I am glad that someone agrees.
I've been reading "A heart blown open", a kind of autobiography of the life of Roshi Jun Po Denis Kelly who teaches Rinzai Zen. His life is one of the most fascinating accounts I've come across. I would call this book a westernized manifestation of "Autobiography of a Yogi", which is also one of my most inspiring reads. An extremely passionate man who dreams of transforming the world, after several decades and going through much more than any of us will go through, realizes the world is perfect as it is.I still have not finished the book, but anyone who has interest in other traditions of enlightenment such as devotion, yoga, etc will find the book useful because in his spiritual quest, Dennis Kelly meets several great masters and seekers from different lineages and has several very interesting experiences.
When it comes to Powers/Siddhis, which are a subject of great interest and controversy; I feel what really matters is intention. That's it. If you are pure and do not intend to misuse your abilities in anyway that even hints of personal gain, then you will have a much better understanding and experience of Siddhis. This may be contradicting, but it's true. Just like we gain great insights when we least expect/want them. Gautam Buddha was capable of manifesting everything we can dream of, but he did not even manifest basic food for himself and lived the life he preached for monks till the very end. Surely there must have been good reason to do so.
I agree that the Goenka school has done great work in the spread of pure dhamma. In a way they have revolutionized the world. There is no more need to hunt down esoteric gurus or saints tucked in the remotest corners of the world. Anyone can simply register for free and learn what they need in just 11 days. If it was not for Goenkaji's work, I personally would have never come in contact with Dharma and would have continued to recklessly create more and more suffering for myself and for others. The very fact that this school is so well established in India is a symbol of integrity. The cultural and idealogical divides between different religious groups is huge, and yet we see people from different backgrounds come and embrace the same teaching and the same discourses.
The very essence of meditation is to be in the present moment. There should be no attachment or evaluation of what arises and what has passed away. Practice logs go against this very essence. This is why I agree that practice logs should be discouraged.
Being nice is nice but sometimes we have to be shrewd to guide people in the right direction. There is no need to suppress what we really want to say or camouflage it in wordplay. I also feel that we should not take offence at anything and get into ego play.
Lastly if someone observes someone doing something wrong or counter productive, instead of ignoring it's useful to guide them in the right way even if they aren't willing to listen.