Spiritual Teachers of Our Time

These are not just influential individuals with expertise in diverse areas, but ones who have helped shape our understanding through their insightful and galvanizing teachings, events, books, and multiple resources. Highlighting their works and contributions would be a grasp at what we should know about these lionized leaders, feel free to check them out at the various links below.

Please note: all the modern spiritual teachers listed below are not ordered in any sort of hierarchy of importance as this is obviously not doable.

1. Eckhart Tolle

(Born on February 16, 1948)

“Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.” – Eckhart Tolle.

Eckhart Tolle started something that we can call a revolution. A shift in consciousness as he is calling it himself.
He didn’t invent anything new, he simply showed how you can find something that you already have – your own consciousness.
From that level you can not only observe the world from a bigger picture but also you can observe your own mind and your thinking processes.
This can be a life changing experience for you as long as you will practice being in the now.

Eckhart Tolle is a highly revered spiritual teacher, writer, and speaker. He is best known for his authorship of the book The Power of Now, a New York time bestseller and it’s follow-up A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, whose teachings spanning from Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, the Bible, and Sufism, has influenced individuals across the globe. He raises the need for a conscious-mind, creating a spiritual awakening to a life of purpose and presence that has helped an innumerable number of people attain peace, understanding, and fulfillment. His works, lauded by Oprah is available in various information formats.
For more updates on his work and upcoming events, visit www.eckharttolle.com.

On this website you can find as well The Power of Now book review.

The Power of Now free pdf can be found here. You can also purchase it on any online book store, simply go to Google and type ‘the power of now’.

Eckhart Tolle stands out of the crowd among other spiritual teachers of our times by showing people how to achieve the state of enlightenment and awakening. His teachings are not only a theory but also a practice. Here you can see a great video where he will explain how to enter the state of observer of your own mind, a state of deep presence which is essential to awaken.

2. Adyashanti

(Steven Gray, American Author-Spiritual teacher; Born October 26, 1962)

“The biggest embrace of love you’ll ever make is to embrace yourself completely. Then you’ll realize you’ve just embraced the whole universe, and everything and everybody in it.” – Adyashanti

An inquisitive student, his studies spanned from Zen Buddhism to the Gospel and Christian mystics, with interest in enlightenment and awakening. He has eight published books, with is latest being Resurrecting Jesus Embodying the Spirit of Revolutionary Mystics (2014). His Sanskrit name was obtained over his growing years of startup, meaning Primordial peace. His works are in varied formats of meetings, silent retreats, online courses with viewers from across the globe, intensive weekends and live internet broadcasts.

For more info about Adyashanti, visit www.adyashanti.org.

I personally recommend “The End OF Your World” book by Adyashanti. If you have already awakened this is a great continuation. For awakening itself I would rather recommend Eckhart Tolle’s book ‘The Power Of Now’ – many people find it approachable and “eye-opening”.

3. Thich Nhat Hanh

(Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, Vietnamese Zen Master-Peace activist; Born October 11, 1926)

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar” – Thich Nhat Hanh

A Vietnamese Buddhist Zen master, prolific writer, peace activist and polyglot (5 international languages excluding his native).

He believes that through mindfulness, we can learn the value of the present moment, which is the one way to true peace.

Over several years, he has aided in introducing Buddhism to the western world, having pioneered six monasteries and thousands of mindfulness meditation centers in the US, and Vietnam (Sanghas).

He has been nominated for a Nobel prize award (1967), conferred an honorary doctorate in 2017 for his contributions to mindfulness and peace across the globe, has been featured in several films and authored more a 100 books in English, some of which are best sellers among others. He is currently based in plum village.

Visit www.plumvillage.org, for more information.

4. Mooji

(Anthony Paul Moo-Young, British Jamaican spiritual teacher-author; Born January 29, 1954 )

“If you do not trust life to unfold, the mind takes over and it becomes a game of strategy, motivated by anxiety. This mistrust is unfair. Life has given us so much, and yet we do not trust it.” – Mooji

The author of 8 books, with the Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space published in 2018. With an understanding of the philosophy of nondualism, he offers diverse visitors from across the globe an introduction to the direct path via self-inquiry for non-ephemeral self-realization.

His teaching is based on self-inquiry, encouraging his students into non-dual self by their questioning on who or what they are at an in-depth level. He is a disciple of Papaji (Advaita master) and has contributed to the world in form of his one-on-one meetings, Satsang, retreat & charity (Mooji foundation, a charity that provides support for Satang events and outreach globally), to seekers of their true self. He has become itinerant while during this, sharing the truth he found while spending the most time in India, UK, and Monte Sahaja.

For more information, please visit www.mooji.org.

5. Ram Dass

(Richard Alpert, American Spiritual teacher-former psychologist-author; Born April 6, 1931)
“Your problem is you are too busy holding on to your unworthiness.” – Ram Dass

An inquisitive psychologist on the exploration of the human consciousness, his name ‘Ran Dam’ means ‘servant of God’, given to him by Neem Kanoli Baba (Maharaji) on his 1967 visit to India as a prominent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr.Timothy Leary.

From 1968 forward, he has journeyed through spiritual practices from devotional yoga (karma yoga) primarily on Hindu deity, meditation in Zen Buddhism and Jewish mystic studies. His teachings are aimed at getting his students to experience the Godly-love, as he continually shares true knowledge and vision. They are available in forms of bi-yearly retreats on Maui, where he presently resides.

His most recent books include Be Love Now (2011), Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart (2013), Cookbook for Awakening (2017), and Walking Each Other Home (2018). His best known book, Be Here Now (1971) helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga.

For more information, visit www.ramdass.org

6. Michael A. Singer

The author of ‘The Untethered Soul’. This book is my very recent read. I enjoyed the first pages/ chapters especially. There is a great value on the first pages of the book when the author shows you in a nice and smooth way how to recognize the voice in your mind that essentially is not you. You are the silent observer hidden behind. 
The thing that bothers me is that you don’t see in this book many clues on how to awaken and achieve the states of enlightenment that the author is talking about. 
Eckhart Tolle for instance explains and teaches you how to be the observer of your own mind. 
Practicing mindfulness is the key. The sole theory won’t help you much. 
Even having said that I still consider Michael A. Singer as one of the most prominent spiritual teachers of our times. 

7. Neale Donald Walsch

Neale Donald Walsch is the author of a series of books Conversations with God. The author has written his books in a form of a dialogue with God. He asks questions and God answers.

The first book of the Conversations with God series, Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, was published in 1995 and became a publishing phenomenon, staying on The New York Times Best Sellers List for 137 weeks.

More about Neale Donald Walsh you can find on his website or on Wikipedia.

Here you can find a helpful video with the names of the mentioned spiritual teachers and their most famous books:

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