Andrew Cohen - Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening

Copyright 2011 by EnlightenNext

This e-book edition published by SelectBooks, Inc., New York, New York.

The first print edition of Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening 2011 by EnlightenNext was published in 2011 by SelectBooks, Inc.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission by the publisher.

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Cover art by Patrick Bryson

Cover design by Claudine Mansour Design

ISBN: 978-1-59079-229-2

"In Evolutionary Enlightenment, Andrew Cohen has given us a compellingly new, important, even profound work on the nature of spiritual enlightenment in today's world. Enlightenment is still viewed as a nondual realizationa 'not-twoness' of Absolute and relative, Emptiness and Form. But in our time, the relative domain of Form has discovered itself to be evolving, and a truly nondual realization is thus a not-twoness of Timeless Being and Evolving Becoming. More than an intellectual discussion, this is a book of practice, of actually how to realize this new Evolutionary Enlightenment. It is truly one of the most significant books on spirituality written in the postmodern world."

Ken Wilber, author of The Integral Vision

"Andrew Cohen maps out a path to be the change we not only should want to see in the world but that we objectively and urgently need in the world. Whether we take his path or look to another, we should read what he has to say, for it is based on deep personal experience that has proven meaningful for thousands and thousands."

Ervin Laszlo, author of Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos

"Like Sri Aurobindo, the great spiritual and evolutionary pathfinder for the twentieth century, in Andrew Cohen we have just such a pathfinder for our own era. In Andrew's writing, as in his person, we experience directly the living Eros of the divine, urging always toward transformation and ultimately toward evolution."

Allan Combs, PhD, author of Consciousness Explained Better

"Cohen not only describes the territory of Evolutionary Enlightenment, he provides the vehicle for making the journey. In a wise and generous voice he describes hownot in some future time but noweach of us can respond to the evolutionary impulse seeking to emerge in, through, and as every human being, birthing an enlightened society."

Michael Bernard Beckwith, author of Spiritual Liberation

"This is not your standard spiritual book. It is not your standard book on achieving the bliss of enlightenment. We are far more than we think we are, says Andrew Cohen. We are the cosmos come alive. We are 'the evolutionary impulse' incarnate. We are the cosmos's way of becoming something new, of turning that which does not yet exist into a reality. Andrew Cohen's Evolutionary Enlightenment isn't easy. But, argues Cohen, it is worth it."

Howard Bloom, author of The Lucifer Principle

"We are living in a time of profound transformation. Learning to navigate the dynamic changes that are unfolding offers each of us the chance to embrace our role as conscious agents in the evolutionary process. Cohen's insightful book takes us into this dynamic process, empowering us to co-create a future for our collective awakening."

Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, President and CEO, Institute of Noetic Sciences

"Andrew Cohen's Evolutionary Enlightenment adds to the vision of evolutionary panentheism that is emerging in the world today. His simultaneous embrace of our ever-present (though ordinarily hidden) oneness with God and our ever-developing life here on Earth, I believe, embodies the philosophic stance we need to take to fulfill our deepest calling and best serve the world at large."

Michael Murphy, author of The Future of the Body

"Andrew Cohen is the most precise teacher of the essence of spiritual conscious evolution and its social contribution. He has identified the impulse of evolution as our own subjective yearning to create, and he has given us ways of cultivating that creativity as a spiritual path toward authentic selfhood. This is the growing edge of spiritual/social evolution and he is on it"

Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of Conscious Evolution

"If the fourteen-billion-year cosmic experiment that resulted in our lives is not to end in the next few centuries, it will require brave and brilliant steps in our spiritual evolution. With instruction at once tough and tender, Andrew Cohen gives us the inspiration and the means to accomplish the greatest of all endeavors for the human spirit. This is a spiritual masterpiece."

Jean Houston, PhD, author of A Mythic Life

"Andrew Cohen is a truly remarkable spiritual teacher on the cutting edge of evolutionary thinking and action. He and his students are playing an invaluable leadership role in the emergence of evolutionary spirituality: an integrity-based, deeply meaningful approach to life grounded in our best scientific understandings of cosmic, earth, biological, and human history. Andrew's writings and teachings are destined to make a real difference in the world."

Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution

"Andrew Cohen has given us a clear, practical, and empowering guidebook on how to cross the historic threshold that leads from the unsustainable world we see already crumbling around us today toward a vibrant future reflective of our best human selves. Instead of wishfully waiting for it to happen, he shows us how we can, responsibly and immediately, begin co-creating this future now. To do so requires what Andrew describes as 'spiritual courage,' mastery of his Tenets of Evolutionary Enlightenment, and forging the profoundly new, transformational culture he envisionswhich we might call a culture of possibility."

Gordon Dveirin, EdD, and Joan Borysenko, PhD, authors of Your Soul's Compass

"There is a place for stillness and there is a time for action. The twenty-first century is the period in history when those who feel the call must boldly take a stand. Read Andrew Cohen's book, and gain a fresh insight into the nature of enlightenment itself and how you can help make a better tomorrow through your own evolutionary involvement."

Roshi Vernon Kitabu Turner, author of Soul to Soul

"Andrew Cohen has arrived at an insight that is crucial for our historical situation. Enlightenment is not a movement out of the everyday world but is instead a profound entrance into deep participation in the evolution of the universe. Rarely have I encountered such simple, searing wisdom connecting religious ideas about enlightenment with the scientific understanding of an evolutionary cosmos."

Brian Swimme, PhD, author of The Universe Story

"In Evolutionary Enlightenment, Andrew Cohen urges his readers to contribute to the crucial yet arduous process in which the Divine actualizes itself in history. While valorizing the traditional spiritual path that leads toward eternal divine Being, Cohen maintains that today's seeker has the opportunity and perhaps even the obligation to undertake the demanding transformation needed to contribute to the next phase in cosmic evolution. In his beautifully written book, well informed by major trends in developmental thinking, Cohen makes a substantial contribution to contemporary discussions about appropriate spiritual goals."