Re: Radical Understanding: The World-Blessing Work of Adi Da II

I'm glad you liked it, Lisa. I thought you would.  :) Lisa : It's such a chronic and serious thing this isn't it. What a way to put it, 'a subtle whole-body tension.' Why do... More »

Re: Wilber's Post-Metaphysical Spirit (God)

Hi Jim, Actually, this "resolution" of the "paradox" can be found already in Madhyamika, Yogachara, Advaita Vedanta, and Kashmiri Shaiva writings. Wilber appears to be making use of it here, referring to it. T.R.V. Murti also makes use of... More »

Re: Wilber's Post-Metaphysical Spirit (God)

Star, the philosophy of the subject is related to what Wilfred Sellars described as the 'myth of the given.'  Wilber and Andrew Cohen talk about it here , which would probably be a good place... More »

Re: The Higher Power

Thank you for the quotes, Tom. Yes, I think it's a subtle thing that both Ramana and Andrew are talking about, one that's easily misinterpreted. I think it might be described as an awareness  that... More »

Re: Shaping Integral Judaism - an allergory

SoB, btw I am baptized roman catholic. However I consider myself as engaged in authentic spirituality. My interest is in no way to reform any religion. And I see no superiority in any of them.... More »

Re: Evolution and Enactment

David, I wrote:   What I was saying is that you appear to be insisting that, for nonduality to be “true,” it must accurately represent reality as it really is, all the way down:  in... More »

Re: Evolution and Enactment

Bruce : What I was saying is that you appear to be insisting that, for nonduality to be “true,” it must accurately represent reality as it really is, all the way down:  in other words,... More »

ANDREW COHEN

Andrew Cohen is dedicated to igniting a revolution in human consciousness. Engaging the core questions that have propelled humanity forward, he asks: What is the meaning of enlightenment today? Who are we? Why are we... More »

Re: Authentic Enlightenment & Lines of Development

Andrew Cohen is full of it. He's begun sounding like he's going through some sort of midlife crisis or something: his thinking is becoming increasingly incoherent. How could there ever be an evolutionary drive without... More »

Re: Authentic Enlightenment & Lines of Development

Andrew Cohen makes this statement about the ego (at this link ):  The Ego: An Anti-Evolutionary Force There is a profound contrast between the enlightened perspective, which is the absolute, universal, and impersonal view of... More »

Inexpressible Joy

Its very interesting sychronicity that only few hours after David Brooks article about this Harvard Longitudinal Study I found these new statements from Andrew Cohen. Development too. Not answered up to now: What exactly changed... More »

The Creative Impulse

In the following quote, excerpted from the latest issue of Enlighten Next magazine, editor in chief Andrew Cohen zeroes in on the creative imperative and evolutionary urgency that he believes a new, twenty-first-century spiritual enlightenment... More »

Integral conference in Bremen/Germany, day 2 - the German shadow

II went today to the workshop of Sebastian Gronbach about Integral Anthroposophy. Anthroposophy is huge in Germany, ten times bigger than in any other country, but forget your ideas about the old and boring Anthroposophy... More »

Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilber- First ever virtual dialog

Hi Everyone, On Saturday, May 9, my spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen and  integral philosopher Ken Wilber will lead a LIVE 4-hour  seminar together, covering in detail what it means to  live a fully integral and... More »

Gurus qualifying for your attention

Without taking care, the teaching role can lead to corruption of relationship, and since we're dealing with wide open hearts, to me, any error is tatamount to an abuse of authority.  So I tread very carefully.  After having... More »

The Guru & the Pandit

Ken WIlber and Andrew Cohen Live in their first ever virtual seminar. For those of  us interested in tracking the emergence of a new synthesis of science and spirit, integral stages of development, and the evolution... More »

The Dalai Lama: An open letter to President Motlanthe of SA

South Africans are speaking out for our hard earned legacy of democracy and human rights. If you wish to support the call for an apology from the South African government to the Dalai Lama: Copy... More »

Karma, Eastern Thought and the American Mind

American Philosophy since Ralph Waldo Emerson has had a strong connection to Eastern Enlightenment traditions. Emerson was reading the Bagavad Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and Zoroastrian texts as they were being translated in the... More »

Aspiration & Rejection

From Aspiration - Yoga in Everyday Life Booklet Series (Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust) Excerpts from Sri Aurobindo. * ''There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the great difficult thing which is... More »

A New Morality

There is an interesting article / audio segment at What Is Enlightenment magazine...a dialogue between Andrew Cohen and Ken Wilbur. It is entitled In search of a new moral compass . I am just curious... More »

Freedom Has No History

The mess of the human condition is that fundamental trust has not yet been realized. The true value of profound spiritual experience lies in the discovery of that fundamental trust.

The full realization of Enlightenment is the evolutionary leap to which all spiritual experiences ultimately lead. In deep spiritual experience a human being realizes that which is impersonal. In that realization a profound trust is found. In the discovery of that trust it is possible for a human being to liberate him or herself from tendencies toward aggression and permanently destroy the illusion of separation that those tendencies arise from. The result of this discovery is a level of integrity that is deep and profound and which manifests consistently at all levels of human expression. If the evolutionary leap is to take place then the final outcome of true spiritual experience must result in this kind of purity.

