Cultic Studies Review
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Vol. 2, No.
3, 2003
Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an
American Guru
Andre Van der Braak
Monkfish
Book Company, 27 Lamoree Rd., Rhinebeck, NY 12572, 2003,
228 pages, ISBN 0-9726357-1-8 (pbk) spirituality/memoir
Reviewed by:
Joseph Szimhart
Enlightenment Blues
is the second significant memoir I have read by a former
student/disciple of the American guru Andrew Cohen—the first was by
Cohen’s mother, Luna Tarlo, who published
Mother of God in 1997. Andre
van der Braak knew Tarlo as they were “students” together and shared a
house briefly. He read Tarlo’s book during his final struggles to defect
after eleven years of devotion to Cohen’s unnerving spiritual leadership
and the idiosyncratic cult of enlightenment focused on the guru. Van der
Braak currently is a Ph.D. candidate and teaches philosophy in
Amsterdam. During his hiatus with Cohen, van der Braak rose and fell in
the community ranks and became one of Cohen’s chief editors, in one case
reading over 4,000 pages of transcripts from Cohen’s talks, then pruning
and shaping them into the book,
Enlightenment is a Secret. Curiously, for his dissertation
subject he chose Nietzsche.
Cohen,
now around fifty years old, apparently has held sway over a core of one
hundred fifty students, a number that has not significantly changed over
the past fifteen years despite the continual turnover. Nevertheless, he
has continued to teach that his enlightenment is a “revolution” that
would change the face of planetary spirituality. Van der Braak describes
his early years as a young Catholic with a romantic, idealistic bent. He
was a good athlete but his stuttering disorder contributed to his
shyness. Early on he was attracted to Transcendental Meditation, the J.
Krishnamurti teachings, and Buddhism. He encountered the writings of the
prolific transpersonal philosopher, Ken Wilber. Van der Braak did his
Masters thesis on Wilber. [Ken Wilber who is still writing and
developing remains influential among intellectually sophisticated New
Age seekers. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were both reading Wilber during
Clinton’s second term. Wilber was once a
disciple of the teachings of Da Free John, a.k.a. Da Love Ananda, if not
a supporter of that American guru’s controversial behavior and cult
following.]
According to van der Braak, Andrew Cohen once entertained having Wilber
as his disciple (not that Wilber ever reciprocated). I mention this
because the reader of van der Braak’s book might easily react with
disdain or pity for the devotees described in the book, who for all
intents and purposes follow an immature trust fund hippie with a cocky
self image. I know a part of me did, namely that part that works hard
for a living and tires to be a good husband and father. One has to
wonder how anyone could fall for such a transparently overvalued cause.
Cohen had absolutely no training as a monk or a leader in the mystical
tradition he claimed to embody. Until members gave significant donations
(One former female student complained of succumbing to pressure from
Cohen to give two million dollars.), Cohen reportedly lived mainly from
a trust he inherited from his grandmother around 1985, when he left on
his spiritual quest to India. In short order after some superficial
seeking (a.k.a. guru hopping), he met Poonja, a then little known
follower of Ramana Maharshi, who was an Indian “saint” in the Advaita
tradition. Poonja somehow recognized that Andrew was special and
“transmitted” or sparked feelings of “enlightenment” in him. This
epiphany transformed Cohen into a driven man. He appeared to some of his
friends to exude the enlightenment he claimed to have received.
Cohen’s
group evolved over time from one of a free-wheeling band of devotees who
had personal access to the guru and directly felt both his charm and his
intensity. Within the first few years it had become, according to
Cohen’s mother Luna Tarlo, just another fascist enterprise. Not unlike
so many new religious movements, this one flourished initially due to
the enthusiasm of these first students who advertised Cohen’s cause. The
message was that there is a new messiah, a revolutionary avatar, or an
emerging Buddha among us now—come and see! The bulk of this book engages
the reader in the intimate world of the devotees, what they were
thinking and feeling and how they struggled with an increasingly
irrational if demanding leader. Cohen convinces a male student to have
his twenty thousand-dollar Saab crushed to end his attachment.
