Charles Eisenstein

I will give you some of my background, although the intense transitions of the last few years have left me feeling like a new person. I was born in 1967 and was a very sensitive, intellectual and dreamy child. I was always consumed by questions like, "Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?" "Where am I going?" so of course, embedded as I was in a culture that sees science and reason as the source of truth, I tried to "figure out" the answers. I graduated from Yale University with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, but my development of reason and intellect brought me no closer to any truth I really cared about.

I didn't know what I was searching for, but I knew that none of the usual options life presents a Yale graduate attracted me. I went to Taiwan, learned Chinese, and soon found myself working as a translator. I spent most of my 20s there, educating myself broadly in Eastern spiritual traditions. I also read voraciously: books on health, nutrition, physics, and biology. Translation led to other business opportunities, and I became familiar with this dimension of the human experience. In Taiwan, I met my dear friend and ex-wife Patsy, with whom I have three children, all boys.

In my late 20s I entered what was to be a long period of intensifying crisis. It started when all my professional work became intolerable. It became excruciating to do work I didn't care about. Even though a million reasons told me why it was irresponsbible, impractical, and foolish to quit, I eventually could not make myself do it anymore. An irrepressible feeling, "I am not here to be doing this!" took control of my life. So I entered a long period of searching. I spent time teaching yoga, learning about herbs, and teaching at Penn State's department of Science, Technology, and Society. All of these endeavors have contributed to my present and future, but none were really me.

These last five years have been much like a birthing process. The old world has dissolved, and the contractions birthing me into the new have taken the form of a collapse of all that I once held onto. Crises in health, marriage, and money forced me to let go of a "life under control". In my helplessness, I accepted help, discovering a generous universe that has always met my needs, somehow, in unexpected ways. I have never made much money, but I have become rich in connections to other people. Friends and strangers from all over the world write to tell me how my books have affected them; they sustain my faith and nourish my passion for my work.

Today I am fully devoted to work I love. Before The Ascent of Humanity I wrote The Yoga of Eating, and my most recent book, really a booklet, Transformational Weight Loss, applies the deep ideas of Ascent to a very specific crying need. I am now working hard on a new book, Sacred Economics, as well as monthly essays on Reality Sandwich.

An exciting recent development is that I have joined the faculty of the Health Arts and Sciences program at Goddard College. I never thought I would feel so at home in an academic setting. Well, it really isn't academic in the traditional sense. The educational model is very radical: self-directed learning in a holistic context. I mean, self-directed for real. My role for the student is to read, to listen, to respond, to hold container, offer resources, to mirror, to mentor.

I also give seminars and workshops. I love to share the gifts I have been given with groups small and large, from tiny informal gatherings to major conferences. My work focuses on two areas: holistic health, and the transformation of human consciousness and civilization. These two areas are intimately related. Many of our health crises today are the somatization of maladies on the civilizational level. I am especially excited about the Living in the Gift seminars I've developed in relation to my work on money and economics. New Warriors founder Bill Kauth and I are developing it into a four-day initiatory experience that we will not copyright or trademark, but give away so that it can spread virally in this time of need.

I am pleased to communicate with anyone who approaches me with a sincere desire to communicate, so go ahead and send me an email. So far I manage to respond to all letters (some slip through the cracks) and I will continue to do so as long as I can.