The following was submitted by Sonia Davidson:

The Meditation&Evolution meetups on Tuesdays at EnlightenNext in Islington really are enlightening! I attend as many as I can as we are in the midst of a 20-week course based on Spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen’s Being & Becoming retreat held in Tuscany last August. After spending 10 sessions on ‘Being’ we are now exploring the ‘Becoming’ dimension of Evolutionary Enlightenment which is about awakening to Spirit as the evolutionary impulse.

These evenings are led by Patrick Bryson who is a senior student of Andrew Cohen. He always begins with an introduction to the topic for the evening followed by a short audio clip by Andrew Cohen. Patrick explains and guides us in a short period of meditation where we learn about the always subtle practice of letting go of everything. I am amazed each week by how the meditation is always very still, deep, ever-new and rejuvenating, even though many of the participants hardly know each other!

Through practicing letting go of everything in meditation, we then transition into a lively, passionate and engaged discussion on the the theme for the evening. The subtley and profundity that is revealed as everyone shares their experience really deepens the individual and the groups understanding! And the discussion always overflows into the delicious, light vegetarian supper that is served afterwards.

I find the weekly Meditation&Evolution meetups invaluable as they are a weekly source of inspiration. Each time I delight in the joy of discovering who I really am and in sharing this deep experience with the other participants who attend.

A very big part of the transformational process, from the perspective of evolutionary enlightenment, is going back to before the beginning and discovering a source of pure motivation that is uncorrupted by ego. In this week’s podcast from the Tuesday Meditation+Evolution evenings at EnlightenNext we hear from Andrew Cohen introducing the subject, and from Patrick Bryson as he tackles questions ranging from the true nature of intuition and motivation, a victimised vs. non-victimised relationship to life, and how discovering this deep source that is within us all relates to the global crisis we are in.

This week we kicked off the Becoming section of our Tuesday night Meditation+Evolution programme. The topic was Emergence. As Andrew Cohen describes, “Emergence means creating the conditions for higher potentials that never existed before to enter into time and space”. This week’s podcast centers around a discussion when a gentleman asks Patrick Bryson whether this emergence is actually a new thing, and this opens up a fascinating look at what it really means for us now, and also brings light to the very definition and perspective we have on Culture itself.

During last Tuesday’s Meditation+Evolution evening, Chris Parish, MD at EnlightenNext UK, gave us an insightful evolutionary view of the history of Non-duality. The most poignant insight he gave is that only in the last few decades has meditation been associated with stress relief. Throughout the history of human civilisation, meditation has always been about the very serious business of Enlightenment. You can listen to our first podcast supporting the Tuesday evening events.

Yesterday in London, I traveled with friends Blake Ludwig, Ann-Mari Freebairn and Alan Smith to film us meditating near the protest site at St Paul’s cathedral. With specially designed “Occupy Zero” sweatshirts the three of us sat down motionless in the midst of a chaotic and restless demonstration scene.

What happened then was really miraculous and unexpected. First of all, we all experienced in a similar way the sense of going very deep into stillness and ease very quickly when we sat down to meditate. It was like a magnetic pull compelling us to let go and be completely undefended in an unusually profound way. This seemed to cause somewhat of a scene in and of itself, as nearly everyone else was running around and quite agitated – the protest rally was just about to take off down the street as hundreds gathered forces at the steps of the cathedral. So the pure fact of being completely still caused us to stand out enormously! Apparently 20-25 people took photos of us during this relatively short sitting period as well. Secondly there was the very strong sense of community and good will amongst everyone there, even with the police. People were very interested in what we were doing, asking us what “Occupy Zero” was all about, and even wanting to know where to buy the tops we were wearing. This was a great opportunity to speak about meditation, the benefits of practising it for ourselves and the people around us, and also the 24-hour meditation marathon that EnlightenNext is hosting on 10th-11th December.

