A Declaration of Integrity

Andrew,

You are initiating and manifesting the future --- now. What compels me as a conscious participant is that you are piercing through the ignorance and lies which we consciously and unconsciously hold on to. What’s unique about you as a teacher is your ability to enliven the teacher within - the guru principle, or mirror of conscience. No other presence is more important than the burning impulse of conscious evolution - which, in the context of human beings, is to allow the impersonal dimension of Being to emerge through and as us.

The other point is that this MUST happen. It must happen because only genuine authenticity, responsibility, and purpose will liberate humanity; thus allow us to protect and appreciate the earth and its inhabitants.

I was a member of an organization (for almost 6 years) that sold enlightenment for an exorbitant price. I abandoned that group right after I found out that the teacher was sleeping with the vast majority of his female students, and after he went back on his word to me.

Two years later, I discovered Andrew and his teachings. Needless to say I was quite suspicious. I studied Andrew, his books, and I watched him closely for over 3 years before I even offered him a question. I spoke with his students to see if I could uncover even a hint of any strange activities. In the 5 years since that first question I spent over 300 hours in his presence during his public retreats, and countless other hours listening to his CD’s and watching videos. Not only was there was not a trace, even a scent of inconsistency, but the consistency of the message of awakening is blindingly clear!

I owe my own self-awakening to his work and the fact that when Andrew says “There’s no ego here,” he speaks the Truth.

Dear Andrew,

Thank you so much for finally posting this. What a relief. It has been a source of great personal distress to me over the years to see others besmirch your name and reputation when I, having known you for twelve years, have never met a more courageous, outrageous and honest individual. Having finally taken a stand against those who have made it their life’s mission to distort who you are at least puts all the cards on the table for anyone interested in deducing the truth of the situation.

I should add that after my first retreat with you in Bodhgaya, India, you and I had a conversation where you warned me in the most clear terms what it would mean to become involved with you. At the time, I decided it was too much. But I appreciated your honesty and am merely citing this to back up the fact that you are completely straight at all times with anyone who comes to you about what is involved in this. Every step in this teaching is a matter of conscious choice and no one is ever duped into anything. In fact, the entirety of the structure of your teaching has been a consistent response on your part to the actual needs of your students, not some imposition from on high based on your own desires or some trap designed to delude people.

I can also attest to the extraordinary level of care that you have expressed toward me and toward many others - care from which you had nothing personally to gain whatsoever and which was only a response to a potential you recognized in me.

After having spent thirteen years with a teacher who was ultimately corrupt and filled with all manner of personal motives it is both thrilling and sobering to be in the company and under the tutelage of one where I no longer have to concern myself with those issues.

And most importantly, I wish to express my undying gratitude for the vision, purpose and consciousness you have injected into my life and without which I would be floundering around, God knows where.

With much love,
Mike

Thank you, Andrew, for responding in this way.  I believe this is the most compassionate and responsible response format that you could have given without offering your work up as a meaningless sacrifice.  Excellent!  I will finish reading it and thinking on it tomorrow.  Thank you, again!

Hail ! to Andrew Cohen and his authentic SELF and his seemingly total commitment to caring more about the context than the fears & desires of ego.

I have asked elsewhere - What changes when change changes ? - perhaps Andrew Cohen would like to answer that ONE 4 me !

Dearest Andrew,

I read your article and I felt compelled to reply, from the bottom of my heart. I was a close student of yours for 12 years. I had been a spiritual seeker for many years before meeting you, engaging in Buddhist practices, yoga and meditation, studying for several years the ancient wisdom of the East and the West to find an answer to the deepest longing of my heart. When I met you I instantly knew that everything I had been studying and practicing for years was in front of me, embodied in you, in your presence, in your teachings, in the fullest, truest and most glorious way. At the beginning it was simply a silent and explosive recognition in my heart. In all the 12 years that followed and that I spent with you, this recognition - the recognition of your integrity, love and total selfless dedication to relentlessly fight the ego - became a reality. In the midst of the happiest and most challenging moments in my life with you, I always saw your absolute integrity - without any doubt - day in and day out, throughout the 12 most wonderful, challenging and thrilling years of my life. For this and everything you gave and are giving to us and the whole humanity -I am and will always be grateful.

I am one of those old students of yours who, when challenged to rise beyond the ego, did not want to do it. It was simply too much. As you say, I didn’t want to pay the price. So I left the community a few years ago, but I have not stopped one day to love you, respect you and be grateful to you for everything you have given me, my brothers and sisters and the whole world, for the fight you are carrying out every day in this universe. I simply left because I was not up to the challenge, I was too proud, weak and selfish to let my whole life burn in the fire of renunciation for the Sake of the Whole.

When a few years later someone showed me what some of your ex-students and my ex-friends were writing and saying about you, all the lies and the dirt they were trying to throw on you and our lives together, I was outraged, hurt and disgusted. I knew most of these people very well, and I knew what happened - with them and the whole community. I can witness without any shape of doubt that they are lying, completely distorting the truth of what happened, of what you did and what they consciously and full-heartedly embraced in a completely volitional and independent way. They are simply denying their own hearts now and what they know to have been and be the Truth. I could not believe how they could re-write history in such a distorted and aggressive way, a history which I intimately lived and shared with them, day in day out, for 12 years. If I were to be called in front of God to witness the truth I would scream with all the strenght of my heart: they are lying and the reason for their lies is simply and only because they could not stand to bear their wounded pride.

Although I am not with you right now fighting this revolution, I still love and respect you tremendously for your absolute integrity, for showing us the light and fighting against the ignorance and aggression of the ego.

I send you my regards and my love,
Francesca

What has eons of evolution brought us?  The ego!  Does anybody think we humans made it up?  Like all the other gifts of evolution: intelligence, sensation, aesthetic appreciation, to name a few, the ego just might be a good thing, or at least necessary.  Anyway, to think we can eliminate it seems deluded.  We can dye our gray hair black, but should we fool ourselves and think we’ve really changed anything? 

I’ve never met Andrew Cohen and have no idea how he teaches, but I’ve been around long enough to see other powerful teachers with truly supersized egos.  Some of them would not acknowledge it, but everybody else could see it.  After all, who is it that wants power, wants to be a revolutionary, a bodhisattva?  The ego, of course.

