In 2013 his organization EnlightenNext collapsed amidst claims of abuse and the shocking revelation it had been a cult. The movie Holy Hell was also informative.
Mr Cohen had a house in Cornwall that his devotees were fixing up. A premie I know built his staircase for him. He said he was the only person there that got paid for his work. Everyone else was working for free, as if it was a cult. The irony slipped by.
I think Cohen was a premie himself (now an ex-premie I guess - care to comment Andrew?) and quite a few premies in Cornwall switched from following Rawat to following Cohen.
I have a friend who was very close to Cohen until he woke up. So I have always been interested in him and followed his progress, read his books, and his mothers book denouncing him. It would appear that this latest film/documentary series, entitled "How I created a cult" Is kind of apologetic? Will be very interested to watch it. Yes I think he was a premie..but wouldn't swear to it.
Call me cynical, but my experience of a premie that created cults ( yes, more than one out of similar moulds) is that , even if he gave the outward appearance of apology, somehow you knew that he still thought he was right. I am talking of David Wilmot ( who changed his name to Dave Breathe ) who presided over a strict,hard-line premie commune in Itteringham, Norfolk where he took me. When that folded , I heard he went on to create a few more in other parts of the country ( Iona,Oxford, Gloucestershire ). Horrible.
It seems that many ex-premies who change paths in life are too embarrassed to mention it again. I am sometimes one of them ! But ,of course, I would have to include it in my autobiography, if I ever wrote one,in some detail .
