Comments on: Is Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute a Cult?

By: Eldon Braun

Eldon Braun — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 18:31:05 +0000

Let me give you a few reasons Ken Wilber scores pretty neutral on my cult scale.

1. He doesn’t make proprietary claims of discovery or portray himself as the custodian of mystery school knowledge. In other words, he doesn’t hide his origins.
2. He has a whole bunch of acknowledged collaborators. I may not personally like Andrew Cohen, but I admire Ken for engaging in dialogue with him.
3. He publishes his stuff. There’s really no secrecy about anything. If you want to attend a paid seminar, you can, but as Elliot says, there’s no serious pressure to ascend to the next level of… whatever.
4. He listens and responds meaningfully. Ask him a question, you’ll get a credible answer. Thanks, Ken.

Compare that to the introverted PR pitch you got from Harry Palmer (aka the anonymous entity, SE Comm). Yes, that was Harry giving you his spiel. He likes to compliment himself in the third person. So did L. Ron Hubbard.

By: On Preventing Cultish Behavior :: Mudita Journal

On Preventing Cultish Behavior :: Mudita Journal — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 16:08:23 +0000

[...] Regarding Wilber, you are more than welcome to raise the question of whether he’s leading a cult. In fact, I’ve done so myself, in my posting “Is Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute a Cult?” [...]

By: What is an Avatar Master? :: Mudita Journal

What is an Avatar Master? :: Mudita Journal — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:19:38 +0000

[...] This afternoon, after noticing a brief mention of Avatar by Benjamin Elliott — whose full story “On Avatar” is available on the web — I took the opportunity to do a bit more research. [...]

By: Jay Andrew Allen

Jay Andrew Allen — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:13:10 +0000

I imagine the Collective would have fared quite badly indeed when it came to sexual manipulation, internal control, knowledge claimed by leader, dogma, isolation, grimness, and hypocrisy.

But, hey. Welcome to humanity.