When Shadow Meets the Bodhisattva: The Challenging Transformation of a Modern Guru

Insights from a renowned spiritual teacher’s intense soul-searching after the dramatic collapse of his spiritual community

- Explores the rise and fall of the author’s organization EnlightenNext, including his own responsibility for its failure, and the lessons he learned, such as the need to deal thoroughly with one’s shadow for continued spiritual growth

- Presents wisdom from the author’s discussions with spiritual leaders, including Ken Wilber, Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi, Steve McIntosh, Terry Patten, Doshin Roshi, Sally Kempton, Philip Goldberg, Jeffrey Kripal, and Patricia Albere

- Shares a new vision for the spirituality of tomorrow

After his very public fall from grace in 2013, renowned spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen vanished from view and underwent a dark night of the soul. After years of intense introspection and soul-searching, Cohen shares his insights into the failure of his organization EnlightenNext, including his own responsibility for its downfall, as well as a new vision for modern spirituality based on the wisdom of the lessons he learned.

The author details his spiritual initiation, his rapid rise to guruhood, the explosive growth of his spiritual community worldwide, and then--right at the height of its spiritual and creative emergence--its dramatic collapse, which left his students lost, bitter, angry, and confused. He shares his gripping spiritual odyssey from the heights of illumination, down into the existential ashes of failed aspirations, to the underworld of inner darkness, and back again into the light.

Building upon the lessons he learned, including the need to deal thoroughly with one’s own shadow, Cohen explains the necessity of the guru in spiritual practice, while also exposing the dysfunctions of the traditional guru-disciple model. He shares insights from his discussions with spiritual leaders, including Ken Wilber, Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi, Doshin Roshi, Jeffrey Kripal, and Patricia Albere, revealing how the issues he faced are profoundly relevant to the spiritual community as a whole. He also shares how his teachings have evolved and sheds light on the art of communicating beyond ego and unleashing the co-creative power of our shared collective intelligence--the key to initiating enlightened change in a world in crisis.

Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher and founder of the global non-profit EnlightenNext and EnlightenNext magazine. After the collapse of EnlightenNext in 2013, Cohen took several years off from public teaching. In 2020, he and a group of collaborators launched Manifest Nirvana, a virtual spiritual meeting place. The author of several books, including Evolutionary Enlightenment, he lives in India. Hans Plasqui is a writer and spiritual seeker. He has studied with several teachers, including Ken Wilber and Saniel Bonder, as well as doing graduate work in Integral Studies at JFK University. The author of Sincerity Uncompromised, he lives in Belgium.