As most people who read here probably know, Marc Gafni - a frequent teacher hosted at Integral Institute - has had sexual misconduct charges filed against him by three women.
Vomiting Confetti, has the best take on this.
There have been responses by Wilber - follow the link above, Bill at Integral Options, Matthew Dallman, and then Vomitting Confetti again (probably more that I don't know of).
Since I care here about Integral Institute, my thoughts are below.
I think Bill is too easy on Wilber, while VC's take is similar to mine.
Mainly, Ken is creating a false equivalence, equating the condemnation to "mean green". I hardly thing the jewish groups in question are "mean green", yes?
Ken writes:
"Nonetheless, there is some truth to these allegations because of grave wrongdoing on Marc’s part, and I believe this wrongdoing is due not just to bad judgment on Marc’s part, but to a pathology or dysfunction affecting Marc".
I don't know what to make of that sentence - "confused" at best. If you have a pathology or dysfunction, then this does have a relation to judgement - not a one to one correspondence, but a relation, yes?
However, remember, this is a PERSONAL FRIEND of Ken's. The last thing you do as a personal friend is to throw your friend under the bus, right?
So while I understand why Ken is not doing that, his statement so far, in my opinion, is underwhelming and unsatisfying.
And this brings up Andrew Cohen again, who is STILL roaming the halls of Integral Institute, with apparent impunity.
The broader question is, what is Ken's personal failing that he seems to have a pattern of spiritual teachers with significant moral flaws? (Da Free John, Andrew Cohen, Marc Gafni, etc.)
And why is this somehow acceptable? Should it be?
Rommel, who of course is THE best of those who are nominally "integral" bloggers - he also falls for this, in that he separates out What Is Enlightenment, from Andrew Cohen, in that one doesn't affect the other.
I'd like others opinions, actually. Is this a valid separation? Given that there is SO MUCH stuff about Cohen out there, why do people ignore this as it relates to What Is Enlightenment?
Or am I simply being "mean green" myself?
What is your opinion?
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My Two cents on Marc Gafni
Comments
Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
by
Marty
on Wed 17 May 2006 08:50 AM PDT | Profile | Permanent Link
Yeah you are being a little Mean Green. WIE has put out some great stuff. Heck I wish I had been able to pull off something like that. Name any other mag on the news stands that come close in scope and audacity as WIE? Cohen does not bother me too much, brilliant people often have flaws. Would I want to be student of his? NO. But hey people are free to do want they want and being a student of arrogant jerk is not illegal.
Gafni is different, in that if he broke the law (and say molested a 14 year old girl) then he should go to jail. BTW, I am coming to San Fran in 2 weeks, what is cool for an integral guy to do out there? Thanks for your cool blog! Re: Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
by
ebuddha
on Wed 17 May 2006 09:45 AM PDT | Profile | Permanent Link
Hey Marty,
When will you be here? We might meet for coffee. You are right, I think - as is ~c4Chaos and Bill at Integral Options, in the speaking about WIE favorably. I'm still not convince that there should not be some light shone on the connection. So maybe "WIE is a great magazine, BUT beware its founder" or some such. What time are u going to be here? I may be away, as my vacation is coming up. In terms of what to do - what do you want to do? Hiking, spiritual, music, walkign the city? Re: Re: Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
by
Marty
on Wed 17 May 2006 01:04 PM PDT | Profile | Permanent Link
I plan (as of now) to be there from Monday May 30st and will leave Friday June 1st. I am attending a medical conference downtown. I live in Missouri. It would be great to have coffee.
I will not be able to go hiking since I will not have a car, but I love music, good food and Tully's coffee. :) Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
. . . this is actually a reason for my hesitancy for getting involved with II . . . Cohen, now Gafni . . . there is a male arrogancy that is actually encouraged and I've been around that vibe, and I know where it leads . . . I blogged about my own experiences at Kripalu with Amrit Desai . . . http://datinggod.typepad.com/katherineturner/2005/10/shram_living_oc.html . . . and may I say that as horrific as it was and as evil as it felt, it most certainly cured me of guru-ism . . . .
Re: Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
my default reference on matters of this sort is kdubya's, "Monumentally, Gloriously, Divinely Big Egos:"
http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/ontast_mogobi.cfm/xid,3674/yid,9684170 wilber is open-eyed and consistent here, in my estimation -- summarily advising, "buyer beware." very relavent audio: "finding a gifted spiritual teacher" http://www.formlessmountain.com/audio1/kw_audio/KW_07.mp3 personally, i am intimately familiar with the "strange case of adi da." however, from trungpa to desai, osho to gafni, and on and on, i am familiar with a many of the heartbreaking stories. i blogged on this matter, too: whenever i saw an I-I event in which rabbi gafni played a role; or when a dear i-naked pal sought to inculcate in me the enthusiasm she felt about gafni's work and his book, "soul prints," his storied philandering* seemed more a first order of business to me than the merits of his works . . . hard to see past the warning flags that flew, in my mind's eye, at the mention of his name. . . i don't expect my gurus to be ”dead from the neck down.” at the same time, i don't appreciate the denial and tacit enabling that too often surrounds behavior of this sort – even, to this point, at a place like I-I. my subject heading might have read, “gafni outed – big time and at last.” and i'm breathing a sigh of relief about it. it's a feeling, that i expect will be shared by others about this very matter, of no longer having to “hold the bag.” i pray peace and wholeness for the rabbi, and for all concerned. i deeply appreciate your post and the comments i've read here. thank you. *http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Gafni_Mordechai.html [hey! no html markup allowed. ah, well.] Re: My Two cents on Marc Gafni
by
Anonymous
on Tue 06 Jun 2006 02:16 PM PDT | Permanent Link
The Awareness Center has had stuff on the internet about Gafni for years. I wrote to the Integral Institute about this probably about a year ago, and never heard back from them. If they had taken those allegations seriously, they might not have to be embarassed today.
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