Andrew Cohen, founder of EnlightenNext magazine, is pioneering a new and radical vision of human spirituality called Evolutionary Enlightenment, in which he casts the ultimate nature and purpose of human life within a vast developmental context—all the way from the creation of the universe to the present moment and beyond.
In this fast paced dialogue, recorded live at the EnlightenNext center in Boston, Massachusetts, Andrew delivers a concise and passionate explanation of the basic philosophical and experiential differences between this evolving view of enlightenment and the traditional eastern teachings (from Buddhism to Advaita-Vedanta) so popular in spiritual world today.
Responding to a question about the basic nature of enlightenment, Andrew launches into a comprehensive explanation of how Evolutionary Enlightenment combines both the experience of the unconditioned, or timeless ground of being, with the inherent complexity and forward movement of creation itself. Rather than escaping from the world in order to find true peace, as many traditions maintain, Andrew says that our highest fulfillment as human beings is realized in our total engagement with the world. By becoming enlightened expressions of the creative impulse itself, we can transcend the contradictions between being and becoming, between the underlying emptiness of our true nature and our unrelenting engagement at the edge of creation itself.
BIO
Andrew Cohen, founder of EnlightenNext magazine, is a spiritual teacher and acclaimed author widely recognized as a defining voice in the emerging field of evolutionary spirituality. A life-changing awakening in 1986 brought Cohen to the end of his own search for liberation while simultaneously starting him on an exploration of the meaning and significance of enlightenment for our time. This has led him to a profound investigation of the human predicament and into dialogue with sages, saints, and spiritual luminaries from nearly every tradition and beyond.
In 1992, Cohen released the first issue of EnlightenNext (formerly What Is Enlightenment), expanding his own inquiry through the public forum of a magazine and pioneering an innovative form of spiritual journalism reminiscent of classical Socratic dialogue. Over the last decade on the pages of EnlightenNext, Cohen has brought together leading thinkers—mystics and materialists, philosophers and psychologists—to call for a higher and wholly contemporary synthesis of the spiritual truths found in the East and the empirical rigor of the West. Through the magazine and his writings, Cohen is creating a new context for understanding enlightenment as a human evolutionary imperative. Together with a growing network of integral visionaries, including Ken Wilber and Don Beck, he is helping to define a culture of thought that places spiritual transformation at the center of any vision of transforming the world.
