Charles Eisenstein #535

This was a beautiful, deep, and inspiring conversations with one of the great minds alive in the world today. Charles Eisenstein (check out his books!) shares his wisdom here on a wide range of topics and with great eloquence. I love the way he is able to take a different view and perspective on so many of the challenges and solutions we are currently grappling with as a collective. This one is a real treat.

Special thanks to Father Richard Rohr for suggesting Charles, and to Lissa Rankin for bringing us together with such grace.
In His Own Words…
How much should I share in a public bio? It’s a bit of a dilemma. I could just give you the sanitized version, like one would put on a resume, and you would feel its insincerity. On the other hand, I am hesitant to expose myself too much to total strangers (no offense). So I’ll do my best to share what might provide helpful context for this site.

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.

My quest had an emotional dimension as well. From an early age I sensed a wrongness in the world. Sitting in a classroom doing worksheets, part of me rebelled. “We are not supposed to be doing this! It isn’t supposed to be this way.” It was a half-formed thought, embedded in a cloud of indignation and bewilderment. This perception, abetted by a growing awareness of ecological devastation and social injustice, prevented me from whole-heartedly embracing a normal career.

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 (though not at all rigorously – it was more through osmosis) in Eastern spiritual traditions. I also read voraciously: books on health, nutrition, globalization, spirituality, 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. I am since remarried and have a fourth son. No one ever told me the procedure for making girls.

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 irresponsible, 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 did a yoga teacher training and discovered I definitely didn’t want to teach yoga. I taught at Penn State University in a very marginal position – my official job title was “temporary employee type 2” – and reaffirmed my aversion to academia. And I stayed at home a lot taking care of our little boys.

What did I want to do? I was 36 and I still didn’t know. Nor had I answered my lifelong question: What is the origin of the wrongness in the world? Then one day both questions were answered at once, when the answer to my question crystallized inside me.