Tinkering with brain chemistry through consciousness experiences that as a by-product make the ego less needy and more aware and thus all right with itself, and able to consider other people’s needs and points of view is a good thing.  But ego awareness and enlightenment don’t need to be achieved by “Navy Seal” tactics that damage some people and raise pride and self-importance in others. 

Getting rid of ego?  I suggest we give up that particular delusion and leave that project to the universal wisdom that gave us ego in the first place.  Let’s work on some things we can change like: our culture, and our self-awareness, including awareness of the not-so-nice parts of ourselves, as well as our transcendent nature.

Dear Mr. Cohen and members of EnlightenNext,

My name is Christine and I have had the great pleasure and honor to recently become acquainted with some of the members of the EnlightenNext crowd in Cambridge MA. wonderful folks, generous, kind and enthusiastic.

My exposure to your teachings are limited. What I know about you and your teachings is what I have observed by being with the folks at the Cambridge facility. From that perspective...it’s all good.  However, before meeting with the group there, I did do a little on- line research about your organization and came across many of the allegations you are repudiating in this blog.

First of all, kudos to you for opening a forum to this discussion- there is amazing courage and an open, willing heart in such a gesture.

While I think there is a need and a place in this world for your organization and its work, I do respectfully take issue with some of what you present in your blog. When you say,

“And I believe that for anyone who is truly serious about the evolution of consciousness and making a real difference in this world, it will take the same. It’s neither a game nor a part-time endeavor.”

I must raise a question, is it necessary to be serious about “the evolution of consciousness” to make a “real” difference in the world? I ask this for the obvious reasons… given the plurality of human life and culture, how can anyone believe there is only one correct approach to being in the world and changing it for the better?

Now, I did not miss your point: “It’s definitely not for everybody”. However, it is clear that the intimation is that your path is the superior path, and this seems to fly in the face of your challenge to the ego. You say, “It is just too demanding for most people.” I would suggest that while it may be too demanding for some, perhaps for others, it is just not their path. The world needs a lot of healing, some of it will come by way of your organization, some of it will not, but through the creative loving hearts of other people with other visions. This is as it should be. There is no panacea.

I am all for changing the world Andrew, but I humbly bow to the millions who have come before me and the millions who will come after me, clearing the road, doing good work and improving life on this planet, here and there, each in his or her own way… it’s a wonderful goal to evolve consciousness, but a grand one. Other’s goals may be a little more simple, to live with integrity, be kind, do good, clean up their own mess. But make no mistake, the power of good, is the power of good… small, steadily burning lights may not illuminate like an explosion but they endure when the explosion has passed.

Andrew, opening a blog is a wise move. This way you can get feedback from people who are not too close or too invested. I hope it goes well.

In a day or two I will have a long post on the What Enlightenment? blog. I hope you read it and respond, although you might find it quite challenging. I will cover some of the issues you mention in this post. I intend for my article to build bridges.

In the meantime, I have an article at www.worldwidehappiness.org that should be of interest to you.

Mr.Cohen,
Having seen you and listened to your many tapes of lectures that you have given over the years,why haven’t any of your students evolved into an “enlightened state” and been tranformed as many other students including yourself when you were a disciple of Poonja.Being that you had a big falling out with your own guru years ago,how can you claim that your former students are not without warrant in regards to there own opinion which you had of your former guru Poonja?Did you resolve your differences with Poonja before his death?And why is it so difficult for you to let go of your former students and understand that evolution sometimes requires more that 1 teacher in this lifetime??

It’s easier to understand Andrew by putting the whole thing in a proper context. Andrew isn’t the only teacher in the whole world. I have never heard him even imply that everyone in the world has to come to him for spiritual enlightenment. In fact, he is very specific that if you want therapy you should go to therapy. There are plenty of other teachers around whose only goal is to make the seeker feel good. So there is no reason why Andrew should also have that goal.

I was a disciple of Osho Rajneesh while he was alive. Rajneesh also had a bad reputation because not everyone who came was willing to take their own responsibility for their results. It often felt good to be a sannyasin, but it was no easy ride to really do the work. I remember the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ very well. I know that if I had stopped and run at that point, that I could still be bitter and hurt to this day. But my desire to be free was more powerful than my desire to feel good and I took the option to break through it.  Since then I too have been told (many times) that I am mean and insensitive because I don’t have much patience for people’s endless ego needs. The tough master is a time honored figure throughout enlightenment history. So is the happy loving one. I have a good sense of humor (as does Andrew), and it seems to work out okay. . . nobody has strung me up yet.

Andrew’s work changes all the time. As an evolutionary teacher, he is a recipient of the work done by Osho’s enlightened disciples, as is the whole world. We are all also recipients of Krishnamurti, Ghandi, and on and on. Every time a group of people move forward out of their conditionings they create a new possibility for being. The change is now happening faster than it ever has before. Previous enlightenment teachers were able to stick to one teaching their whole lives. Andrew and his ‘Spiritual Navy Seals’ seem to be changing all the time. If I correctly understand what Andrew has said, they are trying something new that will make it easier for everyone else to be able to move forward to the consciousness necessary for such a large humanity to be able to live on our fragile earth. They are only concerned with the cutting edge. Our grandchildren may find what they are doing to be very easy. It may not go anywhere. A bold experiment, but not messianic.

I’m willing to hang in there and see what happens next. Ten years ago we would have never guessed that Andrew was about to start drawing the clear and succinct model of enlightenment that is now his Heaven and Hell models. One year ago we would have never guessed that his students would start creating their own teaching workshops.

This blog is the beginning of Andrew’s response to the people who got lost in their dark night of the soul, and completely forgot about the second tenet.  So this means that something is starting to grow out of the controversy. Lots of interesting things may be the result.

This comes from a reader who didn’t even know the name Andew Cohen before joining Zaadz a little over six weeks ago.

I joined Zaadz and found the ad for WIE and decided to subscribe to the magazine (Um.... still need to make a payment - haha). My first subscription of WIE came in the mail a few weeks later. After skimming through the articles, I decided to join the WIE blog on Zaadz.  Imagine my surprise to read the first blog about WIE under “Let’s Get Real”.

