We are now up to the last class in our five-week course of ‘Living Enlightenment’ and it’s been a tremendous journey for all of us. In the first class we looked at where we are as a culture generally, and a lot of our conditioned beliefs, and in the second where we are attempting to go on the path of Evolutionary Enlightenment. This means going from a post-modern ‘world centred’ perspective to one where we know we are the cosmic process itself and in no way separate from it. The last part of the course (classes 3-5) really look at the ‘how to’…the path itself. Click here to read more about it…

Over a recent long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, integral author and prominent presenter on all things integral, Terry Patten, stopped off in London on his way back to the US to have an open dialogue with EnlightenNext UK Centre managing director Chris Parish.

(To get a flavour of their exchange, watch this video clip of their introductory remarks)

Their agenda was to explore the differences and similarities between the two worldviews that are currently emerging at the leading edges of contemporary philosophy and spirituality: the evolutionary perspective and the integral perspective. I’ve been ruminating over the import and content of their conversation ever since.

What was particularly fascinating about their exchange, aside from the many particulars of what constitutes each perspective, was the underlying orientation from which Patten and Parish were responding to what was, as far as I could tell, a single new understanding of our purpose and function as human beings at this particular moment in time at the dawn of the 21st Century. Of a new human consciousness, in other words. It was as if they were each representing a dominant dimension of our existing level of understanding as a way to describe the new orientation that is unfolding. Between the two of them a new whole, I felt, was being created. Whenever one of them spoke, I was thoroughly able relate to the truth of what they were saying to my own experience yet I knew that it was something much bigger that they were both pointing to and reaching for.

Patten, as the integralist, has a truly awesome intellectual grasp of the terrain, of the integral “map,” and an impressive capacity to articulate the subtleties of integral thought. At one level, I simply enjoyed his ability to use language in such refined ways. He spoke about “structures of meaning-making” and “problematic optical illusions” and other concepts that, though perhaps not perfectly clear, did awaken a level of recognition in my own growing grasp of integral ideas. He was speaking, I believe, from having been looking carefully and closely at the world he inhabits and using his mind in new ways to make sense of what he was observing.

When Parish, the evolutionary, spoke I found myself every bit as enthralled but it wasn’t because my mind was being stretched like with Patten but it was, rather, because I found correspondences in what he was talking about with my own moments of “knowing” that transcended my cognitive reach. His “reports from the edge” were based on what he had experienced, on what he had awakened to, and from how he had developed under the guidance of his spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen. Not that there was any lack of rationality and objectivity in his words, for he, too, was a keen observer of contemporary culture, but the wellspring of positivity and the urge to create a better world that was fueling his comments activated a different part of my interest.

As they continued, they touched on points that begged for more attention and teasing apart. For example, the dual importance of action and reflection, for one. Or the tendency for belief-based inspiration to overshadow the development of more adequate perspectives. Or, even more demanding of careful attention I thought: what constitutes real care at the highest levels of development. Nonetheless, by the end of the evening, it seemed to me as if Patten was expressing a lot of evolutionary passion and Parish was definitely holding a developmental view. Perhaps in the future another moniker will emerge that expresses the ultimate unity of the two views.

There’s rumour that more exchanges between Patten and Parish are in the works. This is very good news because, I realized, what was really going on during their dialogue was the formation of the new structures of engagement with world and culture that they had recognized and were describing. Their interaction was creating the very future they were anticipating—that new integrated, evolutionarily-inspired consciousness.

We have just finished a very successful event here in Edinburgh.

Andrew Cohen delivered a fantastic talk in the presence of over one hundred people, in the immaculate venue of St Johns church on Princess St Edinburgh. In two hours Andrew laid out his Kosmocentric vision for who we are, where we have been, and where we are going. His emphasis was to engage people and encourage them to think in a much broader way by laying out the fact that we have all been produced by a cosmic process and that process is going somewhere!

He explained that in Spiritual development, peace or transcendence is only part of the picture. The emphasis in Andrews Cohen’s teaching is that meditation is not an end in itself but it’s the foundation of what he calls the new enlightenment-the awakening to the evolutionary impulse. When we have an experience of this evolutionary impulse we experience an overwhelming ecstatic sense of care for the life process that liberates us from any sense of self contraction Then the goal is to do the spiritual work individually and collectively by riding on the waves of this energy to transform ourselves out of the culturally conditioned self to become higher more integrated conscious expressions of spirit in action! After the talk – Director of Edinburgh Inter-faith presented Andrew with a tartan scarf as a memento of his trip. This was a beautiful touch.

Dr Robin Wood, founder of Renaissance2, and Andrew Cohen, founder of EnlightenNext, debate the macro-outcome of the current micro-shifts going on around the planet right now. What’s it going to be? And how is it unfolding? What role can you play in all of this?

For more information about Renaissance 2:-

Watch Kyrsten Perry’s interview with Steve Nobel from Alternatives, an organisation that hosts talks at St James’s Church in Piccadilly, London, and weekend workshops on spirituality, creativity, wellbeing and personal development. Steve speaks about his background and what led him to pursue the spiritual dimension of life. He also describes his vision for the future of Alternatives.

Ian McNay interviews Chris Parish on Conscious TV. This is a fascinating interview in which Chris reveals the sources of his lifelong interest in spirituality and pursuit of enlightenment.

