“shadow sangha.” He had encouraged both of
these former students to withdraw their
commitments to attend an upcoming reunion of
former students that was being planned in Costa
Rica. Hearing this left me angry and determined
not to allow my newfound freedom to waver in
any way.
My growing sense of autonomy now made it
possible for me, for the first time, to begin
holding Andrew accountable for his actions. I
decided that I must confront Andrew. In a letter
to him, I said that it was outrageous that he
would have anything other than kind words for
those of us who had given years of our lives to
his loyal service, and I declared that in my view
his solicitation of my inheritance had been made
under duress—which we both knew to be
unethical—and demanded its return.
Within a couple of days, I received a call from
Andrew. He offered to return my money
because if I didn’t want to donate it he didn’t
want to keep it.
When the paperwork for the return of the
donation arrived, however, there was a string
attached: a 5-year gag order restricting me from
making public statements about Andrew. The
gag order seemed to contradict everything that
Andrew had ever stood for, but I signed the
papers and took my donation back.
The return of my money was an unprecedented
triumph for a former student, yet only the
beginning for me. I still had a lot left to process
about my 13 years of discipleship. I feel, in
retrospect, that it was beneficial for me to have
been forced to ruminate so quietly for so long.
By the summer of 2008, when my gag order
expired, I was well into writing American Guru,
which was published the following year.
Since the publications of American Guru and
other revelations of abuse online at the
WhatEnlightenment blog, Cohen has made an
attempt to moderate his public persona as a
“rude guru.” Last year, his harsh denunciation
of ex-students in his 2006 essay, “A Declaration
of Integrity,” was removed from his blog,
although it was returned months later after its
removal was publicly pointed out. Over the
same period, he has revised his formerly
extremely harsh appraisal of his former teacher,
now replacing that with words of love and
appreciation. We have heard that a PR
consultant hired by Cohen advised him to
improve his outreach or risk deterioration of
financial support.
The lessons of the EnlightenNext story have yet
to be learned in their entirety. Although I wish
neither ill nor harm to Cohen’s current
followers, it is my opinion that membership in
his community represents an invitation to waste
one’s time and energy, and possibly one’s entire
life, in the service of a destructive and damaging
myth, as well as a dubious opportunity to
entangle oneself ever more deeply and
dangerously in its creator’s elaborately
constructed lies. Those of us who have left the
EnlightenNext community did so for what have
turned out to be compellingly good reasons. No
teacher worthy of the name would subject his
students to the kinds of mental, physical, and
financial abuses described here, and no spiritual
leader who requires his followers to internalize
and reinforce a fantasy of his own perfection
deserves a platform for his hypocritical ideology
of “evolutionary enlightenment.”
Even with the adversity that they brought into
my life, I have benefited from the years I spent
with Andrew Cohen. Twenty years ago, a
younger man left it all to join in Andrew's holy
life. What looks naïve to me today was totally
compelling then. From this realization springs
compassion for all who participated. Even now,
I choose not to renounce my years of devotion. I
experienced the freedom of letting go and
learned about the deeper meaning of my
existence. I wouldn’t be who I am today
without all of it, positive and negative, and
regret would take away the gratitude I have for
being courageous enough to take the initial leap
and wise enough to know when to call it quits. I
do, however, feel responsible for hurting others
through my complicity in Cohen’s excesses. I
hope that the publication of my memoir and
further testimony such as this article can help
spare others from making the same mistakes.
Reference
Yenner, W. (2009). American guru. Rhinebeck,
NY: Epigraph Publishing.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 35
these former students to withdraw their
commitments to attend an upcoming reunion of
former students that was being planned in Costa
Rica. Hearing this left me angry and determined
not to allow my newfound freedom to waver in
any way.
My growing sense of autonomy now made it
possible for me, for the first time, to begin
holding Andrew accountable for his actions. I
decided that I must confront Andrew. In a letter
to him, I said that it was outrageous that he
would have anything other than kind words for
those of us who had given years of our lives to
his loyal service, and I declared that in my view
his solicitation of my inheritance had been made
under duress—which we both knew to be
unethical—and demanded its return.
Within a couple of days, I received a call from
Andrew. He offered to return my money
because if I didn’t want to donate it he didn’t
want to keep it.
When the paperwork for the return of the
donation arrived, however, there was a string
attached: a 5-year gag order restricting me from
making public statements about Andrew. The
gag order seemed to contradict everything that
Andrew had ever stood for, but I signed the
papers and took my donation back.
The return of my money was an unprecedented
triumph for a former student, yet only the
beginning for me. I still had a lot left to process
about my 13 years of discipleship. I feel, in
retrospect, that it was beneficial for me to have
been forced to ruminate so quietly for so long.
By the summer of 2008, when my gag order
expired, I was well into writing American Guru,
which was published the following year.
Since the publications of American Guru and
other revelations of abuse online at the
WhatEnlightenment blog, Cohen has made an
attempt to moderate his public persona as a
“rude guru.” Last year, his harsh denunciation
of ex-students in his 2006 essay, “A Declaration
of Integrity,” was removed from his blog,
although it was returned months later after its
removal was publicly pointed out. Over the
same period, he has revised his formerly
extremely harsh appraisal of his former teacher,
now replacing that with words of love and
appreciation. We have heard that a PR
consultant hired by Cohen advised him to
improve his outreach or risk deterioration of
financial support.
The lessons of the EnlightenNext story have yet
to be learned in their entirety. Although I wish
neither ill nor harm to Cohen’s current
followers, it is my opinion that membership in
his community represents an invitation to waste
one’s time and energy, and possibly one’s entire
life, in the service of a destructive and damaging
myth, as well as a dubious opportunity to
entangle oneself ever more deeply and
dangerously in its creator’s elaborately
constructed lies. Those of us who have left the
EnlightenNext community did so for what have
turned out to be compellingly good reasons. No
teacher worthy of the name would subject his
students to the kinds of mental, physical, and
financial abuses described here, and no spiritual
leader who requires his followers to internalize
and reinforce a fantasy of his own perfection
deserves a platform for his hypocritical ideology
of “evolutionary enlightenment.”
Even with the adversity that they brought into
my life, I have benefited from the years I spent
with Andrew Cohen. Twenty years ago, a
younger man left it all to join in Andrew's holy
life. What looks naïve to me today was totally
compelling then. From this realization springs
compassion for all who participated. Even now,
I choose not to renounce my years of devotion. I
experienced the freedom of letting go and
learned about the deeper meaning of my
existence. I wouldn’t be who I am today
without all of it, positive and negative, and
regret would take away the gratitude I have for
being courageous enough to take the initial leap
and wise enough to know when to call it quits. I
do, however, feel responsible for hurting others
through my complicity in Cohen’s excesses. I
hope that the publication of my memoir and
further testimony such as this article can help
spare others from making the same mistakes.
Reference
Yenner, W. (2009). American guru. Rhinebeck,
NY: Epigraph Publishing.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014 35