I’m sure there was a reason I was led to post.  I think it was a true test of my own path of enlightenment.  It was more disturbing to see so many people spending countless hours reading, and responding, and arguing their diverse opinions. But, from the heart, it was not where I wanted to put my time or energy.  It’s hard enough trying to live a good life on my own without spending my time and energy judging everyone else’s.

I’m in the middle of reading the “Power of Now” by Eckart Tolle.  Another awesome path to becoming spiritually enlightened.  The concept that rings closest to my heart, is separating the Knower from the Thinker inside of us. The Knower is kind, non-judging, accepting, forgiving, The other concept is —we own our own “stuff”.  Any pain we experience is ours to own - it belongs to no one else, ever. 

It’s not bad, it’s not good.. it just is.

I’m still on board with WIE.  The message is good—it rings true to the person I’m evolving into.  And guess what?  I’m not perfect either—I make lots of mistakes, and I fall into old habits from time to time.  I’m sure if I ever became a famous author or musician. there would be someone reminding fans that I made mistakes.  It’s all relative, I guess. 

Respectfully,
Galynne Goodwill

As a former student of Andrew Cohen, I would like to express my appreciation for Andrew coming forth in this manner and attempting to clarify his vision and set the record straight after a long silence.
Andrew’s presence and his one-pointed teaching mission are indeed a moving thing to behold and to have been a part of. He has been a source of inspiration in both the 12 years I spent with him and the 8 years apart.
I am not doubtful of Andrew’s capacity to bring great light and goodness to this world, nor do I question his courage and sincerity. In short, he “rocked my world” and was instrumental in my maturity process. I wish him and his students well and support them in their mission to demonstrate visible and meaningful change in this world.

However I respectfully question a number of judgements and decisions made by Andrew that have become, quite reasonably sources of concern and confusion for many. I take issue with any notion that being willing to be brash enough to question the notion of perfection in the teacher is necessarily indicative that one is bent on a mission to destroy the good works of the teacher. I appeal for a less polarizing view on all sides please!  I think it will do a world of good.There are many people I know who love Andrew and are deeply grateful of their time with him, who nevertheless object to the use of certain extreme tactics, not to mention question their ultimate skillfulness.
I don’t see an ultimate discrepancy or problem in a teacher remaining profoundly committed to awakening and simultaneously being capable of errors of judgement. I think such a paradigm is possible. I don’t know exactly what it would look like. What I do see as problematical is the continued unwillingness to acknowledge errors. Any living system will be ultimately hindered without a healthy feedback mechanism. I for one firmly believe that an integral spirituality requires depth not only in the form of great warmth, humility and devotion, but also in terms of a capacity for critical thinking and scrutiny. Trust and autonomy between teacher and student would seem to require all of the above.
Sent in good spirit,

Best and warm regards to all,

James

Andrew - the old saying “You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time” comes to mind. In your non-personalised state, of course you know this to be true.

You also do not need me or anyone else to validate you and your extraordinary personal integrity, as it leads you to where you want to be. You see also where the consciousness of the human race can be, if only we would be willing to change.

Those enlightened beings who came before you had their detractors too and so it will be in the future. We live amid the dualism (by our choice) and thanks to courageous beings like you, the desire to collectively pull ourselves out of the mire and create something in harmony with who we really are, becomes just that little bit easier.

I have never met you and only read one of your books and several pieces you have written elsewhere, but I recognise in you, what lies dormant in most of us.

Thank you for choosing to be who you are and for doing what you are doing.

Namaste.

Rick

Hi Andrew,

I first read words written by you about a year ago and was compelled to then attend your NYC talk in April 2006.  After I heard you talk I ‘gooogled’ you and was initially disturbed to read the contradictory reports obviously intended out of malice and anger toward you. While I was initially take aback and unsure what I should believe— I decided to remain in the moment and observe & let my own intuition guide what I was experiencing vs. what was written in these reports. 

[I also knew that many of the most courageous and greatest human beings in history who strived to make a difference and evolve the world—were ridiculed as much as they were honored. ]

I heard you talk a few times since then and I kept meeting your students --and the primary experience I had was one of integrity, autonomy, intelligence and consistency.  There is no greater gift than experiencing people living in the ‘real’ world but doing so out of a conscious, efficient & evolved space.

I continued to ponder on the disturbing material I’d read and the repeating thought that came to mind was exactly what you said toward the end of your post .. ‘connect the dots’ – I asked myself – why would anyone who was so unhappy with a teacher stay for so long? 

You do not teach blind faith or blind surrender.  The contextual element, the autonomy and the transparent observation of the discretionary mind is what compels me toward your teaching.

Through you I am learning what it means to have a practical engagement with life as a living, active, moving, breathing human mind-body organism.  To not deny that I exist with this intellect & physical body for a reason & there is no escaping it through other-worldly romantic or escapist ideology. 

You are the first teacher among many I’ve engaged with who does not hide your human-ness. Your ability to live what you teach and to constantly evolve is immensely inspiring and speaks for itself.

I’ve noticed a few people ask – why your students aren’t ‘allowed’ to go off on their own and become their own ‘independent’ teachers or why haven’t you ‘enlightened’ many more of you students the way Poonjaji did?  I think this is an inaccurate & out of context statement fed by the popular post-modern ‘enlightenment’ business. 

As someone who has done a lot of reading and research and experiential work on this subject I wanted to suggest that it may behoove those who ask this question to consider the framework form which they are asking it. What’s the ultimate goal here?  What is the meaning of individual enlightenment? & I’d ask them to explore the context of your work and teachings a bit more before drawing out-of-context conclusions.

The world needs more teachers with the courage to live what they teach – facing everything and avoiding nothing. 

Thank you so much for being exactly as you are.

Regards,
Sharda

Dear Andrew

In my own experience, and with your reflection through the piercing absolute clarity of the teachings, I have glimpsed how frighteningly subtle and pervasive the individual and collective ego can be. The extent of ego-based resistance to change, in my view, could never be underestimated. And, the degree of humility, commitment and intention needed to sustain the life that you’ve outlined is almost beyond description. While at the same time, as you explain, it is actually definitely possible. Thank-you for your reply to those sticky and deceiving comments about your work, and for providing space to respond. 

