Andrew Cohen
Encyclopedia
Andrew Cohen is an American guru
, spiritual teacher, magazine editor, author, and musician who has developed what he characterizes as a unique path of spiritual transformation, called Evolutionary Enlightenment
. He sees himself as working in conjunction with others to bring about a new stage of human consciousness
and culture
. Towards this end, Cohen and his students frequently engage with a variety of spiritual teachers, philosophers, activists, and cultural figures. Many of these encounters, as well as Cohen's writings, are featured in EnlightenNext magazine, which is published quarterly by the international nonprofit organization he founded, EnlightenNext, Inc.
in 1955. He has an elder brother, Joshua. Raised as a secular Jew, he recounts that his life was changed by a spontaneous experience of "cosmic consciousness
" at the age of sixteen. Haunted by the memory of this event, Cohen abandoned his ambition to become a jazz
drummer
and began a quest to recapture this experience. Studying martial arts
, then Kriya Yoga
, then Buddhism
from ages 22 to 30, Cohen eventually met the Advaita Vedanta
master H. W. L. Poonja
in 1986. After spending three weeks with Poonja, and having what he claimed was a deep spiritual awakening, Cohen began to teach, with the initial encouragement of Poonja, until later philosophical and personal disagreements created a split between the two that persisted up to Poonja's death in 1997.
In 1988, Cohen founded EnlightenNext (originally called Moksha Foundation, then Impersonal Enlightenment Fellowship), a nonprofit educational and spiritual network committed to creating a new global culture. In addition to small groups of students located in various parts of the world, EnlightenNext has public centers in New York
, Boston
, London
, Amsterdam
, Frankfurt
, Zurich
, Paris
, Copenhagen
, and Rishikesh, India
. The main center for EnlightenNext is a 220-acre (890,000 m²) retreat venue in Lenox, Massachusetts
, where Cohen and his largest body of students currently reside.
Shortly after he began teaching, Cohen began to meet with other spiritual teachers in order to share his experience and engage in dialogue about the nature of spiritual enlightenment. In 1991, he founded EnlightenNext magazine (under its former title, What Is Enlightenment?), in order to share and further this investigation. As editor in chief of EnlightenNext magazine, he believes that "it is on our shoulders to create the future," and sees the magazine and its associated programs as popular forums for dialogue and inquiry regarding the meaning of spiritual life in the postmodern era. EnlightenNext has developed an international speaker’s series called Voices from the Edge, an online multimedia forum known as WIE Unbound, and a partnership with the Graduate Institute (TGI) to offer a master’s program in Conscious Evolution. In 2006, and again in 2007, the WIE.org website was honored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
with the Webby
People's Voice Award in the Religion
and Spirituality
category.
In 2000, Cohen became one of the founding members of Ken Wilber
's Integral Institute
. He was a featured speaker at the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions
, and, in 2006, was awarded the Kashi Humanitarian Award.
In April 2010, Cohen was one of several speakers to open a dialogue at the Global Awareness Association’s Holocaust Healing event.Cohen addressed the subjects of cultural development and facing collective cultural structures, with emphasis on how this relates to Germany’s struggles to regain cultural unity in the 65 years following World War II. He was joined by Eva Mozes Kor
, a Holocaust survivor and one of the ‘Mengele Twins’, who appeared in the 2006 documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele and who speaks frequently on the topic of forgiveness; Gunther Weiland, a 90-year-old former Nazi; Thomas Hübl, event organizer, spiritual teacher, and consciousness researcher; Tom Steininger, an Austrian EnlightenNext director and teacher of Evolutionary Enlightenment; philosopher Ken Wilber, and EnlightenNext’s Ruth Golan, a Israeli psychologist, educator, author, and student of Cohen’s studying cultural evolution and going beyond the victim mentality.
In May 2010, Cohen was one of several speakers participating in the Evolutionary Worldview Seminar, a virtual, day-long webinar that welcomed more than 10,000 listeners from around the world. the seminar was led by Cohen and included appearances by philosopher Ken
Wilber, Marilyn Schlitz, Brian Swimme, and Deepak Chopra
. He followed this in March 2011 with an event called Awakening to Your Highest Self: Tales of Transformation from 25 Spiritual Luminaries, an 11-hour webcast listened to by over 6,000 people in 85 countries and featuring well-known spiritual teachers and cultural thought-leaders speaking about the teachers and mentors who influenced them.
Self
." This self beyond ego is said to represent humanity at its most wholesome: creative, compassionate, and motivated by an evolutionary impulse that is "one with the big bang
itself." According to Cohen, when human beings choose to live as the Authentic Self, they can realize their inseparability from the universe and thereby discover a purpose for living that transcends egoism—that is, the uniquely human capacity to participate in the evolution
of consciousness
itself.
