I was with Andrew in the early days in Devon, UK. At the time I was one of three managers at the then well-established Buddhist meditation centre Gaia House. Not long after Andrew arrived in the area and began to teach I stayed with him and the growing community for a few years which took me from Devon to Amherst, MA and finally to Marin county, California. I left with good will from Andrew telling me that “I knew everything I needed to know for the rest of my life”. That has never left me.

Recently I have “reconnected” with Andrew through attending a retreat in Tuscany, Italy in July this year. I knew that Andrew’s teachings had evolved considerably as I am a subscriber to the EnlightenNext magazine, but not until I was in the retreat did I really become aware of how much had changed.

Leading up to the decision to go on the retreat I had become familiar with a blog site where some ex-students (many of whom I had known in the past) were critical of Andrew. To be honest I was horrified at some of their reports, and it certainly undermined my confidence in Andrew and the community. However, I knew in the deepest part of my being that, no matter what I was reading, my own experience with Andrew was real and had never left me.

In the time between I had met various teachers, gone on other retreats etc….but could not “replace” that which I already knew. I am really grateful for having been advised of this blog because, as Pete Bampton so clearly states: the CONTEXT in which everything happened and happens is so important.

Having recently re-read Irene Tweedie’s “Chasm of Fire”, her account of her time with her Guru, it reinforced for me just how serious a step it is when one enters into a relationship with a true Teacher. To be honest I am only now fully appreciating how big it is, for example at one challenging point her Guru says:

“To reach the goal you have to be turned inside out, burned with the fire of love so that nothing will remain but ashes and from the ashes will resurrect the new being, very unlike the previous one. Only then can there be real Creation. For this process is destruction, creation and love…

So a big THANK YOU to all contributors for sharing your stories and experience. They have really has assisted me in understanding more about the relationship with a teacher such as Andrew and how in our post-modern world at this point in time, so much is misunderstood.

With much Gratitude & Love,

Jude