Love,
Jane

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your courage and insightfulness in creating a blog.  I have wanted to talk to you for the past two years and ask you many questions.

You speak of your marriage of 20 years in your blog.  I congratulate you on this.  A successful marriage is a true test of egolessness and submission to a higher goal; ie: being of one mind and body with your spouse.  As such, it is a reflection of enlightenment.  You value your marriage and enjoy the physical aspects of this union also.  Marriage has been recognized as the foundation of society in our world for ages.

I know you permit marriage because there are some married couples in your Fox Hollow.  My question to you is, if you value marriage and indeed enjoy its physical pleasure, would you encourage a married couple, one who wishes to follow your enlightenment teachings and the other who does not, to remain married and work out their relationship difference before before becoming your student or would you encourage them directly or indirectly to divorce? 

Since marriage encourages us to enjoy our physical bodies and you are enjoying this state, I assume that you appreciate the needs of the body. 

A “Navy Seal” approach to enlightenment training would deny the body’s needs and only focus on the spiritual portion of a person.  It could lead to extreme cases of self-abuse and self-hatred.  We are created with mind and body to function in harmony with each other. 

Of course, I agree that we cannot let our body’s cravings rule our lives.  We must keep close watch over our physical yearnings.  We should not let our mind’s cravings rule our bodies either.  We need to balance and respect our entire person: physical and spiritual. 

Even Buddah decided to change his teachings after years of trying to deny his physical body.  He returned to his mother and father and son whom he had abandoned.  He also tried to return his wife, but she could not forgive him.  He ate, drank, worked and enjoyed the gifts given him.  Can’t this be the path of the enlightened in your group too? 

An enlightened wife of 30 years and a loving mother to one of your devotees.

Dear Andrew,

I can only speak from my own experience having been a student of yours a few years back. In your presence I always felt a deep sense of trust,love, and integrity. That never waivered and allowed me to understand that it is possible to deeply trust in life and give oneself wholeheartedy for the highest possible reasons.

Others may speak against you but I can only go by my own experience. And I also am seeing and experiencing that everything you say is true. To live as an awakened human takes more than we believe is possible. And that is definately also my experience working in the world. Its extremely difficult to remain humble enough to stay awakened at all times. You have always expressed to me and others the desire to bring out the highest and deepest part of your students which I experience as love and a higher form of care for the whole. That is what I have always felt in your presence. Criticizing great and revolutionary people is nothing new. Most people don’t really want to come out of denial. And that is why there is still so much unnecessary suffering in the world.  Most of us are afraid of a love that powerful because it forces us to each be more accountable than we want to be. Once you have asked to be free for the highest possible reasons...consciousness takes nothing less...and you will not be at peace until you face that life force completely. That is my experience right now.

I am forever grateful to you and your students for giving your whole heart to this life.  It is a rare and precious jewel that needs to nurtured always.

with love
Rebecca Schaye
NYC

Rebecca Schaye, please don’t be fooled. Andrew actually riducled the word “love” and made fun of the concept of love at his most recent retreat. Get the cd of his most recent retreat and listen for yourself. He is loveless and allowed your comment to be posted because it made him look good. He wreeks of a cold, ego-filled, arrogant energy. He has in the past and continues today.

Regarding Andrew

Having attended one of his talks in Toronto several years back, It is concluded that he is the real deal.  One could only be awe struck by How big all of this really is. It is agreed that Andrews integrity and authenticity is unwavering. After reading his posts and watching one of his videos. It is noted that this type of teacher is very rare. This is an audacious task. One only hopes to achieve this in one lifetime.  We are blessed to have Andrew in our world. And for those of you who are his students you are some of the luckiest in the world. He is a gem, a pearl, a diamond in the rough.

Blessings to Andrew Cohen

Tara in Toronto

I have read your work for a few years now and as a 36 year old woman fully committed to evolutionary enlightenment I think your a blessing for us all. I lead a group of 20 or so women throughout the world and the path you set down is an inspiration. Thank you for SHOUTING, being this committed and your eloquent words and courage. It takes those of us that are called to be this courageous and our active role in building this new world is I believe like never gone before. From the 31st July we have all experienced a momentous shift internally - a complete desire to seek freedom from ourselves and all you discuss beyond the safety that we have found in union and within our relationships withmen. We are living this in our lives, we are walkking side by side in great unions, and fully committed to our individual selves actively being Evolutionary Tools. Thank you for guiding us and building with us these NEW kosmic grooves. What you speak of does exist, we are living it and we are creating a new future like never before!
Much love & energy
Sarah

Thank you Andrew, for such a full response. The care in which you meet the challenge from your detractors is moving. I feel priviliged to say that You, beyond any doubt, changed and transformed my life beyond my wildest dreams. For that I am constantly being informed of as this journey of evolution is a day to day acceleration of the celebratory promise your vision holds. And I must say, that I hold now too.
Much love, Bjorn

As someone who has never personally met or seen AC or read any of his books I cannot comment on him or his work. What I would say is that I am extremely energetically sensitive and reading both the blog and the comments left me feeling physically nauseous. I would recommend that each and every one of you who has a passionate stake in this examines whether you are contributing to that toxicity or not, bearing in mind that the Cosmic Mirror (aka the Universe) only gives back what we put out consciously or subconsciously.  So I wouldn’t worry too much about what others are doing/thinking as the place to look for resolution is inwards ...

A response to the comment from James Sullivan

Hi James, thanks for your comment above. It’s nice to see a few old students posting up here. As Andrew said in his “declaration”, it’s a relatively small group of former students who have been responsible for creating such a polarized picture, and it’s good to hear from some of the many others who have left over the years but remain supportive and connected.

I just wanted to clarify one thing that I think you may have misrepresented, or that people may get the wrong idea about. I don’t really know what perfection means or could mean in terms of human life, but I want to make it clear that Andrew doesn’t believe he is perfect. And I, as a student, don’t believe that either. Make no mistake; he is calling on all of us to reach for perfection, and aspire to great heights of consciousness, and to be ambitious in terms of what’s possible for human beings. But that’s not about being perfect; it’s about being willing to change and to evolve.

