Notes from the Revolution

July 30th has become, for me and my international body of students, the most sacred and holy day of the year, because it was on that day in 2001 that the miraculous evolutionary nature of enlightenment beyond the individual burst forth for the first time. (read more about July 30, 2001) This year, as we celebrated July 30th, I was proud to be able to say that five years later, not only is that surge of egoless consciousness that is the Authentic Self continuing to evolve and express itself through our work together, (read recent student accounts) but that the most significant aspect of that development is a dramatic leap forward recently taken by many of my women students.

While ultimately, in a teaching of enlightenment, the leap that needs to be taken beyond ego is the same for both men and women, more often than not it seems that the approach to that leap may need to take into account the very real differences in the biological and cultural structures that are associated with one’s particular gender. In the two decades that I’ve been teaching, I’ve had the opportunity to closely observe many hundreds of men and women and the different ways they respond to the call for liberation and the challenge of evolution beyond ego.

It became apparent to me a long time ago that the ego locates itself in gender identification in the same way that it will identify with just about any aspect of the self in order to be able to see its own reflection. I observed that any kind of excessive or selfconscious identification with the fact of gender or sexual orientation, in men or women, resulted in an exaggerated, unnatural expression of gender in and through the personality. If enlightenment is “the natural state,” then the all-important question arises: What is the natural and unselfconscious expression of gender or sexual identity? What would our world be like if as men and women we were not in denial of our gender and the actual differences that exist, but at the very same time were not unduly identified with the arbitrary fact that we happen to have been born in a male or a female body? In other words, what would be the natural, unselfconscious, egoless expression of gender and sexual orientation? This potential, which I have called “liberation without a face,” has intrigued me for many years. I am endeavoring to give birth to nothing less than a new culture of enlightenment—a shared, intersubjective context or field of consciousness beyond ego, in which gender identity and sexual orientation would begin to appear, maybe for the first time, unencumbered by any false notions of self. Finding out what that would actually look like, for men and for women, has been an important part of my teaching work.(read teaching)

When it comes to women, an essential building block for the creation of that new culture would have to be liberation from the fundamental and deeply held belief that fullness, wholeness, completeness, safety, and security are to be found in relationship with men. For the last twelve years I have been trying desperately to inspire and compel women to become interested in real freedom—in embracing a radical autonomy that would free them from the unrelenting compulsion to seek for security and safety in the traditional roles of mother, lover, wife, and compassionate, caring other. The liberating truth of nonduality, that there is no other, must be embraced by both men and women if we’re ever going to be able to lay the foundations for a truly enlightened culture beyond ego. The evolution of culture is the evolution of the intersubjective context of our human relationships. So an enlightened culture would be one in which the very ground or context in which we come together was nothing less than the liberating truth that there literally is no other. And the access to that truth, for woman, lies in her capacity to embrace a level of autonomy that is truly radical, one that would, by its very nature, initiate a passionate yearning for freedom beyond relationship.

As of late, this passion has burst forth like wildfire. (watch new video: “A New Women’s Liberation”) It has taken a relentless and unyielding effort on my part to catalyze such a shift in women’s fundamental nature. A truly revolutionary impulse is a rare thing. Most of us—men and women—are all too ready to compromise and fit in rather than to strive to create a thrilling and truly meaningful life. And even though it is rarely part of women’s nature or culturally inherited role, the creation of an enlightened future is entirely dependent upon at least a few women being willing to be real revolutionaries.

The battle to create the future now is a constant endeavor and a relentless practice of total and unconditional engagement with the life process at the very leading edge of what’s possible. This is the life that I live and that I ceaselessly welcome and simultaneously compel others to live with me. Many wonderful, thrilling, and significant advances are occurring here on a daily basis and will be documented soon on this site. There is so much to share! Stay tuned . . .

Read women’s descriptions of this new liberation in women’s consciousness.

“Gender, Enlightenment, and the Evolution of Culture” Read a teaching by Andrew Cohen.