We
follow the author through group events and relocations from
Amsterdam to India and from Massachusetts to Marin
County. He describes his ascent to key editor and sub-leader as well as
his demotion to common student. Along with all students of the inner
circle, Cohen micro-managed van der Braak’s sexual relationships and
whether any close student had sex at all. Celibates were required to
shave their heads. Van der Braak’s roller coaster journey was not unique
in the group. To anyone familiar with ex-cult member autobiography [I’ve
read at least 100 accounts in published books and unpublished
manuscripts], van der Braak inadvertently exposes the tragic pattern
common to authoritarian groups that have poor checks and balances. One
feature is a leader who manages by perceiving constant, often bizarre
crises while demanding unquestioning loyalty, not unlike a hapless
military campaign trapped in an amusement park. Cohen reportedly threw
temper tantrums, if he felt criticized in the news media, for example.
This is one unfortunate result of radical dualism in action or groups
that devalue the “world” as an illusion while obsessing over a
mysterious something or ideal they call gnosis or enlightenment.
As van
der Braak so skillfully relates in his narrative, Cohen may have been
immature but he was no idiot. The guru’s utter confidence in his new
spiritual status was contagious to many seekers he met, and he was
clever enough to reduce the experience of enlightenment to simple,
radical notions that at least could attract and impress the novice. Van
der Braak does help us appreciate the human need for spiritual
resolution, and the need for most of us to believe that some saints or
gurus have somehow managed to tap into communion with transcendental
mysteries. It certainly was his need, and like so many who end up in
spiritual pits instead of a path
our author found many like-minded seekers who shared in his struggle to
make sense of Cohen’s selfish style.
In the
end he expounds to another student why he rejects Cohen: “But in
Andrew’s case he actually managed to realize all his youthful fantasies,
make them into a permanent lifestyle. And he managed to convince all of
us to live in this way too.” Van der Braak basically describes Cohen as
a narcissist stuck in his adolescence and out of control. Van der Braak
holds no hostile agenda to destroy Cohen—his stated intent was to
honestly describe his experience and to offer assistance to anyone else
struggling to break with or understand a group like Cohen’s. This book
fulfills its stated purpose well—it is more about caution and the
seeker’s quest than it is about social or historical analysis, though
the author does some appropriate pontificating. However, van der Braak
almost lost my respect in his opening intro: “All religions point to the
same transpersonal truth.” I clench my teeth whenever I hear absolute
statements by someone I sense has no or little more insight into
“transpersonal truth” than I do. But the book redeemed itself for me by
the end, and I felt I learned something intimate about a man who matured
in his humility and found strength enough to reveal his way of getting
there.
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Cultic Studies Review
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Vol. 2, No.
3, 2003
Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an
American Guru
Andre Van der Braak
Monkfish
Book Company, 27 Lamoree Rd., Rhinebeck, NY 12572, 2003,
228 pages, ISBN 0-9726357-1-8 (pbk) spirituality/memoir
Reviewed by:
Joseph Szimhart
Enlightenment Blues
is the second significant memoir I have read by a former
student/disciple of the American guru Andrew Cohen—the first was by
Cohen’s mother, Luna Tarlo, who published
Mother of God in 1997. Andre
van der Braak knew Tarlo as they were “students” together and shared a
house briefly. He read Tarlo’s book during his final struggles to defect
after eleven years of devotion to Cohen’s unnerving spiritual leadership
and the idiosyncratic cult of enlightenment focused on the guru. Van der
Braak currently is a Ph.D. candidate and teaches philosophy in
Amsterdam. During his hiatus with Cohen, van der Braak rose and fell in
the community ranks and became one of Cohen’s chief editors, in one case
reading over 4,000 pages of transcripts from Cohen’s talks, then pruning
and shaping them into the book,
Enlightenment is a Secret. Curiously, for his dissertation
subject he chose Nietzsche.
Cohen,
now around fifty years old, apparently has held sway over a core of one
hundred fifty students, a number that has not significantly changed over
the past fifteen years despite the continual turnover. Nevertheless, he
has continued to teach that his enlightenment is a “revolution” that
would change the face of planetary spirituality. Van der Braak describes
his early years as a young Catholic with a romantic, idealistic bent. He
was a good athlete but his stuttering disorder contributed to his
shyness. Early on he was attracted to Transcendental Meditation, the J.
Krishnamurti teachings, and Buddhism. He encountered the writings of the
prolific transpersonal philosopher, Ken Wilber. Van der Braak did his
Masters thesis on Wilber. [Ken Wilber who is still writing and
developing remains influential among intellectually sophisticated New
Age seekers. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were both reading Wilber during
Clinton’s second term. Wilber was once a
disciple of the teachings of Da Free John, a.k.a. Da Love Ananda, if not
a supporter of that American guru’s controversial behavior and cult
following.]