Again, thanks for your post. I just wanted to make sure no one got the wrong idea.

Carter

Andrew, you write in black and white terms e.g. friend or foe, and winner or loser, and you frame your activities as a battle and a struggle. This shows that you are a reformer and a perfectionist (see: www.enneagraminstitute.com/typeone.asp). While your intensions are good, you cannot succeed by making life conform to your ideals. If you avoid excessive perfectionism, what will be left is pure advaita plus a clean heartfelt desire to improve human life. Your words and actions will become an excellent marriage of noble goals and time-tested methods.

You ask why people join you. They fall in love with their own idealism as mirrored by you. I remember thinking, “I say I want liberation and to spread happiness, so I’ve got to go to India to see Andrew.” That is the trap. The message we get is that following our ideals means following you as it proves our “ability to respond.” Then it’s about pleasing you, rather than about liberation or spreading happiness.

You ask why people stay. People accept flawed methods because they come from an idealist. People who believe they are disciples evolving according to a guru’s guidance cannot think outside that paradigm. An experience or state is only valid as itself as it is happening, but once Andrew seizes “the ecstatic compulsion to evolve,” individuals get suppressed for his cause.

You wrote that your breakup with Papaji was “emotionally shattering.” Could it have been your idealistic projection that was shattered? You had previously called Papaji your “perfect father.” Your perfectionism does not correspond with complexly interwoven life, so if you had have swallowed the medicine life was giving you through Papaji, your perfectionistic ego would have been put in its place. Instead you recoiled and placed perfectionism higher than enlightenment. You should accept Papaji’s lying. Lying is inevitable in an unsafe world, so create a safe world like a true reformer.

You wrote, “It is the ultimate humiliation for the ego to come face to face with its own unwillingness to transcend itself.” How can the ego transcend itself? Defence and aggression arise for a good reason - find that reason, then resolution will be easy. Call off the battle with the ego. The ego protects life and our evolutionary potential. Although the ego is only a rudimentary stage of life, it is necessary. Show me someone active in the world, and without bodyguards, who is egoless.

Please understand that everyone is essentially innocent. Your critics are innocent, and you are innocent. From ego-acceptance we can progress - the higher is built on the lower.

I met Andrew years ago but he wasn’t for me...I didn’t want to get caught up in the Guru/disciple thing.
Some people find him helpful, and I am sure he is sincere but for me simplicity is the way , I don’t find the conceptual path vey attractive as for me there is no heart in it. i must confess I never understood the idea of evolutionary enlightenment as for me evolution is something time based whereas the Real, the Tao, is timeless.

You seem really sure of yourself, your thoughts are quite inspiring to me. Not having read your entire website, would you agree that GOD and Evolution are indeed apaert of the same oneness? Hope this gets answered nice and seriously! Keep up the very excellent work. Blessed be Andrew!

I have met Andrew several times, and was inspired enough to travel to Rishikesh in 1997, and though it has been years since I have seen him, I think of him nearly every day.  Last night I dreamt of him, we sat together and I was completely honest about how in my gut it just didn’t feel right for me to pursue a deeper relationship with him (the dream seemed my long-awaited opportunity to say it “in person"), and my honesty was greeted with affection and kindness, as I believe it would be in real life. 
Integrity is something that Andrew taught me, and part of that was trusting my inner knowing and being true to it.  It took some time to come to terms with ideas I had in my head about being something of a loser for not actively getting involved with EnlightenNext, but that was MY trip, not Andrew’s.  Andrew is a blazing force, and his work extends far beyond his close students.  I am very grateful for his candor, and for shaking me to the point of taking responsibility for myself and my spiritual life.  Spirit beckons in so many ways I get overwhelmed when I let it in. 
I can’t speak to people’s experiences that were less than savory, I am sorry.

Thanks for coming to me in my dream, dear Andrew.  It was nice to see you again.  I wish you and yours unspeakable joy.

Seamus Kennedy (aka James Sealander) Portland OR

Dearest Teacher,

After many years away, I know it is still and will ever be true: The Teaching is perfect. It is real. The Teaching is our true nature.

Keep going.

With deepest respect and love,
Julia

Wow Andrew!  Thank you for such an amazing piece of writing.  It’s helped me to understand more deeply what it really is that you are trying to acheive.

It always struck me since first hearing about your former students who have rebelled against you and tried to defame your character, that they were merely suffering from a wounded Ego.  I have come up against my ego time and again, believing that I now truely recognise it.  And yet I am still sent headlong by it’s apparent power and strenght.  One thing I have realised is that when the ego rears it’s ugly head, it is a defense mechanism, telling you that what you are doing is bad, wrong, harmful… This is true… for the ego!

So it’s (not) a simple matter of observing the ego and recognising it’s games… It’s much more difficult than that, and yet it isn’t.  I don’t want to appear as if I’ve got it all sewn up and have the answers mapped out.  I remain in the unknown and keep examining and exploring…

Thank you for setting the context of my life Andrew.

Much love and gratitude

Simon

Somewhere in the middle of page 4 I realized that, as a woman, I’ve experienced a huge emphasis on relatedness (as opposed to the male counerpart of competition).  So when evolutionary enlightenment requires that we dissolve the line between the ego-as-individual and the collective identity, we are being called to transcend the model of both the single Enlightened One who is followed by the masses as well as the model of the masses forever stuck in the evolutionary mud.  If we cannot all move from where we are, none of us will move as far as we might.  But neither can any one separate oneself from the masses by being too much more conscious, too far ahead, however it’s defined.  That alienation prevents precisely what is most sought for.  The relationship between people is strained in just the same way as the ego constrains the personality ... and must be attended to.  That strain of relationship may manifest as an extreme challenge to one’s integrity, even.

All of which is to say that there is a critical line of relatedness which you, Andrew, and KW seem to miss.
To call everyone forward without alienation, to stay in close relationship THROUGH the tension of accessing the evolutionary impulse .... to love each other with the same conviction as we love evolution .....  That is our human challenge.  That’s the piece of the puzzle I want to know more about, to manifest.

