From our contemporary perspective, the process of evolution tends to be seen only as an external event, happening “out there somewhere”—either in the cosmos or in nature. For most of us, it’s not yet accepted that evolution is both an external and an internal event. Internally, at the level of consciousness, evolution takes place in the subjective and the intersubjective domains. When you realize that this is true, that’s when real magic starts happening. [Read more →]
February 8, 2010 at 4:20pm
Evolution Is an Internal Event
by Andrew Cohen → No Comments
Categories:Consciousness • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Evolutionary Spirituality • Philosophy • Quote of the Week • Spirituality · Tags:Alfred North Whitehead·conscious evolution·creativity·Evolution·Evolutionary Enlightenment·Evolutionary Spirituality·novelty
February 5, 2010 at 12:04pm
The Fresh Prince of Self-Mastery
by Joel Pitney → 6 Comments
I always knew that Will Smith was a great actor…and a pretty good musician too. I’ve also always admired the positive down-to-earth spirit that he conveyed on and off camera–a rare quality among Hollywood megastars. But I never knew what made the Fresh Prince so fresh until this week when I came across this video compilation of TV interviews with Smith in which he waxes eloquent on his spiritual philosophy towards life. He’s a true self master. Check it out: [Read more →]
Categories:Evolutionary Spirituality • Pop Culture • Spirituality · Tags:fresh prince·inspiration·new thought·self mastery·video·Will Smith·Wisdom
February 1, 2010 at 2:41pm
A Messy Process (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen → 19 Comments
Evolution is a messy process. So anybody who really wants to make the effort to strive for something new is going to have to be willing to make mistakes, take wrong turns, even to fail, but never give up. The simple truth is this: if not failing is more important to you than genuinely succeeding, you’re never going to make it. If you really want to succeed, you have to have the big heart, heroic will, tenacity, courage, and commitment to fearlessly engage with the evolutionary process until something profound, mysterious, and extraordinary happens that cannot be undone.
Categories:Cultural Evolution • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Quote of the Week • Spirituality · Tags:Andrew Cohen·enlightenment·Evolution·Evolutionary Enlightenment·inspiration·process·quote·success·victory
January 27, 2010 at 12:46pm
Seek Until You Find (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen → 34 Comments
You must seek until you find. Only when you find what you have been looking for will you be able to truly stop seeking. Better not to stop seeking energetically until then. It is imperative that you do not stop seeking until you reach the goal of Enlightenment. Do not allow yourself to stop until you’ve come to the absolute end of all seeking. Only when you have come home forever and you know without any doubt that it is all over should you allow yourself to stop.
Categories:Evolutionary Enlightenment • Quote of the Week • Spirituality · Tags:Andrew Cohen·enlightenment·quote·seeking·spiritual quest
January 25, 2010 at 7:59pm
The Rings of Earth
by Tom Huston → 4 Comments
What would the skies above our cities look like if the Earth had Saturn’s rings? That’s the question posed in beautiful precision by this fascinating little video created by graphic artist Roy Prol, which has been appearing all over the net in the past few weeks. You may have noticed that astronomers’ list of known planets beyond our solar system continues to grow at a stunning rate (the number is up to 424 now), and they say that the exciting possibility of finding an Earthlike world looms larger every day. So I’m sure we’ll be seeing scientifically sound, speculative visualizations like this one cropping up more and more all the time. As Avatar’s success might attest, cool-looking planets have never been more popular…
Categories:Bright Green • Cosmology • Science · Tags:astronomy·awesomeness·exoplanets·ringed Earth·Saturn·space art
January 19, 2010 at 4:11pm
Engaging in Creative Friction (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen → 46 Comments
In an inspired spiritual context where the evolution of consciousness and culture is the goal, coming together with others is not just about sharing an experience of peace, bliss, and harmony. It is about what I call creative friction. In fact, to me, the presence of ongoing creative friction is what indicates deep spiritual, psychological, and emotional health and vibrancy in this type of collective or intersubjective context. Creative friction is the very spiritual lifeblood of the new culture that we need to create, through consciously engaging with each other and the life-process itself, as we strive to deconstruct and transcend old structures and creatively construct new ones. [Read more →]
