Perhaps I should qualify that statement of: ‘you can absolutely see and perceive where othersstand on their path,’ as meaning from one’s present perspective. That perspective, of course, will still have many levels to develop. So, what the teacher should observe about themselves is that they are always in a process of becomming, and at each level of becoming, as you so rightly observe, they are still full of darkness. But once the teacher has foudn the courage to accept their own darkess, then taken a stand of reverence to the developing spirit in the seeker and one of humility in one’s self, then without judgement, you may offer guidance and assistance based uponn the experiences and transcendence of your own journey.

And, indeed, as you say, and something I point out very often, the journey, although difficult at times is all common sense.

Perhaps if I might make one more point. A teacher worth his salt is not going to project anything at all onto his or her students for the simple reason that the karma will come back so fast and hard as to give them a tremendous about of difficulty to work through. Hence one’s opportunity to learn quickly in these fast moving times. The age old problem of power is that at some level it always corrupts, but on this path, if one misuses power, the next level of power is not bestowed until the teacher has learned how to use it wisely. Therefore, the teacher is always their own limitation and certainly any the teacher is still only a seeker until full enlightenment is reached.

Blessings and Peace.

” you can absolutely see and perceive where others stand on their path”

A person who is unconscious of their own darkness (or in a
less-than-perfect state of awakening) is liable to project all kinds of
nonsence onto others — and then enroll himself and the world in their
badness, as is clearly happening with EnlightenNext. Is this part of the
“wheel of karma” (human development)? Surely, in the larger picture, yes,
but it’s also necessary for people to “speak truth to power” and to respond
out of ordinary common sense rather than jargon. That is my role I guess..

Thanks for your contribution.

The problem with awakening is that there is always another level and each level allows you to feel invincible until you understand that you are nothing, at each level. That is the ego of course that feels invincible and not the true self. And, of course, the humanity gets in the way too, and that is when the master makes mistakes.

But just like all humans, the master must learn to accept that he is vulnerable to the forces and will absolutely make mistakes. And, a master who cannot make mistakes and admit to them is no master. But that does not mean that he has not had an enlightening experience that may be well above others.

When you have that experience, you can absolutely see and perceive where others stand on their path, as you are viewing them from a loftier position, as it were. But, until you can walk on water, then for sure, you are not fully enlightened, only at one stage or another on the path.

Andrew, like all others on the path, is learning and we should give him the opportunity and space to learn without judgement, understanding that anyone drawn to his light has absolutely chosen that path as part of their own learning experience. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

We should all be careful of using, not only too much intellect, to discern what is right or wrong on the path, but to some degree, using any at all, as the mind will always cloud the issues, and although I have enjoyed reading the above and value the observations greatly, reflections can be a double edged sword in the world of illusions.

Learn to trust your heart and go with the feelings. There is darkness in everyone and the path is merely a process of learning how to dissolve it with light. Be aware of your own darkness and work at illuminating it, with the help of whatever teacher is calling to you at this time. Just because Andrew’s methods might be difficult for some and a learning process for himself, does not mean that his work is not good in the higher order of things, and as we cannot see his path from that higher perspective, we should be very careful not to attract a difficult lesson for ourselves.

We should also remember that the answers are alway simple. God didn’t make the journey difficult. Why would he? It is humans that make things difficult. But let’s leave on a light note as all seriousness should be avoided if we are to learn the art of laughing at ourselves.

What is the difference between a cult and a religion? Size!

Blessings and Peace.

Dave Ashworth

EnlightenNext, the non-profit founded by Andrew Cohen which owns the 220 acre Foxhollow estate located in Lenox, MA, has decided to put the property up for sale. According to the broker Stone House Properties, EnlightenNext is trying to relocate to smaller facilities and into the Connecticut River Valley town of Northampton. Foxhollow, described by EnlightenNext as its “World Center”, was purchased in 1996 for $2.8 million; it’s now being marketed for nearly $7 million.

During its tenure in Lenox, EnlightenNext has been subject of considerable controversy about its founder and spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen. Over the years multiple allegations of abuse of students have come to light including three books, one of which, The Mother of God, was written by Cohen’s mother, Luna Tarlo.

In the fall of 2009 another book by another former student was published: American Guru, by William Yenner and contributors. Several events have marked the introduction of the book including talks at book stores and interviews on CTSB TV in South Lee on the Bob Balogh Show on WBCR Radio, as well as feature newspaper articles in the Northampton Daily Hampshire Gazette and The Greenfield Recorder. In December American Guru was selected as one of 10 Best Non-fiction Books by P2P Foundation, a media think tank.

The controversies about Cohen and EnlightenNext include many well documented allegations from many witnesses of physical, emotional, and financial abuse.

Recently some of the public figures whose contributions Cohen has solicited for publication in EnlightenNext magazine have come forward to express their own concerns about the situation at Foxhollow; their statements can be seen on the American Guru website.

Why in the world is it unrealistic?? The vast majority of humanity tries to live with straight-forward honesty. The masses of ordinary people DON’T sacrifice simple, direct truth-telling when it’s “bad for business.”

Re Genpo Roshi, Ken Wilber, etc: these are people who make money and secure fame by means of projecting a certain image to the public. It’s certainly *possible* that they’re attached to these rewards to an extent that overshadows their commitment to honesty. I’m not saying this is necessarily true… but they sure wouldn’t be the *first* people I’d look to for simple honesty.

I don’t see any reason whatsoever to adopt Genpo, Wilber, etc, as models of integrity to be followed by Hamilton or anyone else. Why not pick someone at random from the phonebook; wouldn’t they be at least an equally good integrity as a famous author or workshop-leader? Where’s the evidence to believe otherwise??

Stuart
http://stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/booboo.htm

Hello Marc,

I appreciate your inquiry here and the endeveour to be open to as full a picture as possible given what you are reading. However, the conclusion that Andrew is “lacking in integrity” is based on some very questionable assumptions. I was a close student for 13 years and I know his former student “critics” very well, while I dont regard Andrew as flawless and think he has made some errors along the way, I have no doubt whatsoever about his integrity as a human being and Guru. But to appreciate what that means one has to appreciate just how embedded and dense most of our post-modern green meme egos are, and how hard a job it is for a true Teacher to catalyze genuine and enduring evolutionary transformation in real time. Without this context then so much of what Andrews detractors now call “abuse” cannot be understood. Evolution is a messy business, that is just the way it is. I do not believe it was Andrews intention ever to harm anybody, but it was his intention to help them break their egos (which they said they wanted), which can be excruciatingly painful and challenging.

See my article for an in-depth investigation into this:

http://www.guru-talk.com/2009/10/american-guru-andrew-cohen-allegations-of-abuse/

As to your open question about how is injecting real Love into the world. In my experience (and I have done years of prectice and met many teachers) Andrew Cohen is the most courageous and passionate vehicle for Love & Evolution I have ever met. And like all the great Revolutionary Masters (not Saints!) throughout history, there are those who want to betray and tear him down.

If you think the “evolutionary enlightenment” movement is based on delusion then I challenge anyone to go on a retreat with Andrew or visit an EnlightenNext center (and yes there are many many former students around the whole also lit up by that realization and perspective) and find out for yourself. Dont rely on hearsay and the “complaints” of some. There issues are not only questionable and lacking context, they are regarding events that occurred years ago before Evolutionary Enlightenment was a stable, living reality. Hence there is one heck of alot that they have no idea about, or ,if they do, they choose to deny it.