Enlightenment Blues : My Years with an American Guru

Rating:
Summary: Arrogant Self Delusion
Review: Although the author's book kept my attention and aroused in me a strong resentment towards the so-called spiritually elite, I was also intriqued by the many diverse opinions reflected in the book reviews. The numerous conflicting viewpoints that were shared by readers, and the quality of their opposing ideas surrounding this controversy is the true merit of a book of this kind. I have enjoyed reading and thinking about all of this immensely. But, the notion of relying on another person to give us the spiritual instruction that they think we need, just doesn't sit well with me. There seems to be an ironic parallel to this issue with that of one of the world's shortest jokes: Masochist to sadist - "Hurt me." "No!"

Rating:
Summary: Cult alert
Review: Customers beware of the previous review claiming to be from an ex-student of Mr. Cohen who has "gone his own way". The statements contained there are precisely the sort of lines that Andrew's inner circle of defenders use to justify any criticism of him and his "teaching" methods. Please consider wisely before taking it at face value. Who, but Andrew and his students would compare him to the great Marpa? People who leave his company after years don't tend to speak in such glowing terms of Andrew. (Otherwise, why would they have left?) This book has its shortcoming in perhaps shading with doubt the possibility of there being authentic and awakened spiritual teachers left who are not egomaniacs...but it is an experiential account that needs to considered, if you haven't yet given up looking.

Rating:
Summary: Arrogant Self Delusion
Review: Friends of mine who are teachers visited the mansion that Andrew owns. They asked a student there, "What do you do when someone disagrees with the Teacher or the Teaching?" The response appalled them: " Oh we take care of that quick. We don't allow disagreement.." Or this: Andrew at a talk, constantly saying "Am I right? Am I right?" This eliciting an automatic response from the audience, " Yes, you're right." The one person who disagrees, "No, I think you're wrong"; is singled out as "that kind of person" and held to ridicule. This book will help you to think for yourself when exposed to charismatic teachers. The story told is important. Do you want to be told what to do, like a child? Someone like Andrew can take all responsibility for your life away , while you serve "the School". His school... The man is a dangerous, self-deluded fool.

Rating:
Summary: "Still confused about Andrew" Is Clearly An Ill DC Woman
Review: I bought this book from Amazon last year, never intending to write a review until I was surfing Amazon and seen this review.As if I cannot say something nice I try not to say anything at all. But the review below cought my eye. This book is fair at best. I seen it mostly as a cult leaders ideology, and actually chucked it in the trash.

With that said the lady who wrote the review "Still Confused About Andrew," appears to be a bit deranged, and a stalker. As she states she had followed this man across the world in a "Blissful" state at times. If I were close to this author I believe I would be contacting the FBI who handles stalkers and such. If you know this lady, she clearly needs some serious mental evaluation. It is scary to think about such people even walking amongst us.

Rating:
Summary: Still confused about Andrew
Review: I met Andrew Cohen in 1993 in Santa Monica, CA. He taught for three consecutive nights. I wasn't particularly impressed by anything he said. But as I was leaving on the third night, I was overcome by a feeling of indescribable bliss and physical pleasure. This lasted for about ten days. I was suffused with joy and peace. I felt no fear. I experienced myself as infinite, as filling all space. Of course that sounds ridiculous, because the experience was beyond the mind and cannot be grasped by the mind. I have never felt anything like it before or since. I knew then and still believe I was seeing true spiritual reality.

I ended up going to see Andrew in Oregon, then northern California, India and Nepal. I became disillusioned. I said I needed time alone to read and they said "you don't need to read. Andrew doesn't read."

They copied Andrew in eerie ways. Andrew was into kick-boxing, so they were into kickboxing. Andrew wore vests, they wore vests. Some of them even adopted his nasal way of speaking.

I heard that when people left the group it was often without warning, in the middle of the night.

When I began to ask the tough questions, the group ostracized me. Andrew refused to take any of my questions in public anymore, if I had questions I had to ask him privately. But when I was alone with him I would feel such bliss that all my questions seemed to fade away. (No, there was never anything sexual). I later heard from a member of the group that even a year later, in India, he had refused for days to take any questions from a certain woman because she looked like me!

After coming back from Asia, I made one last foray to Marin to make sure I was really through with Andrew. I decided I was, and left feeling I was escaping with my life, driving south over the Golden Gate Bridge, grateful for every mile I put between us.