Dearest Andrew,

Thank you so much for your open hearted writings! I am so glad that you are finally telling your side of the story. I have known you since the second year that you were teaching in Devon, many many years ago. I remember both there and in America, seeing people get angry at your straight talking approach. You certainly challenged the new age scene back then.. I was just a nineteen year old woman who had no idea why some people were so upset with you. All I knew was that in my deepest heart of hearts I had never heard such truth singing in my heart and soul. A Timeless recognition of infinite depth! Searing truth spoke to the part of me that recognized you, and that has never changed… So much has happened since. But I have never doubted your integrity. how could I? I have known you for 20 years and you have only ceaslessly been the most caring of human beings in the true sense of the word.

I too have been totally stuck in my ego, I have left you as a student and then returned at a lower commitment level, youhave only ever encouraged me to evolve as I claimed I wanted to and even when I wanted to step down from a higher level of commitment, you continued to encourage me to do something with my life. I have lived and breathed your integrity with every ounce of my being for years and years under many different circumstances. I want to shout it from the rooftops that your detractors are so wrong, because you never said it would be easy!

Love, Ereni

A sage is known by his equanimity. In the long vale of history, you are judged not by the behaviors of those near you, but by your behavior. At any moment, you should be able to retreat into the sanctuary of the divine plane of consciousness, that you have attained. Emerging in peace, you understand that the forces of ego are strong, and cannot be taken on or cured all at once. Like the Buddha said, you have done what needed to be done. You have accomplished the task you were put here to accomplish. The world is its own problem, but you are “cured,” and growing rapidly in inner wisdom, your impact grows.

Dear Andrew, ...just to underscore Jane’s (above) succinct note:  whenever the teacher/guru/life pushes into/perturbs ego, ego fights back, with self-justification and invalidation of the teacher/guru/life.  The harder you push, the more resistance is called up.  This path takes great commitment--and even then, there is no guarantee!!  Ego hates that!  Therefore, anything you say to try to clarify your role cannot be heard by ego.  Those who would excoriate you are yet committed to their egos rather than to Self.  Keep on keepin’ on, Partner, you’re doing fine, Love.

Hi Andrew
I am aware of your teaching and have been a subscriber to WIE.  I did not know you were being attacked in the way you described.  I don’t pretend to follow your path totally, but I do know in my heart
that your path is ultimatly the ONLY WAY. Because of your teaching I sometimes succeed putting my ego aside and doing what is right. Not everyone is you, but everyone you touch can be a little of you sometimes. Everyone, a little, sometimes, I believe is a move in a good direction. I think about your teaching about the ego often and I believe it has helped me live a better life..
with gratitude
alecx in American Samoa

Hi Andrew,
Whew! What a ride you’ve experienced as a spiritual teacher,eh? Evolution ad infinitum! The good, the bad the ugly. The question is: do you and your community now fully honor and appreciate everything as Buddha, God, Love, et al; grasses, trees, those who wish harm, those who lack resolve, those who are poor of spirit and suffer from egoic delusion as well as dedicated devotees, friends and lovers? As my friend Genpo Roshi puts it: “It’s only an awakened mind that considers the folly of foolish people and wishes to bring them to liberation. The relationship between ourselves and others is as endless as our relationship with time.”

So as you continue to evolve as a teacher and community, and become awakened to more and more skillful means along the way, it’s inevitable that current paradigms of all kinds will shift or drop away, and fixations upon concepts of perfection, enlightenment, heaven on earth, intentionality, et al, will be naturally honored and naturally transcended. With the Heart fully open, what spontaneously follows is a deep, integrated “flow”, expressed as a flexible heart/mind/soul that is capable of fully embracing the merit of criticism from others, and to see it as a perfect expression of the Divine. Criticism is to be loved as much as the sweet affirming words from devotees. It is to be neither defensive or bound by old viewpoints nor to create new ones to fixate upon. It is simply to love in the biggest sense of the word which is expressed in words but is also beyond words.

If your clarity of intention as a spiritual teacher and a community is to love unconditionally, then unconditional beneficial action and a loving way of being and living will follow as a natural by-product.

Please go “all the way” in penetrating the subject of love as much as you have penetrated other teaching topics and endeavors Andrew, and come to know and express the unlimited capacity for giving and serving ALL beings. No exceptions. Not even the most egoic of the egoic, and those who have failed miserably in the past. This is true intimacy, true communion, true integration, true non-separation. And so it goes....

Blessings on the Journey!

All Love,

John Parker

Hello Andrew,

I have read through your blog. I hope to study it a
couple of more times for clarity. I have not read your website’s material until recently; but, your struggle is common to the struggle of others who strive to become a more authentic soul.

I have spiritual mentors in my personal journey and not necessarily needing the guidance of a guru, per se; but I have outgrown the influence of my spiritual mentors because they have become detracted or distracted for some reason or maybe even satisifed with where they are at. (Or maybe even initimidated by opposition)

But to me, because my heart has been idealistic and hungry, I would never see being able to get enough of God and spirituality. Openess and vulnerability of conscience become markers to other people that you are breaking free and being liberated; but, as you say, others attack or at least detract, and challenge your honesty, intergrity, and authenticity directly, because of what I believe, especially in my situation, is of unchecked jealousy, becoming malicious and damaging. This, psycholgically speaking, is probably because of their hard hearts projecting their lack of integrity and lack of liberation onto you. I just say, shake clear of it.

Through the development of my soul, even knowing that I am fallible, I pay attention to criticisms to possibly even grow through pain and suffering. My greatest teachers are my critics and I have learned alot from those “evil” people, who seem senseless because they do project unto you the opposite of what and who you truly are, I guess.

Keep up the good work!

