Embracing Heaven & Earth: The Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen

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Embracing Heaven & Earth: The Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen By Andrew Cohen

Reviewed by Tom Huston

 

It's the same everywhere: people raised by materialists, living as materialists, and perhaps passing to future generations, if only indirectly, the cultural creed of superfluous hungering for things of all sorts to ease a day's desire. You're guilty of it, and so am I. You've come here, to this page, looking for something. Very likely you're interested in spiritual matters, perhaps consider yourself a "seeker," and have heard of this new book by Andrew Cohen and decided to check it out, to see (if you're undecided) whether it's worth buying. I promise you that it is, but no doubt similar sentiments can

be found alongside every other five-star review for each of the many spiritual books you already own.

This book holds the highest honor of being both the simplest and most challenging book I've ever read. Simple in style and language, challenging in meaning and persistent imperative, this most flawless transmission of spiritually awakened genius should give any serious reader precisely all that he or she need ever know to engage the war against selfishness and ignorance wholeheartedly.

Regarding the actual content of the book, everything significant that every truly mystical religious tradition has ever conveyed is here, in both practical and philosophical aspects. The first half is devoted to the foundation of Andrew's teaching, called the Five Tenets of Enlightenment, which are the essential points that any spiritual seeker must thoroughly grasp and employ if his or her goal is the attainment of perfect liberation. These five tenets Andrew has culled from over a decade of incessant work as a teacher, and a well-read student of mysticism should easily recognize the parallels in established religious traditions.

The second half of the book deals with such perennial topics as seeing through the illusions of desire, thought, feeling, and time, so clearly that anyone brave enough to listen can't help feeling their ego squirm a bit, and there's also an excellent chapter on meditation (and how to sink to the nondual Ground of Being absolutely effortlessly, Dzogchen-style), which, if successfully engaged in serious practice, should do far more than make the ego squirm. . . .

But the really revolutionary and important point of Andrew's teaching isn't in his remarkably clear explanations of how humans continuously revolve in the samsaric wheel of foolishness (and how they can stop); it isn't in his insistence that the pursuit of freedom take precedence above all other concerns in all times and places (although that's certainly a big part of it); nor is it his unceasing demand that spiritual practice is meaningless if it is expressed in any context outside a life of absolute maturity, sanity, and integrity (and how many spiritual seekers--teachers, even--can claim strict adherence to that?).

No, the really revolutionary ingredient in Andrew's recipe of ego-destruction is his definition of enlightenment itself. Too many people these days seem to consider this world to be nothing but an elaborate illusion, an empty dream called negatively "maya" or positively "lila." And deliberately or not, they proceed to use this as an excuse to justify every manner of selfish indulgence and, occasionally, atrocity. Andrew does not deny that the revelation of pure consciousness suddenly makes clear that nothing has ever really happened, that this world is ultimately a dualistic dream of space and time, this and that, you and me. But--and this is what changes everything--he does not stop at that. He insists that this "dream" called life is as real as it gets, and that using the discovery of the Source of creation to dismiss the validity and actuality of creation itself completely misses the whole point of

creation--which is nothing less than for every soul to become a conscious instrument of the Absolute, unleashing "the fire of absolute love and ego-defying compassion into this world," thereby flowing in tune with the force of evolution itself and helping this suffering sphere in every way that one possibly can.

What more could you hope for? It's all here, clear as a cloudless mountain sky, and no matter how many books you buy, you'll never find anything better. Embracing Heaven & Earth: The Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen http://www.xploreheartlinks.com/bkreview.htm