Categories:Cultural Evolution • Culture • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Evolutionary Spirituality • Quote of the Week · Tags:Andrew Cohen·collective·communication·creativity·Culture·enlightened communication·enlightenment·Evolution·Evolutionary Enlightenment·Evolutionary Impulse·god·Intersubjective
January 19, 2010 at 12:25pm
In Memory of George Leonard (1923-2010)
by Joel Pitney → 14 Comments
On January 6th, 2010, George Leonard—the man who coined the term “human potential movement”—passed away at the distinguished age of eighty-seven. With his death, the world has lost a true giant in the field of spiritual evolution. There’s so much to say about Mr. Leonard. And much of it has already been said. So we thought the best way to honor his life and his contributions would be to post a previously unreleased interview that we did with him back in 2002. In “If You’re Not Changing, You’re Not Learning,” Leonard tells EnlightenNext founder Andrew Cohen and former editor Craig Hamilton about his vision for spiritual evolution and “the future of us.” [Read more →]
Categories:Cultural Evolution • Evolutionaries • Evolutionary Spirituality • Integral Philosophy • Spirituality • Think About This · Tags:Esalen·esalen institute·Evolution·Evolutionary Spirituality·George Leonard·human potential·human potential movement·integral transformative practice·itp·michael murphy·spiritual evolution
January 18, 2010 at 11:35pm
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop . . .”
by Joel Pitney → 1 Comment
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, here’s an excerpt from his final speech–a sermon known by its most famous line “I’ve been to the Mountain Top,” that he gave at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3rd, 1968, the day before he was assassinated. He nestles all of his Civil Rights work into a historical picture that is expansive, deeply spiritual, and very inspiring: [Read more →]
Categories:Cultural Evolution • Culture • News • Politics • Postmodernism • Religion • Spirituality · Tags:civil rights·History·I've Been to the Mountaintop·Martin Luther King·Martin Luther King Jr·mason temple·memphis·MLK·religious·speech·spiritual
January 11, 2010 at 5:16pm
Deconstructing Your Culturally Created Self (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen → 23 Comments
The ego, which has traditionally been the enemy of the spiritual aspirant, is not just an individual entity. It also has a collective dimension. The collective ego is your culturally conditioned self–the conglomeration of conscious and unconscious ideas that represent the way you assume life is supposed to be. It is all of the “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” you have absorbed from those around you and from the shared history of your culture or ethnic background. It is a set of subtle and not-so-subtle beliefs, ideas, and ways of seeing the world that you deeply subscribe to but may not even be aware of. [Read more →]
Categories:Consciousness • Cultural Evolution • Culture • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Quote of the Week · Tags:Andrew Cohen·conditioning·Cultural Evolution·Culture·enlightenment·Evolutionary Enlightenment·liberation·quote·Quote of the Week·self
January 6, 2010 at 2:49am
Time Is All We’ve Got (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen → 3 Comments
From the perspective of evolution, time is all we’ve got. Evolution only happens in and through time, so we can only affect change in the cosmos in and through time. Therefore, if we care about making a difference, we need to have the courage to look directly at our own lives in relationship to time. Why? Because time runs out! And too many of us are still putting off what is most important, postponing and hesitating, because we feel that we’re not quite ready yet. [Read more →]
Categories:Evolutionary Enlightenment • Evolutionary Spirituality • Quote of the Week • Spirituality · Tags:Evolution·Evolutionary·Evolutionary Enlightenment·time
Andrew Cohen, Editor in Chief
Carter Phipps, Executive Editor
Elizabeth Debold, Senior Editor
Ross Robertson, Senior Assoc. Editor
Tom Huston, Senior Assoc. Editor
Joel Pitney, Associate Editor
Megan Cater, Assistant Editor