Customer Reviews

American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing-former students of Andrew Cohen speak out

5 star:		(9)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I feel compelled to provide a rebuttal to Roberta's review of Bill's book. I think most of us on the spiritual path will agree that it is the most challenging and difficult work that anyone can engage in. Everything eventually must be looked into if we really want to be free from our conditioning, including those sides of us that are the most painful and difficult to face. I think it is true that whoever endeavors to undertake such a journey must be willing to "face everything and avoid nothing."

But let's be clear what exactly it is that Bill and other ex-students of Andrew Cohen are alleging here: systematic abusive behavior either done by Andrew or under his specific direction, including pressuring people to give large sums of money when they "failed" in some way (Bill personally was "compelled" to give $80,000 when he fell out of favor with Andrew, which he eventually got back after signing a five year gag order), slapping long time students when they commit some "error", and an incident in which buckets of paint were poured over the head of a women who allegedly disappointed Andrew, just to name a few. There have been many, many more examples of this kind of behavior in Andrew's community (go to whatenlightenment.blogspot.com to read more). Roberta, can you please explain to me how these actions can in any way be considered right and ethical? I would really like to hear from you how these actions could be right in ANY context, let alone a spiritual community supposedly upholding a higher standard of integrity. And if you are alleging that anyone outside of a spiritual community are in no position to judge what is ethical and what is not, I profoundly and unequivocally disagree with you.

Simply put, Roberta, what about the specific events that that Bill describes in this book??!! This is not a story of people having their poor, little egos bruised. This is a story of truly cruel and twisted behavior that is being presented as "enlightened behavior." These stories are shocking to read about, and it personally offends me to hear them being rationalized as being done for the "sole benefit of the student's liberation." This could only be true if you consider humiliation and degradation a valid part of the spiritual path.

I was a student of Andrew's for around three years over ten years ago. For many years after I left, I still felt a sense of loyalty to Andrew and what his community was doing. For a long time I have wrestled with these stories and my own personal loyalty to Andrew and his community, but no longer. The documented events are unequivocally abusive acts, and they offend my conscience to the point where I feel I must speak up, for the sake of what's right.

Roberta, I know you personally from my time in Andrew's group many years ago, and recall you warmly. But I think you are doing a great disservice to the truth by insinuating that what this book contains is only Bill's "refusal" to face himself. Are you saying that the events Bill and other ex-students have mentioned did not take place? If not, do you personally condone these events as legitimate actions from an enlightened master solely concerned with the student's transformation?

Enough is enough! I feel that it is time for those of us who disagree profoundly with these abusive, destructive acts to speak out against them forcefully and unconditionally. Personally, my conscience demands it.

- Jared Howe

A marketing whiz kid might try to sell you on Guru as the "Oops, I joined a cult, "tell all" book of 2009." More accurately Guru is an intensely personal, purposeful look into William Yenner's lifelong journey towards enlightenment, and the thirteen years that Cohen and Yenner were bonded by a guru/disciple relationship. Intense and painful at times, this is a story deserving to be told.

Yenner's writing is powerfully purposeful. Guru simultaneously bears witness to difficult but necessary truths, while sensitively and evenhandedly acknowledging the complexity of the EnlightenNext Community. Yenner is five years out from his last contact with Cohen, and time, distance, effort, and strength have clearly increased his perspective on his event. Yet the emotional core of Yenner's experience remains raw and strikingly real. While observation of such honest and formative emotional events is at times difficult, the rawness of Yenner's emotions adds greatly to the reader connection to the text. Guru is unique in this balance. Yenner leads a life of action and great personal and impersonal work, and during the period of a five year gag order, he has personally reflected and spent great time in meditation on this experience. Yet owing to his silence during this period, elements of this story read like memoires written during periods of imprisonment.

To those who have shared the unique experiences of living within Cohen's sphere of influence, I imagine the mere act of reading Guru's will have incredible personal emotional resonance. It is itself a journey.

