When I met my last spiritual teacher, the revered HWL Poonja, in 1986, he taught me how to be free. He was such a powerful teacher that within minutes of meeting him, the most amazing thing happened. I asked him how much effort one needs to make in order to be inwardly free. He said, almost whispering, “You don’t have to make any effort to be free.” The instant he finished uttering those few simple words, I was catapulted... Read more
In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share an article written by my former colleague Ross Robertson for EnlightenNext magazine called “A Brighter Shade of Green: Rebooting Environmentalism for the 21stCentury.” His brilliant insights about this important topic really changed the way I think about the environmental challenges that we’re facing. In fact, through many conversations with him, he brought me to see these challenges in a completely new way. He opened my eyes to a future-oriented way of understanding... Read more
I had my first spiritual experience when I was 16 years old. I was sitting up late one night having a conversation with my mother about something I can’t remember, when for no apparent reason, the doors of perception opened WIDE. In no time I was swept up in an ocean of ecstasy that seemed infinite. I also experienced many insights that unfolded one after the other. One of them was very interesting. It became apparent to me that... Read more
I just returned from spending a weekend with my friend Peter Ragnar at his farm in Kentucky. Peter is a modern-day Shaman, Taoist wizard, natural life scientist, and “self-master” par excellence. He claims to be a senior citizen, but refuses to give away his age because he “doesn’t believe in it.” In this short clip from a longer interview he and I did over Skype several weeks ago, he describes a remarkable metaphysical intervention that occurred during one of... Read more
With Easter and Passover on the minds of so many millions of Christians and Jews this weekend, so are the deeper themes of renewal, promise, and liberation that these religious holidays represent. In light of this, I wanted to share a beautiful profile that my friend and colleague Carter Phipps wrote for EnlightenNext magazine on Georgetown University Catholic theologian John Haught, who has put an interesting evolutionary twist on the concept of renewal. Haught, who’s life and work have... Read more
Over the past couple of years, my thinking has been greatly influenced by the “Prophets of Progress”—people like Stephen Pinker, Matt Ridley, Stephen Johnson, Hans Rosling, and Peter Diamandis to name a few. And I have written about their ideas extensively on this blog. Personally, I’ve been inspired by their persistent optimism about where we’re headed in the future, even in the face of so much pessimism in progressive culture today. My student and colleague Carter Phipps, who is the... Read more
Do you live on your own edge? Living on the edge is exactly what inspired, highly motivated people aspire to always do. Last December, I went to the grand finale concert of the Rolling Stones’ highly acclaimed 50th anniversary tour at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. It was an amazing show. As one Rolling Stone magazine reviewer described it: “With stripped-down arena production, career-spanning set lists and a renewed focus on their natural kinetic-blues drive, the Stones reasserted... Read more
Here’s a published dialogue that I did with my friend Deepak Chopra in which we discuss the challenges of standing up for Spirit in a secular culture. Enjoy! __________________________________ ANDREW COHEN: What I wanted to speak with you about, Deepak, is what it really means to be a spiritual hero. This is kind of a bold and audacious idea. But especially now that there are so many people looking for ways to step forward to make the world a better... Read more
I’m an amateur jazz drummer. Last night, as I was surfing my favorite drumming site, drummerworld.com, I came upon the most astounding video. Four very young Japanese women all dressed in punk-chic attire playing the most powerfully virtuosic and soulful jazz I’d heard in a long time: Seeing this video really got me thinking about how much the world is really changing. Let me see . . . The most popular rapper in the world right now is South Korean... Read more
Evolutionary Enlightenment
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India’s True Prosperity
India is still a magical place. What we hear most often about the Motherland these days is her extraordinary leap into the modern world, her burgeoning prosperity, and her enormous contribution to the global economy. And while this is all true, I feel her greatest gift to the world still remains what she is most famous for: the gift of spirituality. I just returned home after twelve days in that ancient and still mysterious land. In spite of the... Read more