Chris Parish explores two distinct types of human development – the psychological and philosophical. He explains and elucidates the differences between these two perspectives, where we are now culturally, and how we can see the world and all of life in a dramatically different way.

On 28th November I travelled up to Edinburgh to present our first EnlightenNext ‘Being & Becoming’ Seminar north of the border. I was kindly invited by the Edinburgh Integral Group (www.edinburghintegral.co.uk) and my hosts Ross & Laura gave me a whirlwind tour of the historic city on the eve of our seminar. We ended up at the top of the city with a spectacular view of the castle. As we made our approach in the chilly November night, the instantly recognisable fortress, which is perched on an extinct volcano, emerged as if by magic out of the swirling mists, lit up by an eerie blue light.

The next morning at the Salisbury Centre, which is set in beautiful organic gardens that create a peaceful haven in the middle of the city, almost twenty of us took a philosophical and experiential journey together into the stillness of Being, through guided meditations and discussion. This opened up into a fresh exploration of the timeless practice of meditation and contemplation from a 21st Century perspective.

In the afternoon, grounded by our morning’s work, we plunged into the nature of Becoming by firstly tracing the evolutionary story of the universe. Interiority, consciousness, matter and complexity unfolded over billions of years, bringing us to the present moment and the awareness of our deep-time nature while simultaneously pointing us to an, as yet, uncreated future. We ended the day with a discussion group that gave everyone a chance to participate in the most exciting aspect of Evolutionary Enlightenment—to awaken to the positivity and creativity of the evolutionary impulse, or Authentic Self, through collective engagement. The testimonials below from participants give a flavour of what transpired during the day.

Also, I’m pleased to say that, following on the success of the day, Andrew Cohen will be giving a talk in Edinburgh on 25th March. For more details see here: www.andrewcohen.org/events/

‘I walked through the door to my first workshop by EnlightenNext not sure what I would experience or find! By the time I walked out I was a lighter, happier and definitely a little more enlightened and I can’t wait to walk back! It was an exceptional day and I would recommend everyone to take the walk!’
Danielle M

‘The seminar was really beneficial, individually and for us as an evolving group and I look forward to future events.There was the experience of the mind loosing the security of ideas and concepts while being encouraged to step out into the unknown – exciting and scary at the same time making the day altogether exhilarating.’
Laura T

On Sunday 8th November over 20 people took part in a Being & Becoming Seminar at the EnlightenNext UK centre in Islington. This is what one of the participants said about the day.

“I was taken by surprise by the collective energy of the occasion: during the first meditation I experienced an extraordinary awareness of the Ground of Being that was very powerful and memorable. The small group sharing conversations were also very meaningful and helped us dive rapidly into deep and real places together.
Thank you again!”
- Jon

From the Big Bang to Self Reflection to Enlightenment

The Being & Becoming seminars are part of the Discovery Cycle that was launched with the first Being & Becoming Annual retreat with Andrew Cohen in Tuscany in August. The specific focus on the 8th was to expand the topics of our regular Tuesday evening events by deepening the experience and understanding of both the timeless ground of being and the dynamic freedom of the evolutionary impulse.

Along with my two friends and colleagues, Chris Parish and Kyrsten Perry we led the day by sharing our understanding of Evolutionary Enlightenment which comes from our combined 53 years of practice!

Through meditation followed by discussion everyone expressed their deepest, most peaceful or most meaningful discoveries. This quickly created an atmosphere of intimacy and trust, making the day very meaningful and allowed everyone to deepen their understanding of ‘Being’, taking this beyond a purely meditative experience.

Next we went on a philosophically and experientially creative journey, tracking the story of the universe as an unceasing explosion in motion of exterior and interior development. This led into a shift in perspective from seeing ourselves merely as individual human beings to seeing ourselves as the universal process self-reflecting and awakening to itself through matter and consciousness.

From this point we launched into a thrilling engagement with the creative impulse that drives us all in some way or other to create, learn, know and seek for higher meaning and purpose.

This clip below is a great example in case you are in any doubt what the creative impulse looks like!

In our final session we listened to Andrew Cohen speak on the absolute positivity and creativity of the authentic self from Gods point of view. The discussion that followed left us in a state of awe and humility at the sacred nondual nature of Being & Becoming.

Listen to the audio:

More testimonials

“It’s amazing to contemplate life’s deepest and most meaningful questions, having our own humanity in the very middle of the inquiry, with others in such an open and authentic environment. Everything that a sensitive and relatively sophisticated post-modern westerner has learnt in terms of what’s true and real can be contextualised, strengthened and taken further with others on these days…and absolutely with a good dose of personal inspiration and life positive spirit!!”
- David

“The day was a good and accessible introduction to the Discovery Cycle using the basic structure of EnlightenNext’s Tuesday night meditations but gave us a chance to go much deeper, especially when we broke into groups of five or six. This ‘experiential’ aspect of the seminar – the chance to engage intersubjectively with the others and the leaders – is where the real value lay for me. We practiced speaking about the ground of being and the evoluionary impulse, and then practised speaking from them, which made for the most interesting shift of the day for me. Attempting to speak as the evolutionary impulse really helped bring home to me the no-separation between what we are doing and what we are.”
– Andrew P

“I experienced real moments of deep connection beyond ego. It stirs within me a compelling focus to grow this consciousness together, with the collective passion I witnessed between us all! A moving event.”
– Mark