It was an interesting experience being there as I could feel the excitement of change in the air and people caring for our future. What was fascinating was how inclusive it was. We were totally embraced and even applauded for our efforts for standing behind this “Occupy Zero” cause. There wasn’t a hint of suspicion, or judgment from people– we were all one group of people together wanting to make a difference. The Occupy movement globally feels like a response to a system that isn’t working. What’s amazing about it is to see that people, to varying degrees, only seem to have a small part of the bigger picture, and many groups are jumping on the bandwagon so to speak about all sorts of issues, but that together the call for change comes from a care to create a better future for us all– which is really wholesome! The pace and complexity of life seems to be quickening and deepening everyday. The problems we face are enormous and overwhelming as a species – everyone knows this. What we do need is a new and fresh way to approach them, a way of working together and responding from a deeper and freer place to find creative solutions – to find a way beyond separation from and fear of the life process and each other. This is what the sincere practice of meditation can open up for us.

Join us on 10th December for the 3rd Annual EnlightenNext Meditation Marathon – so we can “Occupy Zero” together, for a brighter future!

And you can view the video we made here:

This blog was submitted by Carole Chapman:

As I left the busy noisy streets of Islington and entered the EnlightenNext Centre a wave of calm came over me. As soon as I stepped through the door I felt a sense of homecoming, a sense of peace. I’m here for this week’s Meditation+Evolution evening – and the topic tonight is ‘Practising the art and science of stillness’.

Patrick, a long time student of Andrew Cohen, commenced the evening with a reading from Andrew’s latest book Evolutionary Enlightenment, where he speaks of our deepest inherent nature as being free and the mind as a mechanical process.

Together we meditated. Almost instantly I was aware of the stillness in the room, the stillness of my body and the stillness I am inside. It seems each week I attend the more profound my experience… I was drawn to go deeper… touching depths unknown to me when I meditate alone.

The following discussion, the evolution part, brings forth a unified awe at the freedom and peacefulness obtained by assuming the posture of stillness.

We then listened to a short audio taken from day 10 of this year’s ‘Being’ Retreat in Tuscany. Here Andrew explains that our felt experience of meditation is irrelevant… it is irrelevant whether our experience is good or bad. Noble effort is what is important. His words reminded me of what I have written on my wall at home, ‘Every ounce of noble effort is sacred’ and that my deep desire is to live a sacred life. Again Patrick led us into meditation. The stillness was liberating.

As we moved from the meeting room to enjoy a delicious light supper there was an agreed sense of not wanting to speak but to remain with the stillness and peace. Soon we let that go and joy with laughter permeated our rich conversation.

I have found that the shared Meditation+Evolution evenings not only support my personal practice, they overflow into my week. As I walk in my local woods I contemplate the strength and stillness of the trees, rediscovering oneness. The oneness of my inner and outer experience.

This blog was submitted by Peter Cloudsley:

The regular Tuesday Meditation+Evolution evenings at EnlightenNext are already a fixture in my week as they have helped my meditation to go deeper. For example, last night I had a dream that I was attempting a major project and at a critical moment, a new sense of self confidence came over me telling me it was all perfectly possible.

This came after Tuesday evening when we explored ‘Ultimacy’ – in the context of meditation this means the experience of infinity. Patrick Bryson, who leads the events and guides us, always encourages us to talk about our experience of meditation after the weekly sessions. At first I found it very difficult, even unanswerable, but now I see the point of this inquiry and ask myself this question frequently as this helps me to stay alert and to go much deeper. Also, I am learning what non-duality means – in that we can see meditation as both a means and a goal, and I am beginning to relate these insights to the whole of my life.

Last Tuesday, I shared that I had always felt a yearning in life to ‘be up to something’ beyond day-to-day activities and even work that I loved doing. Here I was seeing that a guide was coming from a deeper part of me accessed by the experience of ultimacy. Someone else said she felt this when she used to work as an environmental activist, but disagreements in her group had caused her to lose interest. Perhaps her comrades did not appreciate the need for ultimacy to unite them.

The discussion moved on to the relevance of meditation as a ground for cultural change and someone said that if culture was always evolving, why had there been retrogressive periods of fascism and right wing ideology? There are indeed dead ends in evolution too and we can learn from them when we are clear about the need to move beyond the divisive conflicts born out of the egoic self, i.e., a primary assumption of separation from life.

Someone else said there were limitations when one simply tried to do the ‘right’ thing. This person had tried it and found it could lead to conflict with others. By the end of the evening there was a tangible sense that we had moved forward as a group. We were discovering a sense that culture could move forwards consensually in spite of all our differences, if we come from the same spiritual ground.

