Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Wonderful on the outside Treacherous on the inside....! Cults have millions of members around the world who also thought they were immune.
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ponysong
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Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by ponysong »

I found this short article, by an academic writer identified as Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D; it shows an interesting analysis scheme which the author has devised for estimating the "cultic dangers" of any organization vs "potential spiritual benefits".

I've been reading some books by Ken Wilber recently (and re-reading works I read more than 25 years ago) and I find his ideas very compelling.

Here's the link to this author's analysis of Integral Institute, with an explanation of the method used to rate organizations with respect to cult-like characteristics .

http://www.integralworld.net/benjamin.html
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ponysong
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by ponysong »

Here's a discussion thread on rickross.com, with some somewhat stronger opinions:

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,67340,67396
joe sz
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by joe sz »

ponysong
good to see some use of Elliot Benjamin. i recall his 'typology' when it came out. It is unique and could be a useful instument, but i have yet to read peer reviews.

sorry, can't resist some comment.
I recall reading Wilber's 'ReVision' magazine in the early 1980s--it came out in 1978. Wilber is one of the new age intellectuals that devotees see as "cutting edge." Bill Clinton and Al Gore were reading his book about "....Everything" when they were in the Whitehouse.

On the rickross site you mentioned, the critics find Wilber lacking in discernment due to his attraction and quasi-devotion to horrible gurus like Adi Da and that lately he partners up with Andrew Cohen, a despicable, narcissist runt, in my view. (I reviewed a book by Cohen's mother (Mother of God by Luna Tarlo) and had lunch with her a couple of times).
Now I will bite my tongue :-x about Cohen...

but here's what I find utterly transparent about Wilber. he's been lumped in with 'transpersonal' psychology and a clique of pseudo-mystics in the West who tout "non-dualism" as the highest order of awareness, as if they have achieved some measure of "non-dual" awareness. It finally dawned on me, after i managed to comb through the dense rhetoric in some of Wilber's books -- i read 4 or 5--that Wilber is a poseur: Though he wants you to think that he knows and that he along with Cohen and others are on the cutting edge of human spiritual evolution, he's way off track and has everything backwards.

"Spiritual" does not evolve. Brahman or Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh indicated by ancient tradition cannot evolve. We can only be attracted to That or not and behave accordingly. Wilber is more attracted to his own 'witness' of That and his witness is demonstrably flawed because he aligns with the worst in guruland.

His first book was rejected for years by publishers unitl Quest Books picked it up...Quest is an arm of the Theosophical Society.

This is not to say that I find nothing good in Wilber. At times he makes some good sense and at times I had to really stretch to grasp what he was trying to say.

This brief essay does a decent job, I think, of umasking Wilber's elaborate constructs that hide his insecurity:
http://www.hermes-press.com/wilber1.htm
Lost in Space
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by Lost in Space »

Bonewits is cited in the above article. I posted his evaluation checklist in October, 2010, thinking people here could make up their own minds about RSE.

The Checklist:

The Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame
(version 2.6)


Factors: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low High

1 Internal Control: Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members. 1 _________________________

2 External Control: Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior. 2 _________________________

3 Wisdom/Knowledge Claimed by leader(s); amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations; number and degree of unverified and/or unverifiable credentials claimed. 3 _________________________

4 Wisdom/Knowledge Credited to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations made by leader(s); amount of hostility by members towards internal or external critics and/or towards verification efforts. 4 _________________________

5 Dogma: Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility or “fundamentalism;” hostility towards relativism and situationalism. 5 _________________________

6 Recruiting: Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing; requirement for all members to bring in new ones. 6 _________________________

7 Front Groups: Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group, especially when connections are hidden. 7 _________________________

8 Wealth: Amount of money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members’ donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary members. 8 _________________________

9 Sexual Manipulation of members by leader(s) of non-tantric groups; amount of control exercised over sexuality of members in terms of sexual orientation, behavior, and/or choice of partners. 9 _________________________

10 Sexual Favoritism: Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s) of non-tantric groups. 10 _________________________

11 Censorship: Amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s). 11 _________________________

12 Isolation: Amount of effort to keep members from communicating with non-members, including family, friends and lovers. 12 _________________________

13 Dropout Control: Intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts. 13 _________________________

14 Violence: Amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s). 14 _________________________

15 Paranoia: Amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; exaggeration of perceived power of opponents; prevalence of conspiracy theories. 15 _________________________

16 Grimness: Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s). 16 _________________________

17 Surrender of Will: Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group, its doctrines or its leader(s). 17 _________________________

18 Hypocrisy: amount of approval for actions which the group officially considers immoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate the group’s declared principles for political, psychological, social, economic, military, or other gain. 18 _________________________

A Dutch translation of this is available at Bonewits' Geavanceerde Raamwerk ter Evaluatie van Sektegevaar

A German translation of the 2.0 version of this is available at: Isaac Bonewits' Sektengefahr Checkliste.

A French translation of the 2.6 version is available at: Grille avancée de Bonewits pour l'évaluation du danger potentiel d'une secte.

An Italian translation of the 2.6 version is available at: Documento Avanzato di Isaac Bonewits per la Valutazione del Pericolo del Culto.