Spiritual experiences and their results are not meant for the individual. They are for the evolution of the whole race.

A Sword in Each Hand

If you dare to take up the banner of enlightenment,

you will be attacked from all sides.

From the inside you will be attacked by your own mind

and from the outside you will be attacked by everyone else's mind.

Anyone who dares to succeed automatically presents a huge threat.

If true freedom is going to survive within you,

you have to be willing to fight for it.

You have to have a sword in each hand at all times.

One sword is for your own mind and the other sword is for everyone else's mind. You must be ready to use them.

Anyone who wants to be truly free must be willing to stand alone in the truth.

The Future Is Not a Given

The future is not a given. What's going to happen is not already known and is not predetermined. So often, we tend to hold onto metaphysical worldviews that tell us that the higher levels and stages of development are already laid out. But they're not. This is a new way of thinking: the recognition that the structures of the future are yet to be determined, yet to be created. And they don't create themselves; they are created to the degree to which human beings at the leading edge consciously engage in the evolutionary process. Only those individuals who are way ahead of their time begin to create these new structures or grooves in consciousness, and in time, when others progress through the lower stages, they're going to follow those grooves that have been laid by the evolutionary pioneers who went before them. When enough people take that path, those grooves get deeper and eventually become stages that everybody is going to develop through automatically. So the awakening human at the leading edge today bears a profound responsibility to be an evolutionary pioneer—to be the one who is literally living in that place between the present and the future. There is no one else who can do this for us.

This is our challenge at the beginning of the twenty-first century - we need to find the courage to see our own spiritual yearnings in the biggest possible context,  in such a way that is going to compel us to finally transcend our self-concern. We need to find the heart to come together in such a way that will enable us to face the challenges before us. And to do this, we need a new spirituality. We need a new enlightenment.

The authentic self is the best part of a human being.  It's the part of you that already cares, that is already passionate about evolution. When your authentic self miraculously awakens and becomes stronger than your ego, then you will truly begin to make a difference in this world. You will literally enter into a partnership with the creative principle

I know there are those who are convinced that seeing ego as a problem is an outdated perspective that only adds fuel to the fire, and that simply “accepting” and “making space” for it is the more “enlightened” approach. But I beg to differ. It may sound good in theory, but the ability to recognize ego for what it is, in all its gross and often very subtle manifestations, to “accept” it and simultaneously not act out of it, requires a level of self-mastery that, to be brutally honest, is attained by very few. I have found that for most, transcending what would traditionally be called our “lower impulses” may require the willingness to struggle as if our life depended on it. Because if we want to evolve beyond ego in a way that is truly going to make a difference, it literally does.

It is the experience of higher states that can convince even the most hardened cynic that in fact they have seen God. But in order for that glory that has been glimpsed in higher states to become the foundation for an actual level or permanent stage of individual and collective development, an enormous price has to be paid. More often than not, the mistake is made where simply because an individual has experienced a higher state they conclude that they have actually made that leap or transition to a higher stage. And that is rarely the case. Only with dedicated and consistent practice and committed engagement with the enormity of the task at hand can any individual or group actually make this momentous transition.

As far as I’m concerned, the spiritual life is just like any other endeavor—you can succeed or fail. And when the goal is actual evolution beyond ego in an intersubjective context, success or failure is plain for all to see.

I know it’s not politically correct these days to say that one is doing something “new,” but at the risk of offending a few more people, I really believe I am. Perhaps it is just my narcissism, but in the end, history will be my judge. I know that this will never become a mass movement, because for all the reasons I’ve explained and more, it is just too demanding for most people. But nevertheless, I am convinced that our success in transcending the ego together, so that a truly enlightened consciousness and culture permanently emerges and becomes stable, is inherently of profound significance for our collective future.

Out Loud Learners

Learning = Growth The Out Loud Learners pod is a group of people passionate about lifelong learning... More »

Teachings of Andrew Cohen

This group is dedicated to exploring the teaching of Radical, Impersonal, Evolutionary Enlightenment as taught by 21st... More »

Evolutionary Enlightenment

Explore the teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment and the work of the organization EnlightenNext with students of Andrew... More »

Spiral Dynamics

Open discussion board dedicated to exploring Dr. Don Beck's via Dr. Clare Grave's ideas/theories of Spiral Dynamics.  This is... More »

ACTION EVOLVING

This pod is dedicated to ‘Evolutionary Activism.’ Join documentary filmmaker, podcaster, writer, and evolutionary activist Velcrow Ripper... More »

FRENCH INTEGRAL UNIVERSITY

"Si l'humanité arrive vraiment à s'organiser collectivement, cette constitution d'un organisme collectif se doublera d'une conscience plus... More »

Andrew Cohen - Quelles sont nos valeurs ?

Le 3 septembre 2007, Andrew Cohen répond à une étudiante et aborde la question de nos valeurs.