One of the tragedies of Poonjaji's teaching ministry is that he either told, inferred, or allowed hundreds of individuals to believe they were fully enlightened simply because they'd had one, or many, powerful experiences of awakening. These "enlightened" teachers then proceeded to enlighten their own students in a similar way, and thus was born what is known as the "neo-Advaita" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Advaita, or "satsang" movement in western culture." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cohen_%28spiritual_teacher%29#cite_note-FOOTNOTECaplan200916-17-39 An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical An open letter to all my former students upon return from my sabbatical. http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Dear Ones, It has been almost 2 years since the structures of our shared Utopian experiment collapsed so violently and so completely. It’s also been almost that long that I have dropped out of sight. View on www.andrewcohen.org http://www.andrewcohen.org/blog/open-letter-all-my-former-students-upon-return-my-sabbatical Preview by Yahoo