Rating:
Summary: Another cult - will people never learn?
Review: I read this book soon after reading "The Mother of God" by Andrew Cohen's mother, Luna Tarlo. The events depicted by both authors are consistent and the picture they paint of Guru Cohen is not an attractive one. Ironically, Guru Cohen claims that he has to destroy the egoistic minds of his devotees while possessing one of the biggest egos of all! In a way you also have to feel sorry for Cohen - the poor man actually believes he's a latter day Jesus, come to enlighten the world. My biggest question is why does it take otherwise intelligent people years to see through his mystical smoke and mirrors? This is another reason we should teach critical thinking as a defined subject in grade schools and beyond. Maybe we can inoculate our young against such purveyors of mental mayhem.

The Marx brothers would have had a field day with the right script based on this guy. Maybe Van Der Braak and Tarlo should consider writing a screen play. Will Ferrell could play the guru.

The book is well written and easily held my interest. I was able to read it over a weekend.

Rating:
Summary: on the rudeness of gurus and reviewers
Review: I suppose it would be rude to mention that the previous review was not written by Mr. Wilber himself but only appears to be. Or to question whether Mr. Wilber was consulted before submitting this review. And it would certainly be even ruder to remind our readers that the last time Mr. Wilber touted a rude boy guru he had to later withdrawal his endorsement when the guru's behavior became too nasty for even Mr. Wilber. I think we should let poor Mr. Wilber speak for himself.

The fact that Mr. Cohen has been able to procure endorsements from some of the leading spiritual lights of our time only highlights the significance of this book. One of the $60,000 questions is whether any of those endorsers were aware just how brutally Mr. Cohen treats his students. I can't help but wonder how some of them must feel upon reading Enlightenment Blues-or do they just ignore the book existence? Perhaps for some, it would be preferable to keep the emperor's clothes on just a little longer. Of course one can point to many spiritual leaders whose behavior is less than exemplorary but in Mr. Cohen's case there is the complete absence of any offsetting service that Mr. Cohen and his community provides to the world at large. No starving babies are getting feed around this place. They are not even mentioned. Nor have any of his students been declared enlightened by Mr. Cohen and sent off to teach as in the case of the previously mentioned zen masters. The only concern that Mr. Cohen seems to have is build his own community of free labor and infatuated admirers to do his bidding. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't insist it had something to do with spiritual enlightenment.

Rating:
Summary: Lacking clarity
Review: If you want to know what could go wrong on the spiritual path this book is for you. It is a long list of stories that are meant to prove that people are mistreated in Andrew Cohen's communities.
Unfortunately it does not go beyond that. The book never attempts to be constructive. Even in the epilogue the author is unclear about his experience. He writes he wouldn't want to have missed the 11 years with Andrew. Does that mean they were beneficial? Would he recommend it to his son? He briefly mentions his adventure and writing about it made him understand his "basic philosophy of life" but he does not share it. The book leaves the reader empty-handed.
There is no explanation whatsoever on what enlightenment is and how to get there. There is no advice on how to distinguish an effective from an ineffective teacher (before getting infatuated). There are no insights offered on why Andrew Cohen's teachings were so attractive initially and seemed so pale later (after feeling abused). There is not even a hint on how to apply these teaching in life.
The book may even be counter-productive for spiritual seekers who already know they have to be careful in surrendering to an outer guru. It reinforces old fears. Enlightenment requires a radical change in perspective and I doubt this book helps to accomplish that.


Rating:
Summary: to another reviewer
Review: This book is harrowing and took a lot of honesty to write. Andrew Cohen is a guru who underwent something like two weeks training with a teacher in India--supposedly in the lineage of Sri Ramana Maharshi--before being turned loose on the public. He's so out of control that his own mother wrote an expose' of him (Luna Tarlo and her book, "The Mother of God", is available on amazon). I suppose the people who believe in Cohen are just good but immature kids. And for those still capable of hearing a dissenting voice, I offer this anecdote.

I once knew an American who was a direct disciple of Ramana Maharshi. In the late nineteen forties he flew to India at age 17 and arrived at Ramana's ashram unannounced. The Maharshi was in the meditation hall sitting on a slightly raised dais, as always. He greeted the american kid warmly, asked some questions about his hometown of new york city (for example: "Are the buildings really that tall?") The Maharshi already had advanced cancer and could only hobble around painfully with a cane, but he personally got up, took the kid's hand, and led him to a dilapidated cabin where he could bed down. Having made certain the kid was comfy, Ramana left. My friend then practically fainted from exhaustion (trans-oceanic flights then were still endless propeller-driven marathons).