Yet, also contained within Guru is a message of affirmation to all those seeking enlightenment yet scorned by the inherent struggle within the guru/disciple relationship. Significant scholarly works on the topic of intentional communities outline the potential damage inherent to this power dynamic. Yet equally understood within many communities is the value of subjugating ego, of the pursuit of selflessness as a vehicle for growth. Yenner's reflections and the reflections of other students on personal experiences of this relationship offer a deeply personal approach to understanding this dynamic.

For those readers less familiar with the practice of subjugating self to an enlightened one, to a higher power, or to a higher principal, the relationship of guru/disciple can still resonate in terms of family dynamic. Yenner's story is a non-traditional love story of sorts. Yenner and the other students of Cohen are at times sons, daughters, partners, and scorned lovers. Within these relational archetypes are ways for any reader to connect deeply to Yenner's experiences.

Lastly, Guru is a compelling read. I consumed the text in one sitting. It starts a bit slow, but rewards the reader who continues by really finds its paces in the telling of Yenner's personal story. The remainder of the read is thought provoking consideration of the inherent risks to power imbalances in any relationship.

Congratulations and thanks to William Yenner and all the contributors to this exceptionally clear, important book, American Guru.

It is an open secret that followers of Andrew Cohen are subjected to abuse and exploitation that has nothing to do with spirituality, and everything to do with the pathological narcissism of Andrew Cohen. Former followers have spoken out, in this volume, with great courage and honesty.

It would be wonderful to see such honesty and courage demonstrated by other leaders of the New Age movement. Instead of rationalizing and minimizing the extent of these 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?

If such celebrities of the New Age do not have this kind of courage and integrity, at least William Yenner and the authors of this book do - and their work will be of enormous benefit to those who have been cruelly violated and betrayed by Andrew Cohen, in the name of spirituality.

Daniel Shaw, L.C.S.W., author of Traumatic Abuse in Cults: A Psychoanalytic Perspective

Having been 'on the road' as a tourist in the spiritual landscape of post-modern America for decades myself, I can appreciate the pains, the pitfalls and feelings of bitter resentment that are too often the only reward after years of dedicated practice in the hands of a teacher that promises more than they can actually deliver.

Yenner's candid and even self-deprecating review of his time in the Andrew Cohen community is a clear eyed examination of his personal experience and observations. He pain-stakingly details and footnotes his recounting of the rise and fall of an idealistic follower who, as is too often the case, came to the end of an initially inspiring and finally gruelingly abusive relationship broken and racked with self doubt and self recrimination.

Rather than settle for the well earned cynicism that justifiably belongs to those who have been exploited by a charismatic a leader, Mr. Yenner submits himself to a process of self reflection, scrutiny and personal responsibility that carefully leads the reader step by step through his process all the way to the beginnings of self-reclamation and healing. An invaluable accounting of one man's journey from love to betrayal and back again. If your looking for an Andrew Cohen hit piece this is not it ~ but if you are interested in learning how otherwise highly intelligent and idealistic individuals can be drawn into cults of any kind, and come out the other side in one piece, this book is invaluable.

As someone who spent little more than a year in Andrew Cohen's community (1988-89), I have mostly kept myself apart from the online rumble. However, reading Bill Yenner's "American Guru" was a fine refresher in the reasons I left relatively quickly.

I will only briefly echo the praise this book has rightfully received. It's honest, humble, and complete without dragging the reader through every horrifying abuse that Cohen has perpetrated (and which is available on the What Enlightenment blog expose for those with the stomach for it.)

If I am equally honest with myself, I have to admit that I saw the cult dynamics at work from the very beginning. I saw otherwise mature people acting slavish and infantilized to meet Cohen's tacit expectation of devotion. A fellow student shared with me her letter to Andrew in which she so thoroughly demonized herself for (fill in the blank: arrogance, ego, selfishness) that it took all the denial I could muster not to see it as the introjection of Cohen's own shadow. When, after a few months, I was offered the plum assignment of editing the transcripts of Andrew's talks, it was just as quickly taken away when I did not drop everything, run to his house with an armful of flowers, and throw myself at his feet in gratitude (all part of the unwritten rulebook).

