Living Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution Beyond Ego - Softcover

Andrew Cohen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 817822142X ISBN 13: 9788178221427

Publisher: EnlightenNext Inc., 2002

Synopsis

Book Summary of Living Enlightenment:A Call For Evolution Beyond Ego The purpose of enlightenment is for us to become so conscious that, through our wholehearted participation, we actually begin to actively guide the evolutionary process itself.

About this title

Review

Guru of enlightenment Andrew Cohen has a radical message of evolutionary advancement. In Living Enlightenment, Cohen continues the work of his previous books and his magazine on the same topic--that enlightenment is available here and now but involves a radical transformation of both outlook and behavior. Like Krishnamurti, Cohen is relentless in his commonsense approach to spirituality, insisting that enlightenment means a complete relinquishment of the ego. This naturally leads to nonattachment, humility, responsibility, and love. In enlightenment, one's perspective shifts from the personal to the impersonal, and this means a deepening of, rather than a distancing from, constructive relationships. Although Cohen comes out of the Indian tradition, his language is thoroughly modern, with very little jargon and no references to world religions. He has a tendency to be vague on the details, but his invitation to enlightenment is clear and his challenge refreshing. --Brian Bruya

From the Publisher

In Living Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution Beyond Ego (Moksha Press, June 2002), Cohen's twelfth book, he explores the mystery and mechanics of radical transformation. Bringing together the transcendent wisdom of the East with the Western understanding of evolution, Cohen offers a vision of the purpose of enlightenment to challenge and inspire even the most disillusioned of seekers. Simple yet audacious, his claim is that the spiritual evolution of each one of us is not separate from the evolution of the whole human race. For Cohen, the path to individual liberation could never be a personal matter, but rather is "the first step toward becoming a conscious participant in the evolutionary process... In the miraculous experiential discovery of the enlightened perspective," he writes, "our humanity is finally set free to manifest its evolutionary potential without inhibition."

Presented as a far-reaching dialogue over twenty chapters, Living Enlightenment echoes an ancient form of spiritual discourse while engaging with some of the most complex questions facing modern seekers. What is enlightenment? And what does this profound attainment have to do with the reality of our human existence? Is it possible to be enlightened and still have a family, be in a sexual relationship, live an ordinary life? What is ego? And ultimately, what is the purpose of enlightenment? This is not a book that can be read from a safe distance. As the dynamic and unpredictable dialogue unfolds, Living Enlightenment offers a rare and intimate portrait of Cohen himself—his wisdom, spontaneity, and unquenchable passion for truth. The reader finds him or herself pulled into the depths of our shared human experience as Cohen deconstructs the mind's objections with precision, insight, and humor, always calling on the heart to embrace the living possibility of liberation here and! now.

Living Enlightenment pulls no punches. Cohen is uncompromising in his challenge to the ego and his call for each of us to rise up to our highest potential. As Wilber puts it, "[Cohen] is not here to offer comfort; he is here to tear you into approximately a thousand pieces...so that Infinity can reassemble you, freedom can replace imprisonment, fullness can outshine fear." And so that ultimately you can be available for a purpose far greater than yourself. For Living Enlightenment is no companion for armchair spirituality, no personal growth or self-improvement handbook, but the real thing for a real world that, as Cohen says, is "in dire need of truly conscious beings—human beings who know who they are and why they are here."

Edition details

• Publisher: EnlightenNext Inc.
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 817822142X
• ISBN 13: 9788178221427
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 124