The kid was awakened nine hours later by a soft tapping at his door. He opened it. There stood Ramana, all alone, holding a palm leaf filled with food. Ramana sat down, like a good dad, and watched the half-starved boy scarf the meal. Apparently satisfied that the boy was recovering, Ramana Maharshi slowly stood up and limped back to his seat in the meditation hall.

This is a true story. (The man was the Gnani Robert Adams and his book "Silence of the Heart" is available on amazon. He died in 1997 with the same nobility with which he'd always lived).

This book I'm reviewing tells a paralell story. Andrew Cohen kept a whole restaurant full of his devotees waiting for lunch while he piddled around, becoming extremely late. Finally they ate without him. When Cohen arrived he threw a HUGE TEMPER TANTRUM how DARE they eat before him?

Now, here's the punch line: does this sound like Sri Ramana Maharshi to you?

Ramana probably would have insisted they all eat FIRST then would have painfully limped around freshening everyone's drink. Don't kid yourself, being degraded never sped anyone to enlightenment. (Ignore ken wilber, Cohen's big defender, ALL he knows is books).

However, buy this book and decide for yourself. By all means, think for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book, but with a mountain of salt...
Review: Van der Braak, an intelligent and thoughtful writer in many ways, probes and questions, bravely inquiring into a number of sacred cows present in the spiritual movement he took part in. Nevertheless, I find this book highly disturbing. Van der Braak provides an intricately woven and intriguing account, yet it ultimately proves to be a self-promoting tapestry of distortions.
I lived together with the author for many years in Cohen's community, and like the author I also at times underwent difficult and painful challenges, and also took leave after many years. My experience and the conclusions I drew however, are vastly different than the author's. Nowhere else have I ever been offered the opportunity to grow and mature, think independently, self-responsibly and with integrity, as much as with Andrew Cohen - and I am deeply appreciative, despite going my own way. While Van der Braak gives the appearance of unnerving honesty, his account deprives the reader of so much of the larger spirit of what he was involved in with Andrew Cohen - who is no doubt a controversial and truly challenging teacher.
The author, after describing the "romance" period of his involvement with Cohen's community quite movingly, steadily moves closer and closer to his growing doubts of the situation, digressing in imbalanced depth and detail on the challenges he and others are faced with in that setting. He ultimately interprets the tough love he received primarily from the point of view of a victim, clouding what is already a complex and challenging picture to present to someone not involved. Unlike Van der Braak, for countless others the tough love they received (and gave) exhilarated, strengthened and served them enormously - as did the warm love, intelligence, thoughtfulness and deep camaraderie that were abundant there. The author forgets to mention that Andrew Cohen made it preponderantly clear that this pursuit is not for everyone and that Cohen is indeed a very tough teacher. Van der Braak knew this quite well, but doesn't take responsibility for it in his book.
The reason this book is most deeply unsettling is supplied in many of the reviews of his book seen here: it serves to provide fuel to fodder for the vast numbers of people who revel in the reports of yet another seemingly discredited enlightenment teacher. This book thus promotes a clever cover for a blanket cynicism masquerading as intelligent doubt. For those who herald this book, I have this to say: Here's to a new wave of "enlightened cynicism." But where will it take us?

P.S. - Perhaps Van der Braak should write an historical deconstruction discrediting Marpa, the Tibetan teacher of the great Milarepa, known for giving his student such a hard time. I wonder if Milarepa would agree

Post Response: It is interesting if not predictable to see the vehemence of the responses to this review; also interesting is to consider that those who cry foul in saying that Cohen supports suppression of doubt in his community have no problem with pursuing the same in this forum with those who disagree with them. Why so threatening to consider that someone had a different take on the experience and chew on that? I certainly chewed on Andre's book, and although his doubts were at times compelling, they did not strike the same place in me that they did in them. To set the record straight, I am indeed a once long-term student who left some years ago to pursue his/her own way. And though I have numerous criticisms, they can't come close to the unending sense of appreciation and respect I have for all that I learned and gained as a human being in that situation. Anyone who spent years with Andrew Cohen and can't reflect on hundreds if not thousands of THEIR OWN profound events - be them inspirations, experiences, lessons learned, breakthroughs, penetrating insights, practical, psychological, intellectual, moral, and spiritual breakthroughs of all types - DEFINITELY missed out big time or is otherwise in total denial.