Cohen distinguishes Evolutionary Enlightenment from traditional "personal" enlightenment. In Evolutionary Enlightenment, he teaches, enlightenment is no longer the possession of the individual, but instead becomes the ground of relationship upon which a new culture is created. Cohen argues that the creation of this new consciousness and culture is essential for the survival of the race, and says that it is particularly incumbent upon those individuals who are at the leading edge of human development to take this next step.
To assist those who wish to evolve in this way, Cohen has developed a comprehensive teaching, the essential elements of which include "The Five Tenets" and "Six Principles" of Evolutionary Enlightenment. An interactive teaching model summarizes the perspective offered by these teachings.
His latest book, Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening, published by SelectBooks on 26 September 2011, presents the most comprehensive overview of his teachings to date.
tic and manipulative spiritual teacher. Tarlo wrote a book called Mother of God about her experience as one of his disciples.
André van der Braak's Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru alleges that Cohen demanded large sums of money and extreme, unquestioning devotion from his students.
American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing, by William Yenner and other former Andrew Cohen student contributors (foreword by Stephen Batchelor), documents authoritarianism, financial manipulation, physical and psychological abuse in Andrew Cohen's community, and discusses the challenges of healing after leaving the community.
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, spiritual teacher, magazine editor, author, and musician who has developed what he characterizes as a unique path of spiritual transformation, called Evolutionary Enlightenment
Evolutionary Enlightenment
Evolutionary Enlightenment is a philosophy that mixes teachings about Enlightenment from Eastern traditions with a Western scientific understanding of evolution....
. He sees himself as working in conjunction with others to bring about a new stage of human consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Towards this end, Cohen and his students frequently engage with a variety of spiritual teachers, philosophers, activists, and cultural figures. Many of these encounters, as well as Cohen's writings, are featured in EnlightenNext magazine, which is published quarterly by the international nonprofit organization he founded, EnlightenNext, Inc.
Biography
Cohen was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1955. He has an elder brother, Joshua. Raised as a secular Jew, he recounts that his life was changed by a spontaneous experience of "cosmic consciousness
Cosmic consciousness
Cosmic consciousness is the idea that the universe exists as an interconnected network of consciousness, with each conscious being linked to every other...
" at the age of sixteen. Haunted by the memory of this event, Cohen abandoned his ambition to become a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and began a quest to recapture this experience. Studying martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
, then Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga
Kriya Yoga finds mention in the ancient spiritual texts of Patanjali Yogasutras "Tapah svadhyayeshvara pranidhani kriyayogah" . It was later revived by Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri in the 19th century. Subsequently Paramhansa Yogananda in his Autobiography of a Yogi reported the same for his...
, then Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
from ages 22 to 30, Cohen eventually met the Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
master H. W. L. Poonja
H. W. L. Poonja
Sri H. W. L. Poonja, b. Hariwansh Lal Poonja, also known as "Poonjaji" or "Papaji"...
in 1986. After spending three weeks with Poonja, and having what he claimed was a deep spiritual awakening, Cohen began to teach, with the initial encouragement of Poonja, until later philosophical and personal disagreements created a split between the two that persisted up to Poonja's death in 1997.
In 1988, Cohen founded EnlightenNext (originally called Moksha Foundation, then Impersonal Enlightenment Fellowship), a nonprofit educational and spiritual network committed to creating a new global culture. In addition to small groups of students located in various parts of the world, EnlightenNext has public centers in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, and Rishikesh, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The main center for EnlightenNext is a 220-acre (890,000 m²) retreat venue in Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
, where Cohen and his largest body of students currently reside.
Shortly after he began teaching, Cohen began to meet with other spiritual teachers in order to share his experience and engage in dialogue about the nature of spiritual enlightenment. In 1991, he founded EnlightenNext magazine (under its former title, What Is Enlightenment?), in order to share and further this investigation. As editor in chief of EnlightenNext magazine, he believes that "it is on our shoulders to create the future," and sees the magazine and its associated programs as popular forums for dialogue and inquiry regarding the meaning of spiritual life in the postmodern era. EnlightenNext has developed an international speaker’s series called Voices from the Edge, an online multimedia forum known as WIE Unbound, and a partnership with the Graduate Institute (TGI) to offer a master’s program in Conscious Evolution. In 2006, and again in 2007, the WIE.org website was honored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences or IADAS was founded in 1998 in New York to help drive the progress of the Internet and evolving forms of new media. The academy selects the nominees and winners for the Webby Awards, and their European equivalent, the Lovie Awards.Membership...
with the Webby
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
People's Voice Award in the Religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and Spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
category.
In 2000, Cohen became one of the founding members of Ken Wilber
Ken Wilber
Kenneth Earl Wilber II is an American author who has written about mysticism, philosophy, ecology, and developmental psychology. His work formulates what he calls Integral Theory. In 1998, he founded the Integral Institute, for teaching and applications of Integral theory.-Biography:Ken Wilber was...
's Integral Institute
Integral Institute
The Integral Institute is a think-tank founded in 1998 by American author Ken Wilber. The purpose of the Institute is to gather and attempt to integrate the various viewpoints found in a number of major fields of knowledge...