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Next Tuesday (22 Nov) we’ll be exploring the art and science of stillness

This blog was submitted by Andrew Poulson:

I’ve been coming to the Tuesday night ‘meditation and evolution’ evenings at EnlightenNext for a couple of years now and find them an opportunity to explore in depth and detail significant aspects of the nature of Enlightened Awareness.

In an audio clip we listened to this past week, spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen suggested that if we go deep enough into our own Selves during meditation, we can discover the ground of our own being, and that one of the distinguishing features is its infinitely compelling nature. By this he means that the more you put your attention on that ground, the more you are drawn to go deeper.

My experience of meditating at the Tuesday meetings usually bears this out. I inevitably find a kind of ‘field’ of consciousness opens up for me. Most of the time I feel as if I am in this field, and occasionally there is a shift – I begin to identify myself AS consciousness, which has the qualities of spaciousness and connectedness simultaneously. It also has a visceral quality, which can even feel quite uncomfortable at times, and to remain in that field requires a willingness to surrender to IT. But I find this ground does have a compelling nature. When the group comes out of meditation I often feel a desire to keep going.

The discussion that follows is generally considered the ‘evolution’ part of the evening. Patrick Bryson, an experienced student of Andrew Cohen, leads the discussion and helps participants enquire into and tease out the details of their experience during meditation. As people give voice to and make distinctions about their direct experience, a sense of movement is created – the qualities of spaciousness and connectedness persist during the discussion, but take on a new heightened quality.

As with the meditation part of the evening, I find that a surrender is required of me in order to stay in that flow, and I don’t always succeed. But when I do, and feel really plugged in, I notice an intense interest in what is about to unfold. This is not about a psychological expansion, in terms of learning new information. There is something else going on, and it can also be felt on a visceral level.

Often I leave feeling as if I have really gone somewhere in consciousness I haven’t been before, and somewhere that I would not have been able to go on my own.

I love bonfire night because it reminds me vividly of the evening when I discovered meditation for the first time 31 years ago. I had already been practicing a form of meditation, which I picked up from a book but not much was happening because I didn’t really know what I was doing. I did somehow know intuitively that there had to be a more meaningful way to BE rather than the confusing time I was currently having as a young adult.

What made this evening so memorable (in addition to the fireworks within and without!) was that I’d discovered a group of people interested in meditation who were being guided by someone with experience. This was so priceless and I no longer felt in a club of 1, which was the case up until then. I felt the permission to let go inwardly for the very first time.

A lot has happened since then and my understanding of how to meditate and its purpose has deepened significantly but when the door to one’s inner world opens for the first time it is usually a dramatic experience and a very important and meaningful occasion. So finding a conducive environment with good guidance is very important as it can be difficult to progress on one’s own and make objective sense out of the experience.

There are many different ways and reasons to meditate and on our regular Tuesday evenings at EnlightenNext we are continually exploring the most important aspects. This means learning how to discover an infinite source of confidence that is not dependent on anything outside ourselves and how this discovery provides a unique origin for new and creative ways of relating to life and others.

See you on Tuesday evening 7:00-9:00pm. Feel free to attend one or as many sessions as you like; the door is always open!

For weeks now we have been collectively inquiring  into the importance of meditation and what we find when we have no relationship to the content of consciousness. This Tuesday evening we went further. Patrick Bryson led us in a discovery of Non-Duality and the incredible significance of recognising that there is only One, not two.

We listened to an audio by spiritual teacher and philosopher Andrew Cohen taken from his summer retreat in Italy, in which he taught that when we discover non-duality there is no longer fear, because we realise there is only One without a second. In that realisation there is nothing to be afraid of because there is only One.

The ensuing dialogue was very illuminating. I was particularly struck that, from this discovery of non-duality, we can allow all of our human experience to be present; in this bigger context there is nothing to be afraid of. In fact this is the very way that we evolve – by choosing to allow all of our experience to be present, we then have the freedom to consciously make new choices in how we respond and act. It has stayed with me through the week and I’ve found at times I’m not trying so hard to control my experience and instead becoming more interested in what my experience actually is.

I’m looking forward to our next evening dialogue (Nov 1) when we’ll be looking into the topic: The Best Vacation You’re Ever Going to Have – Only in a context of absolute withdrawal from engagement can you be free of all problems.