Alan

I recall the negative reaction when one day I mentioned your name to a friend (who for the last 25 years has shared the Science of Mind philosophy).  “I met Andrew and he’s really an arrogrant guy, talk about ego!!!” Perhaps Andrew, such is the way of repution then and now.  Her comment irritated me however, not because she may be right, but because she truly has not been following your work.  Again, such is the way of other’s judgment, in particular of those who know the least.  So it is true that those of us who may be at least 20 years ahead of ourself, the pioneers of the world, the people like myslef and you who have vision beyond the present, who dare to delve into unknown territory and stand on terra firma about what they have grown to understand and believe, will suffer the most.  It is painful to be attacked!  Simply put, and forgive me for not being original, it seems to be the way the energy of fear works among the masses.  Ridicule and criticism comes out of the unhealthy ego because of the threat to the organism when a new belief or thought becomes a challenge.  But I do think in order to be a leader of any kind, ego must be strong and in tack least one crumbles before the eyes of many.  So perhaps the concept of “egoless” which, although has good intention in its purist sense, needs to be to re-evaluated.  In truth, the purpose of the ego is to help identify who we are, as either healthy or unhealthy, subjected to the drives of other’s demands or not.  And so a healthy ego thrives on impowerment from self and others.  The ego therefore must not be “less” but “more!” The ego part of self however, if connected to soul and spirit, would automatically be pridelful rather than prideless!  And in order to “evolve” our ego must be in the driver’s seat to direct, encourage, discuss, debate, and invision.  For myself, I mostly enjoy the interviews you have with others, those people who I have followed for years, or actually been part of their workshops, etc.  The new science of Enlightenment is of course not new (at least not to me) but is to the masses of today which is a good thing and thank you God.  My only problem is the anger that comes forth when I think of all the years people have criticized me or my likeminded friends for being too “way out,” or “crazy” or “woo, woo.” Why does it take so long for the general masses to catch up?” It has really been and continues to be a drag!  But I say keep up the good work Andrew but stay open and let the criticiism roll, yet declare your truth and at the same time carry your armor of defense, yet be humble.  Wow, what a balancing act.  This is the life you have chosen, it is what drives you and what must be obtained for your ego self and humanity, and for that you will be admired, but at the same time you will also be discredited.  Such is the way of those whose belief system have been challenged.  It takes time to grow and come into awareness and is easier when one has support from others.  You and I and other’s who are the frontier leaders should know that when an organism is threatened it will attack.  Such is the way of the survival of the fittist!  Stay centered in your integrity, you will need it!

Hi Andrew

Wow what a masterpiece you have been writting. !!
I have been reading this blog several times, and each time, I have learned more and more about, your teaching. And also a grewing understanding of problems with the ego generel.
But what makes an even deeper impact on me, are the way, and how your are laying the hole teaching out, in generel strokes.
It really takes a lot, to be such a open hearted person and at the same time full of integrity.

Thankyou so much
Kim

Hi Andrew,

When I first encountered your teachings in 1995, I instantly recognized what you were speaking of. Within a few weeks of looking into the question: Do I want to be free more than anything else? -I started trembling from the very ground of my being and burst into tears. While trembling inside, I was also fysically shaking allover. This happened because I experienced the implications of what that really means, and I got scared, really scared. I was scared to death and to my big disappointment, I had to admit to myself, that I was not courageous enough to actually let go and surrender completely.

Since that day, I have been off-course in many ways, trying to escape that impulse inside of me. And everytime I look at it even remotely, I feel the trembling sneaking in on me again, way beyond my control. I start crying, knowing that it´s only a few romantic feelings that I´m desperately holding on to, that prevents me from letting go fully to this malstrom emerging inside of me.

I deeply understand why your teaching might provoke extreme and desperate actions from some of your students. As you say, there is probably nothing you could or should do about it, it´s just a part of the nature of this profound teaching – it will, and should have, a radical impact on anyone, truly looking into the kind of surrender you´re speaking of. Either you do it or you run away, scared to death.

What I don´t understand though, seen in that light, is how some of your students seem to have a relaxed, feel-good kind of relationship to your teaching and to being part of your organization. I see that your teaching has evolved and changed a lot since 1995, but what happened to being deadly serious about wheter you want to be free more than anything else or not?

Anyway, thanks for being such a profound inspiration. I have the deepest respect and admiration for your courage.

runi

Dear Friend,
Yor are an open light.  I admire your courage at initiating this conversation.  You have the gift to inspire people towards the inherent meaningfulness of our existence.  I have read your books and magazine for years, and your understanding of the ruthlessness of this path is necessary and true.  Your passion for integrity is honorable.

Your sense of doership and your entanglement with success, failure and judgement however are limited and frankly disappointing.  I wish you the courage to reach deeper into the love that you are, and to live from the true and ruthless heart that holds us all.  Otherwise you are just imitating authentic ruthlessness.  You are right...this is not a game for the faint of heart.  Being awake means so much...trust it Andrew, and stop trying to lead the way with the ego which you condemn.

�Ego is the deeply ingrained, compulsive need to remain separate and superior at all times, in all places, under all circumstances. In contrast to the inherent freedom of the Self Absolute and the fearless passion of the Authentic Self, ego is experienced as an emotional quagmire of fear and attachment. It is the part of you that has no interest whatsoever in freedom, feels victimized by life, avoids anything that contradicts its self-image, is thoroughly invested in its personal fears and desires, and lives only for itself. Ego is an anti-evolutionary force of powerful inertia in human nature�attached to the past, terrified of change, and seeking only to preserve the status quo.
Ego is the one and only one obstacle to enlightenment. If we want to be free, if we want to be enlightened, we have to pay the price. The great wisdom traditions have always told us that the price is ego death, and in evolutionary enlightenment it is no different: if the Authentic Self is going to act through us as the uninhibited expression of evolution in action, then our attachment to ego must be transcended.�
Andrew Cohen

Dear Andrew,
I have to engage this position because the stakes are so high.  What part of me engages this position?  Could I possibly be wrong?  Could you possibly be wrong?  Could it be that the deeper Truth can only be known dialogically though enlightened debate & in Mutuality with other realizers.  Could it be that this ego itself is necessary for evolution to occur?  Could it be that these incessant internal wars are a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic external wars?  Maybe that is not necessarily a problem & perhaps this tension itself is in a way exactly what needs to be.  The evolutionary tension seems to be created by the very sense that �something is wrong�.  It is at the core of our very existence.  Maybe there is nothing wrong with that sense that �something is wrong�.  Maybe that Core Crux is the hallmark of evolutionary development. 