According to van der Braak, Andrew Cohen once entertained having Wilber
as his disciple (not that Wilber ever reciprocated). I mention this
because the reader of van der Braak’s book might easily react with
disdain or pity for the devotees described in the book, who for all
intents and purposes follow an immature trust fund hippie with a cocky
self image. I know a part of me did, namely that part that works hard
for a living and tires to be a good husband and father. One has to
wonder how anyone could fall for such a transparently overvalued cause.
Cohen had absolutely no training as a monk or a leader in the mystical
tradition he claimed to embody. Until members gave significant donations
(One former female student complained of succumbing to pressure from
Cohen to give two million dollars.), Cohen reportedly lived mainly from
a trust he inherited from his grandmother around 1985, when he left on
his spiritual quest to India. In short order after some superficial
seeking (a.k.a. guru hopping), he met Poonja, a then little known
follower of Ramana Maharshi, who was an Indian “saint” in the Advaita
tradition. Poonja somehow recognized that Andrew was special and
“transmitted” or sparked feelings of “enlightenment” in him. This
epiphany transformed Cohen into a driven man. He appeared to some of his
friends to exude the enlightenment he claimed to have received.
Cohen’s
group evolved over time from one of a free-wheeling band of devotees who
had personal access to the guru and directly felt both his charm and his
intensity. Within the first few years it had become, according to
Cohen’s mother Luna Tarlo, just another fascist enterprise. Not unlike
so many new religious movements, this one flourished initially due to
the enthusiasm of these first students who advertised Cohen’s cause. The
message was that there is a new messiah, a revolutionary avatar, or an
emerging Buddha among us now—come and see! The bulk of this book engages
the reader in the intimate world of the devotees, what they were
thinking and feeling and how they struggled with an increasingly
irrational if demanding leader. Cohen convinces a male student to have
his twenty thousand-dollar Saab crushed to end his attachment.
We
follow the author through group events and relocations from
Amsterdam to India and from Massachusetts to Marin
County. He describes his ascent to key editor and sub-leader as well as
his demotion to common student. Along with all students of the inner
circle, Cohen micro-managed van der Braak’s sexual relationships and
whether any close student had sex at all. Celibates were required to
shave their heads. Van der Braak’s roller coaster journey was not unique
in the group. To anyone familiar with ex-cult member autobiography [I’ve
read at least 100 accounts in published books and unpublished
manuscripts], van der Braak inadvertently exposes the tragic pattern
common to authoritarian groups that have poor checks and balances. One
feature is a leader who manages by perceiving constant, often bizarre
crises while demanding unquestioning loyalty, not unlike a hapless
military campaign trapped in an amusement park. Cohen reportedly threw
temper tantrums, if he felt criticized in the news media, for example.
This is one unfortunate result of radical dualism in action or groups
that devalue the “world” as an illusion while obsessing over a
mysterious something or ideal they call gnosis or enlightenment.
As van
der Braak so skillfully relates in his narrative, Cohen may have been
immature but he was no idiot. The guru’s utter confidence in his new
spiritual status was contagious to many seekers he met, and he was
clever enough to reduce the experience of enlightenment to simple,
radical notions that at least could attract and impress the novice. Van
der Braak does help us appreciate the human need for spiritual
resolution, and the need for most of us to believe that some saints or
gurus have somehow managed to tap into communion with transcendental
mysteries. It certainly was his need, and like so many who end up in
spiritual pits instead of a path
our author found many like-minded seekers who shared in his struggle to
make sense of Cohen’s selfish style.
In the
end he expounds to another student why he rejects Cohen: “But in
Andrew’s case he actually managed to realize all his youthful fantasies,
make them into a permanent lifestyle. And he managed to convince all of
us to live in this way too.” Van der Braak basically describes Cohen as
a narcissist stuck in his adolescence and out of control. Van der Braak
holds no hostile agenda to destroy Cohen—his stated intent was to
honestly describe his experience and to offer assistance to anyone else
struggling to break with or understand a group like Cohen’s. This book
fulfills its stated purpose well—it is more about caution and the
seeker’s quest than it is about social or historical analysis, though
the author does some appropriate pontificating. However, van der Braak
almost lost my respect in his opening intro: “All religions point to the
same transpersonal truth.” I clench my teeth whenever I hear absolute
statements by someone I sense has no or little more insight into
“transpersonal truth” than I do. But the book redeemed itself for me by
the end, and I felt I learned something intimate about a man who matured
in his humility and found strength enough to reveal his way of getting
there.
|
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