Halfway Up the Mountain: The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment [Paperback]

Mariana Caplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

Author and anthropologist Caplan plunges into the complex domain of contemporary spirituality where she boldly faces the grave distortions and fraudulent claims to power that characterise the spiritual path in our times. Dozens of first-hand interviews with students, respected teachers and masters, together with broad research are synthesised into a treatment of the modern spiritual scene to assist readers in avoiding the pitfalls of this precarious pass.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Fool's gold exists because there is real gold," coined Rumi. Here author and anthropologist Mariana Caplan herself extracts valuable nuggets from the writings of spiritual masters, both ancient and contemporary, as well as personal interviews with more than 30 esteemed masters, spiritual practitioners, and scholars and psychologists such as Andrew Cohen, Claudio Naranjo, and Robert Svoboda. Contending that "the present condition of contemporary spirituality in the West is one of grave distortion, confusion, fraud, and a fundamental lack of education," Caplan sets out to correct this situation by encouraging seekers to carefully examine the ideas--and ideals--of the spiritual teachers with whom they are involved. The introduction by Fleet Maull, a lay monk in the Zen Peacemaker Order and founder of the National Prison Hospice Project, alone makes this worth reading. --Randall Cohan

From Publishers Weekly

Caplan (Untouched) asserts that "the reality of the present condition of contemporary spirituality in the West is one of grave distortion, confusion, fraud, and a fundamental lack of education." She claims that, as positive as the tremendous rise in spirituality is, there is not any context for determining whether any particular teaching, or teacher, is truly enlightening. Caplan compiles interviews with such noted spiritual masters as Joan Halifax, Andrew Cohen, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi on the nature of enlightenment. In the first section, Caplan examines the motivations people have for seeking enlightenment and contends that very often they seek this state as a means of gratifying the ego. This "presumption of enlightenment," she says, often afflicts teachers masquerading as spiritual leaders. These teachers sometimes look down on their students and gloat over how far they have come and how far the students have to go. A second section focuses on "The Dangers of Mystical Experience," in which Caplan claims that many seekers mistake the mystical experience itself for enlightenment; she and the teachers she interviews all assert that enlightenment always involves gaining some knowledge about self and others. The third section, "Corruption and Consequence," focuses on the nature of power and corruption; the fourth section, "Navigating the Mine Field: Preventing Dangers on the Path," provides a survey of the ways in which practitioners can avoid the "pitfalls of false enlightenment." A final section, "Disillusionment, Humility and the Beginning of Spiritual Life," concludes that "the Real spiritual life [is] the life of total annihilation and the return to just what is." Caplan's illuminating book calls into question the motives of the spiritual snake handlers of the modern age and urges seekers to pay the price of traveling the hard road to true enlightenment. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Hohm Press (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934252912
• ISBN-13: 978-0934252911
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars halfway up the mountains write about halfway up the mountains January 9, 2009

By morgitta

Format:Paperback

This is an insightful book, well written, well documented and easy to understand.
I only give it a 2star rating because, ironicly, some of the experts who are quoted, in fact the one who is quoted the most happen to be abusive, halfway up the mountain guru's themselves. With this the book's credability is undermined.

48 of 54 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Erm..not quite as brilliant as the others say it is November 28, 2000

By nik scott

Format:Paperback

I found this a rather messy collection of quotes from various spiritual teachers, (many of whom have books promoted in the back pages of the book) rather than a continuous narrative. The 'quote' aspect of the book makes for an uncomfortable stop/go kind of a read. This uncomfortability however could well be my fault as opposed to the author's. However in truth there isn't much authoring going on here. This book is more like a collection of pieces by other folk. I read many spiritual texts for inspiration but didn't pick up much in this volume apart from a general feeling of negativity. A similar theme is tackled with much more (ahem) insight in Jack Kornfield's 'After the Buddha, the laundry' which is a terrific read and very inspiring.

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Author Should Practice What She Preaches April 9, 2010

By Neti 0

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

[Note on the rating given: although the book has redeeming qualities, its implicit endorsement of Andrew Cohen makes it not merely flawed, but dangerously misleading. I would hate to see any reader of this book become another casualty of Cohen's abusive narcissism. Thus I have given it the lowest rating possible, as a warning - Caveat Emptor!]

Ironically, given the title, I abandoned this book less than halfway through. Although competently written, I found it tediously dogmatic, a polemic rather than an exploration. Mariana seems to have strong feelings about the lack of validity of paths other than her own, and apparently intends to beat her readers over the head until they share those same opinions.

One of the primary themes of the book (apart from its vendetta against neo-advaita paths) is the potential for abuse when teachers are elevated to the status of gurus. Unfortunately, while the author's intentions may be noble, her judgement on this topic seems highly questionable. She presents Andrew Cohen as an authority on the integrity of other spiritual teachers - which is deeply ironic, as he could be held up as a classic example of exactly the kind of teacher this book purports to warn against. Cohen has been the subject of numerous exposes by ex-devotees (including his mother!), attesting to his own abusiveness, narcissism, megalomania and cult-like behavior. Along with many available online, some have been published:
American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing-former students of Andrew Cohen speak out
The Mother of God
Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru

Despite this exhortation to caution in what she refers to as the "spiritual marketplace", the author seems congenitally unable to follow her own advice. In addition to her her long professional relationship with Andrew Cohen, Mariana is currently the "life-partner" of Marc/Mordechai Gafni, a new age Judaic teacher facing criminal charges in Israel for sexual abuse of multiple women, as well as similar accusations by several women in America (including sexual abuse of a minor). Despite a previous written confession by Gafni (since retracted), his expulsion by the community he co-founded, and the official rescinding of his ordination as a rabbi, Mariana has publicly denied the credibility of the accusations, a stance arguably at odds with the professed ideals of this book, given the number and stature of Gafni's critics.

The desire to warn against the potential for abuse by charismatic guru-figures is certainly admirable. Unfortunately, the tendentious tone, the bizarre provision of a platform to abusive guru Andrew Cohen, along with author's poor personal judgement in this arena, suggest a lack of self-awareness which drastically undermines the book's credibility on a spiritual level. As a political diatribe, this might be less serious; however, one expects spiritual opinion-makers to walk their talk - or leave the talking to others.