Charles Eisenstein (born 1967) is an American public speaker and author. His books include The Ascent of Humanity, Sacred Economics, and The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.
Eisenstein's work covers a wide range of topics, including the history of human civilization, economics, spirituality, and the ecology movement. Key themes explored include anti-consumerism, interdependence, and how myth and narrative influence culture. According to Eisenstein, global culture is immersed in a destructive "story of separation", and one of the main goals of his work is to present an alternative "story of interbeing". Much of his work draws on ideas from Eastern philosophy and the spiritual teachings of various indigenous peoples.
Born in 1967, Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy. He lived in Taiwan for nine years, where he became fluent in Mandarin Chinese and worked as a translator.[2] He married there, had children, and later returned to the United States. He describes his late 20s through his mid 30s as "a long period of intensifying crisis". During this time, he held short-term positions as a construction worker, college instructor, and yoga teacher, but spent most of his time as a stay-at-home dad. He then spent four years writing The Ascent of Humanity, which was published in 2007 and became his first commercially successful book, launching his writing career. Eisenstein has four sons; one with his current wife, Stella, and three with his previous wife, Patsy.[3] He currently lives in Rhode Island, New England.[4]
Eisenstein has published op-ed pieces in The Guardian and The Huffington Post on topics including genetic modification, the patenting of seeds[5][6] and debt.[7][8] He is a contributing editor at the website Reality Sandwich.[9] He appeared on Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Sunday on July 16, 2017.[10] He has periodically published essays on his website[11] and on Substack.[12]
On May 15, 2023, Eisenstein announced that he had taken an advisor's position in the campaign of then-Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[13] In that capacity, he participated in a fundraising event, held June 27, 2023, bringing together several prominent activists, such as Mikki Willis, Sayer Ji, Del Bigtree, Sherri Tenpenny and Joe Mercola.[14] According to federal election filings, Eisenstein was paid as much as $21,000 per month for his services.[15]
Writings
The Ascent of Humanity
The Ascent of Humanity, published in 2007, draws together Eisenstein's thoughts about the history of human civilization. It explores the development of what he calls the "separate human realm", drawing distinctions between hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies. In Eisenstein's view, a greater sense of separation from nature began with the emergence of agriculture and has been accelerating to the present day.
Other themes include the role of various languages, mathematics, art, religions and other symbolic systems to structure subjective reality at the levels of the individual and of culture. He argues that these have a strong, largely unconscious effect on attitudes toward time and the natural world.
It was read on the Unwelcome Guests radio show and the reading was later released as an audiobook.[16][17]
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible was published in November 2013.[30] It argues that many of the social, economic, political, and environmental problems covered in his earlier works can be traced to an underlying worldview that he calls the "Story of Separation"—that humans are separate from each other and from the rest of the natural world. A new story that is emerging, the "Story of Interbeing", is a "story of the world that we really care about". The book describes this as a time of transition between these stories: "Internally, it [the transition] is ... a transformation in the experience of being alive. Externally is it ... a transformation of humanity's role on planet Earth". He deconstructs the old story while describing the new. For example, the best way to interrupt the story of separation is to give someone an experience of non-separation. Publishers' Weekly described it as "a revolutionary and interactive book—in the sense that it inspires the reader to think out of the ordinary", adding that Eisenstein "will be noted in antiquity as one of the seminal and pioneering storytellers of this new world".[31]
Climate—A New Story
Climate—A New Story was published in 2018. It is described as 'flipping the script on climate change', and addresses the framing, tactics and goals of our approach to environmental issues. Eisenstein proposes that if we were to feel that the rivers, forests, and creatures of the natural and material world were sacred or at least valuable in their own right, then our response might be more wholesome and ultimately effective. He decries valuing the living world simply for its carbon credits or for preventing the extinction of one species or another.[32]
The Coronation
In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Eisenstein published a viral essay called "The Coronation" on his website.[33] In this essay, he argued that the nascent global pandemic presented an opportunity for collective spiritual transformation, if systems of political, medical, and informational control are resisted. Over the course of the pandemic, he wrote several more essays on his website and on Substack expressing vaccine skepticism, questioning public health measures such as masking, social distancing, lockdowns, vaccine passports and vaccine mandates. He also expressed ongoing concern that the pandemic was being used as an excuse for governments to act in an authoritarian manner, and drew on René Girard'smimetic theory to argue that those who chose not to be vaccinated were being scapegoated by society and government authorities. Eisenstein's positions on Covid-19 vaccines and public health measures led his publisher, North Atlantic Books, to part ways with him in 2021. Chelsea Green Publishing later published these essays in book form as The Coronation: Essays From the Covid Moment.
Reception
In 2013, journalist and author Rory Spowers described Eisenstein as a "refreshing new voice", saying that he is young, fresh, well-informed, humble but articulate, with a very spiritual perspective. He added that Eisenstein is too intelligent to be confrontational but that, through his works, especially The Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics, "he's really moved the whole thing along in a number of ways".[34] Eisenstein was influential in the Occupy Movement.[24][35]
In March 2020, Eisenstein became a leading COVID dissident, beginning with the viral success of an essay called "Coronation."[36] In the essay, which was tweeted out[37] by Jack Dorsey, Eisenstein argued that the nascent global pandemic presented an opportunity for collective spiritual transformation, if systems of political, medical, and informational control are resisted. As the pandemic wore on, he questioned the rationality of public health measures like social distancing and vaccines, and suggested that conspiracy theories conceal truths that society is unprepared to accept.[38] In 2021, Eisenstein's publisher, North Atlantic Books publicly disavowed his Substack essay "Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed," in which he expressed his belief that those who chose not to be vaccinated for Covid-19 were being persecuted. The publisher committed to "donate all net earnings we make from the substantial sales of his books to three organizations committed to the rights and welfare of some of the very people his essay invisiblizes, condescends to, and exploits."[39]
^Eisenstein, Charles D. The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2013. Print.
^"The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible". Reviews. PWxyz. November 5, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2014. ... the underlying—and largely unexamined—"normal" worldview and story that programs human responses; he calls it the "Story of Separation." The good news is that simultaneously a new story is emerging, the Story of Interbeing, a "story of the world that we really care about." This book is a guide through this time of transition between stories: "Internally, it [the transition] is nothing less than a transformation in the experience of being alive. Externally is it nothing less than a transformation of humanity's role on planet Earth." Eisenstein brilliantly deconstructs the old story and simultaneously weaves an ambitious and empowering narrative of the new story, relating real life stories that demonstrate the best way to interrupt the story of separation: give someone an experience of non-separation. This is a revolutionary and interactive book—in the sense that it inspires the reader to think out of the ordinary. Eisenstein will be noted in antiquity as one of the seminal and pioneering storytellers of this new world.
^Climate—A New Story. North Atlantic Books. September 18, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018 – via Amazon.
^Spowers, Rory (2013). "Green tea & man-eating tigers". The Advisor. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2013. Who else inspires you? The most refreshing new voice is a guy called Charles Eisenstein, who's very involved with the Occupy movement. His magnum opus is The Ascent Of Humanity and his most recent book is Sacred Economics. He's really moved the whole thing along in a number of ways. He's young and fresh and informed from a very spiritual perspective. Humble, but articulate; he's not banging a drum and he's not confrontational. He's too intelligent for that.
^Beres, Derek; Remski, Matthew; Walker, Julian (2023). Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat. New York: PublicAffairs. pp. 169–178. ISBN978-1541702981.