The final straw for me was attending a series of brutal, 70s-style men's group encounters where the designated scapegoat would be psychically flayed by the community members he had entrusted his spiritual well-being to. When I dared to raise a question about whether this was an effective way of working with the wayward student (leaving aside such wimpy notions as compassion), I drew the collective ire of the group upon myself. I was berated for days, until my own good sense caught up with me and gave me permission to leave.

The point? Whatever stupendous and transcendent experiences I had (and we all had them), the corruption was there from the start. Cohen's own demons were not vanquished upon meeting Poonja-ji. To the lasting sorrow of all who have thrown away their autonomy for him, those demons were given free rein and given the name "Master".

If you are interested in the workings of a modern day cult, please read this honest, balanced, compassionate and generous book. Also, please read the diatribes by the one star reviewers. These are equally informative. If you are thinking about becoming involved in a spiritual group, this book is a reminder to look carefully before you leap.

A full spectrum of responses to a controversial book such as American Guru is only to be expected, and it could not be said to have accomplished its purpose if it failed to stimulate a lively dialogue in which all participants honor their particular understandings of the events it describes.
For better or worse, it is perhaps only by seeing the dynamics at work in such a dialogue that the general public will be able to arrive at its own informed assessment of organizations such as Enlightennext, and a deeper understanding of the powerful influence they tend to exert on the hearts and minds of their members, whether current or former.
It is also worth bearing in mind that personal attacks on the author do nothing to address the incidents so painstakingly documented in this book, which have not been denied even by its most critical reviewers.

It's hard being a guru these days, it would seem. I think Andrew Cohen probably has had good intentions, but just can't deliver the goods. This book serves to confirm my understanding of who he is....or rather, who he is not.

I have read this book, and many other accounts of Andrew Cohen and his community, in addition to several of Cohen's own books. I have conducted extensive research and written two long research reports, including a full review of this book on my blog [...]. The book is honest, well-written, deeply thought-provoking, and hopeful. Furthermore, the topic, which is our attraction to, and belief in, charismatic but abusive spiritual leaders such as Cohen, is of profound importance as it reveals key aspects of our humanity, our deep longing for connection and purpose, and illuminates our infinite capacity for self-deception in the pursuit of these ideals. I do not wish to enter the controversy any further, but I will say this: to discredit the author and all the information it contains based on the author's "failure to confront his own ego", "personal vendetta", "postmodern narcissism" and the like, is not just stomach-turningly arrogant, it also lacks any intellectual credibility. If this is the attitude that students of EnlightenNext are going to take, then let me paraphrase Emma Goldman and say: "If this is your revolution, count me out". Where spiritual development is concerned, I go by Swami Rudrananda: "The true test of your spiritual success is the happiness of the people around you" (I believe Jesus said something similar as well, "by their works they will be known"). Read the book, folks. Yenner is not denying the transformative power of the experience or the transmission. He is denying its basis in reality. Any intelligent, objective person who reviews the evidence would feel the same. There is no need for personal attacks.

Life is about learning and expansion. There will always be teachers and learners and they have to find a way to co-exist. However, their relationship is a delicate matter, something that is definitely open for discussion. American Guru book opens a very honest debate about this relationship. It shows a teacher with clearly dubious motives (attested by so many of his ex-students, including his mother), a clearly dubious realisations and wisdom, a teacher that demands and assumes rights to absolute power over others. All this in the name of love and evolution of the species. Should learners tolerate abusive behaviour, even if it is supposedly for their own good? Should they surrender EVERYTHING (body/mind/soul/family/lovers/money...) to the teacher in order to get to the promised land that seems to evade them all the time? Should they go about their daily life with their eyes wide shut, having absolutely no right to question repeated lies, deceptions, injustices and corruption? This book is a warning to all those who are ready to jump into a relationship with a spiritual teacher without pausing and giving a thought to any of those very important questions. And for this it is of service to us all. Thank you Bill Yenner. Dragan