INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 595 Amsterdam, January 4th, 2015 WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT - Love Guru Marc Gafni under Attack after New York Times publications - Frank Visser On December 25th, 2015, the New York Times published "A Spiritual Leader Gains Stature, Trailed by a Troubled Past", a feature article written by Mark Oppenheimer. In this article, Marc Gafni was interviewed, as well as his supporters from various corners, about his "troubled past", a three decade long history of sexual abuse with women Gafni is accused of. A few days later, on December 29, 2015, Oppenheimer published a sequel called "Understanding the Marc Gafni Story, Part II, Talking to the friends and colleagues of a controversial ex-rabbi", in Tablet, an unorthodox Jewish magazine Oppenheimer is the editor of. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/visser92.html REALIZING AWAKENED CONSCIOUSNESS - Was the First Human Enlightened? - BARCLAY POWERS Realizing Awakened Consciousness: Interviews with Buddhist Teachers and a New Perspective on the Mind by Richard P. Boyle is an important book which clearly demonstrates that conventional approaches to meditation by Western Buddhists do not necessarily result in a complete understanding of awakening/enlightenment. At the same time, Boyle's approach that awakening as described and practiced in Buddhism is a real phenomena that can be appraised in scientific terms is valuable and successfully omits most of the romantic Asian cultural mythology. Boyle considers all of the well-respected teachers that were interviewed to be awakened and capable of leading students to awakening. The question that emerges is why has the Buddha nature been misunderstood or completely mistranslated by Western scholars and meditation teachers? Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/powers19.html