. He was a featured speaker at the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions
Parliament of the World's Religions
There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World’s Religions, most notably the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, the first attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another conference on its centenary in 1993...
, and, in 2006, was awarded the Kashi Humanitarian Award.
In April 2010, Cohen was one of several speakers to open a dialogue at the Global Awareness Association’s Holocaust Healing event.Cohen addressed the subjects of cultural development and facing collective cultural structures, with emphasis on how this relates to Germany’s struggles to regain cultural unity in the 65 years following World War II. He was joined by Eva Mozes Kor
Eva Mozes Kor
Eva Mozes Kor is a survivor of the Holocaust who, with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to human experimentation under Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. Both of her parents and two older sisters were killed at the camp; only she and Miriam survived...
, a Holocaust survivor and one of the ‘Mengele Twins’, who appeared in the 2006 documentary Forgiving Dr. Mengele and who speaks frequently on the topic of forgiveness; Gunther Weiland, a 90-year-old former Nazi; Thomas Hübl, event organizer, spiritual teacher, and consciousness researcher; Tom Steininger, an Austrian EnlightenNext director and teacher of Evolutionary Enlightenment; philosopher Ken Wilber, and EnlightenNext’s Ruth Golan, a Israeli psychologist, educator, author, and student of Cohen’s studying cultural evolution and going beyond the victim mentality.
In May 2010, Cohen was one of several speakers participating in the Evolutionary Worldview Seminar, a virtual, day-long webinar that welcomed more than 10,000 listeners from around the world. the seminar was led by Cohen and included appearances by philosopher Ken
Wilber, Marilyn Schlitz, Brian Swimme, and Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
. He followed this in March 2011 with an event called Awakening to Your Highest Self: Tales of Transformation from 25 Spiritual Luminaries, an 11-hour webcast listened to by over 6,000 people in 85 countries and featuring well-known spiritual teachers and cultural thought-leaders speaking about the teachers and mentors who influenced them.
Ideas
Cohen says that his original spiritual teaching, Evolutionary Enlightenment, is unique for placing the traditional realization of enlightenment in the context of cosmic evolution. By awakening to the timeless "Ground of Being," Cohen maintains, human beings can liberate themselves from selfish motives, or ego, and learn to manifest what he calls the "AuthenticAuthenticity (philosophy)
Authenticity is a technical term in existentialist philosophy, and is also used in the philosophy of art and psychology. In philosophy, the conscious self is seen as coming to terms with being in a material world and with encountering external forces, pressures and influences which are very...
Self
Self (philosophy)
The philosophy of self defines the essential qualities that make one person distinct from all others. There have been numerous approaches to defining these qualities. The self is the idea of a unified being which is the source of consciousness. Moreover, this self is the agent responsible for the...
." This self beyond ego is said to represent humanity at its most wholesome: creative, compassionate, and motivated by an evolutionary impulse that is "one with the big bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
itself." According to Cohen, when human beings choose to live as the Authentic Self, they can realize their inseparability from the universe and thereby discover a purpose for living that transcends egoism—that is, the uniquely human capacity to participate in the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
itself.
Cohen distinguishes Evolutionary Enlightenment from traditional "personal" enlightenment. In Evolutionary Enlightenment, he teaches, enlightenment is no longer the possession of the individual, but instead becomes the ground of relationship upon which a new culture is created. Cohen argues that the creation of this new consciousness and culture is essential for the survival of the race, and says that it is particularly incumbent upon those individuals who are at the leading edge of human development to take this next step.
To assist those who wish to evolve in this way, Cohen has developed a comprehensive teaching, the essential elements of which include "The Five Tenets" and "Six Principles" of Evolutionary Enlightenment. An interactive teaching model summarizes the perspective offered by these teachings.
His latest book, Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening, published by SelectBooks on 26 September 2011, presents the most comprehensive overview of his teachings to date.
Music
In 2001, Cohen re-engaged his passion for drumming and formed the jazz-funk-fusion band Unfulfilled Desires. The band plays original compositions and standards, and performs in Europe and the United States. They have released three CDs: Live at the Iron Horse (2002), Enlightened Dog (2004), and Punk Funk (2008).Criticisms
Some of Cohen's former followers, including his mother, Luna Tarlo, view Cohen as a charismaCharisma
The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...
tic and manipulative spiritual teacher. Tarlo wrote a book called Mother of God about her experience as one of his disciples.
André van der Braak's Enlightenment Blues: My Years with an American Guru alleges that Cohen demanded large sums of money and extreme, unquestioning devotion from his students.
American Guru: A Story of Love, Betrayal and Healing, by William Yenner and other former Andrew Cohen student contributors (foreword by Stephen Batchelor), documents authoritarianism, financial manipulation, physical and psychological abuse in Andrew Cohen's community, and discusses the challenges of healing after leaving the community.
External links
- EnlightenNext, Inc. - nonprofit organization founded by Andrew Cohen