A Polish translation of the 2.6 version is available at: Zaawansowany Kwestionariusz Bonewitsa Oceniajacy Niebezpieczenstwo Sekty

A Portuguese translation of the 2.6 version is available at: A Ferramenta Avançada de Bonewits para Avaliação de Seitas.

Other translations will be posted as they are done.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Low High




Copyright © 1979, 2008 c.e., Isaac Bonewits. This text file may be freely distributed on the Net, provided that no editing is done, the version number is retained, and everything in this notice box is included. If you would like to be on one or more of Isaac Bonewits’ emailing lists, click here to get subscription
Rooster
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by Rooster »

I say the checklist is high. Thank you, pony and lost in space.
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ponysong
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by ponysong »

Oh, I see now that Benjamin was using a previously developed tool (i.e. the Bonewits scale) and not something of his own devising. Thanks, LIS, for pointing that out.
joe sz
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by joe sz »

i forgot we had this discussion re bonewits in 2009 w G2G. thanks for triggering memory LiS.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=650
Lost in Space
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by Lost in Space »

Surprised it didn't show up before, Joe. Very useful, that scale.
Vanilla
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Re: Integral Institute - Ken Wilber

Unread post by Vanilla »

1 how Ramtha created the inner circle, you would watch Ram sitting on a table with his "prophets" and created egos- then suddenly disbanded it. Then created masters of cards among her staff-then put them on stage and told them to cover the cards with paper, to "test" them and every master teacher failed. Public adoration to public humiliation over and over.
2 Telling people to vote for Obama. Telling people about ALEC, solidarity, how to all vote for things JZ votes for if she is suing someone etc..
3 Telling people she comes and goes to 33rd universe. Bringing back this triangle with levels of reality, because she has been there. Ramtha is a god. He attained out of body in his warrior lifetime, by not sleeping for 7 years, because he was driven thru with a sword, but by doing c&e to stay alive. So he knows everything. He is out of time. How the street of the Ramtha about him. How Edgar Cayce mentioned when India was taken by the ram, that meant ramtha.
4 gossip at the school how Kenny can really see Ramtha, how he is a big black foot giant towering over JZ. How one teacher with his blindfolds on saw a vision of big black giant looking at him. How one guy called out Ramtha Ramtha Ramtha three times and he saw his sickness float away in a black ball from his knee and he was cured. How everybody in the audience says Ramtha looked at me and said the answer I was looking for...during a speech.
5 7 stages of reality, the picture we all drew of the brain in different colors, yellow being monkey mind. How infrared is the next level and then microwave or whatever I forgot. How reality is a big giant blue grid we cannot see with naked eyes.
6
7 . JZ ROSE, JZKINC, RSE, Schools, books, horses, hair products, investments, scams, reservatrol, coral calcium, who knows what secrets
8 JZ's mansion, RSE Teachers always have money and travel, donation box, masters fund. 10% of gambling winnings when they win. They put in 50$ when someone gives them a bootleg cd or recording. Because Ramtha warns if you steal, like borrow a cd, without paying for it," it is not impeccable"
9 Jeff Knight...
10 James -Sleeping with married "red Guards", seen kissing them in public.
11 You are not allowed to discuss what happened at the events with NON CURRENT students.
12 Love is silly monkey mind first thing. Love will not save you, will leave you with the old earth, when the changes come. You need to be alone in your focus. Overcome sexual power domination and control. You cannot be held back, its weakness, submission to the lower seals.
13 You cannot go to an event, you have to start all over from beginners courses, if you drop out and are not a current student. You have to pay for 2 events a year plus assay, other wise you have to go back to beginners. If you do not keep paying, you will have to be excluded from important ram events.
14
15 the verbal assault ramtha has on people, calling them out publicly. telling people to confess sometimes for hours on how they masterbate to romance novels and then go to eat balogna. confess to their wives how they masterbate and have sex with ghosts
Ramtha yelling and screaming like during the 17 hour stream about how before last April a tidal wave was coming to hunt us all down. How he was like Baphomet and fuck you all..fuck the church...Japan 10.5 quake in next 3 months ( last year) creates a 800-1000 foot wave to hit entire Pacific Rim but then later says we changed timeline. Yelling at people, how we are all like monkeys.
16
17 There is no right and wrong, if you believe that you will never evolve. No good and evil. That is the PENDULUM they draw on the wall. The pendulum, and right in the middle is how you get to god, its duality...so all our disciplines are to be inside THE DOOR that leads to god, the line between good and evil. In the middle
18 Ramtha talks so long about how women have been debased so long by the church and then he goes and calls the woman who took JZ's man away a whore. How aliens are bad, when you go to the light, that is where they trap you after you die. Then how aliens will save only the ones who can read the cards. Then do NOT choose to go with aliens..they will make you slaves. Stay with the earth. Then yay, here are the aliens above the ranch in spaceship. Then how aliens are computers who steal your semen. Then how they will save us....Ram says not to eat at any Fda approved resturant, JZ eats mexican and local pizza. How ram says to only eat veggies while still in ground, then JZ goes and drinks coke.

Fill in the ones I left?
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