�It may sound good in theory, but the ability to recognize ego for what it is, in all its gross and often very subtle manifestations, to �accept� it and simultaneously not act out of it, requires a level of self-mastery that, to be brutally honest, is attained by very few.�
Andrew

What if this level of self-mastery were possible in the context of Mutuality?  What if the overcoming of the �ego� you speak of is a level of self-mastery that maybe none have ever achieved?

If fear, attachment, & inertia are entered into with full consciousness & not denied, suppressed, or �transcended�, perhaps they have lessons to teach & will self-dissolve as opposed to becoming split off as shadow that comes to bite you when you are not looking.  Isn�t fear of fear, fear?  Isn�t attachment to an idea of acting authentically or ridding ourselves of attachment, attachment?  Might there not be a time when the feeling of inertia is a prompt from Being that a deeper truth is at the core and our own incessant need to get away from this �inertia� is what keeps us in the quagmire?  Could it be that you are really on to something so profound & beautiful, but the communication & skillful means being used are preventing some from really getting this?  Personally, I have gained so much from your teaching & I carry your transmission with me.  I find myself constantly defending what you are doing & I think it is a crucially important piece of the unfolding of Mystery.  I am sincerely engaged with the realization of the Secret Intention.  I ask that you consider these statements.  I am drawn to your passionate & relentless inquiry.  Perhaps you could devote a future issue to the subject of Upaya & Skillful Means. 

For ALL OF US,
John

I attended your recent weekend intensive in Chicago (9/28/2007) and posed a few questions to clarify your use of the term “evolution” as compared to the mechanism known as “natural selection”. I sensed from their questions that many of the other attendees where “new-agers” who are attracted to your spiritual message and guru persona. Yet you separated yourself from the new-agers by emphasizing the rational. That worked very well for me. So in order to overcome the accusation of promoting a cult-like following, I recommend you go further into the scientific, verifiable realm (possibly through association with universities) and strengthen the number of scientific rationalists in your student body.

All I know is that when I met Andrew in person and when he spoke to me he showed me what it is to be experiencing egolessness.  His message is loud and clear he wants us to be free from the ego , totally .  Andrew thank you for you tirelessly trying to wake us up .

I have been interested in your work for quite some time and am currently studying under a spiritual guide who practices the integrity that is espoused in this writing.  I have seen people fall away, and I have been challenged repeatedly to look deeply at myself and my conscious and unconscious motivations.  Humility is a hard lesson, but so rewarding.  I am really getting to recognize the tenacious grip of ego and its fight for survival when faced with change. I am thankful for my teacher and I am grateful to you for being such a guru--one that is unwilling to compromise, knowing that compromising fails his student and his own authentic self.  I thank you for doing this work in the world and honor the power of this expressed integrity, knowing that you and your students are working on an evolutionary path that benefits me, and everyone, even though I am not personally your student at this time.

Andrew.  I just finished reading your blog, it was long like you said, but I have a much better understanding and knowing.  I must admit that some of it was a little deep for me.  I only have a 8th grade education, but I feel that my continuing to read has made it possible for me to evolve as far as I have.  I never put much salt in the written word even the Bible was full of sex, violence.and hard to understand stuff If you ask me. I could just look at you and tell what kind of man you are some things you can’t learn in a book, you just have to feel.  My mamo thats my grandmother had her sayings and she said that if you have a problem you put on a pot of beans. by the time them been are done you may have the answer and if you don’t just enjoy the beans.  I took that to mean that nothing stays the same(like that Holy man said) This to shall pass.  You just keep on keeping on, be happy and don’t worrie what others say, Our creator if it’s to be beleived showed us by example how to do it.  The rest is just find a quite place and the answer will come.  It’s people like you that make this world a better place to have our life experiences, or situations which ever you choose.  I am 54 and I seen a lot and then not so much, by others opponion, but if I spent most of my time thinking what they might be thinking I will never evolve any futher than I did in my past life situations.  I aim to get a lot futher this time.  Because if I told people half of what I beleive they would say that I lost my mind and You are much more evolved than I, I suppose.  Much love and respect Andrew.  One of your followers.  Menia Mclean.

Hi Andrew;

Thought I’d write and say keep up the good fight.

I’ve enjoyed your magazine and spent time watching your videos and feel here’s a guy with a mission. But I worry that too many may misinterpret your message and mistake the finger for the moon.

But reading your blog and some of the comments it pleases me to think that there really is a genuine interest in looking beyond the traditional dogma superstition and prejudices and building a better world. 

And as one other visionary said, we can make it, if enough of us do the work.

Cheers Pasquale

Dear Andrew,
My name is Javier Marin. I am a Middle and High School teacher. Very early in my career I have noticed that there was something unbalanced in our educational system as we know it today. Education is only oriented towards nurturing the intellect.
I am determined to start a school that will lovingly nurture all human areas: spiritual, emotional, intellectual (creative) and physical. So, I am sending this question and this concern to you and to the universe. As you many experts are going to be the same question. I open the answer to anyone who wants to bring an insight to the following question:
If you were in my position and would like to start such a school, what areas/subject would you consider essential to fulfill all four areas?
I have a strong faith that you will answer that question and I thank you from the heart for that.
Peace and blessings.
Javier Marin

I wonder if I missed Andrew’s not using the term “Spritiual Awakening” though he seems to be describing that event in spiritual development. I eschew using the term Enlightenment, now speak of Awakening as maybe the most we humans can attain. I say this even when speaking of the Dalai Lama, though he of course has achieved an extremely high degree of spiritual consciousness. We are all on a spiritual path, some further along and by conscientiously developing our spirituality, we may perhaps (big If) someday become truly Enlightenment, hopefully collectively.

That attainment of Enlightenment is not a primrose path. Andrew speaks of the difficulties, not something for wimps. For every struggle surmounted, the harder the struggle, the greater the advance, as sometimes we see in the news and in history, with great consequences both positive, sometimes at great cost to those who stand up to power.

Best regards and wishes to all on their paths!

Aloha, namaste!