Valid concerns about meditation induced psychosis aside, I think you're mischaracterising many aspects of the retreat.
> Technically, the in-person instructors are only assistant teachers. There is only one true teacher: Goenka himself.
There are some actual teachers that tour the globe. But mostly it's ATs. I think there's a lot of hoops to jump through to become a teacher. And I believe the ATs also must be able to jump in and teach if equipment fails.
> During his nightly instruction via VHS tape - the only human interaction you're allowed all day
You can meet with the AT one-on-one to discuss anything in the middle of the day. You can sit before the AT after the last meditation and ask questions.
> Goenka teaches Buddhist metaphysics (I recall something about vibrations of the universe).
Much of what he says is based on teachings 2500+ years old when philosophers didn't know what atoms were, but were thinking about what the most sub-divisible thing was. I heard it put this way, 'The course should be taken seriously, but not literally.'
> Technically, the in-person instructors are only assistant teachers. There is only one true teacher: Goenka himself.
There are some actual teachers that tour the globe. But mostly it's ATs. I think there's a lot of hoops to jump through to become a teacher. And I believe the ATs also must be able to jump in and teach if equipment fails.
> During his nightly instruction via VHS tape - the only human interaction you're allowed all day
You can meet with the AT one-on-one to discuss anything in the middle of the day. You can sit before the AT after the last meditation and ask questions.
> Goenka teaches Buddhist metaphysics (I recall something about vibrations of the universe).
Much of what he says is based on teachings 2500+ years old when philosophers didn't know what atoms were, but were thinking about what the most sub-divisible thing was. I heard it put this way, 'The course should be taken seriously, but not literally.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomism
> Then, at the end of the retreat you're hit with a love bomb on the way out the door.
They teach 'metta' at the end. Which is not so much being love-bombed, but you meditating on loving-kindness to others.
I'm glad you got out when you did.
Edit: Fixed a quote + clarification
Edit: Why the downvote, did I say something that wasn't factual?