Summary: Andrew Harvey is a multi-book author, passionate speaker and Founder Director of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective, and practical agents of institutional and systemic change, in order to create peace and sustainability.<br> Andrew’s history is rich. He was born in south India where he lived until he was 9 years old. He credits this early period in his life with shaping his sense of the inner unity of all religions and providing him with a permanent and inspiring vision of a world infused with the sacred. He left India to attend private school in England and entered Oxford University in 1970 with a scholarship to study history. At the age of 21, he became the youngest person ever to be awarded a fellowship to All Soul’s College, England’s highest academic honor.<br> By 1977, Andrew was disillusioned with life at Oxford and returned to his native India, where a series of mystical experiences initiated his spiritual journey. Over the next thirty years he plunged into different mystical traditions to learn their secrets and practices. In 1978 he met a succession of Indian saints and sages and began his long study and practice of Hinduism. There is far more to Andrew’s profound story, but for brevity, his life path is one of studying, writing, and speaking passionately about the sacred, mysticism, and inspiring sacred activism in a far reaching context.<br> A few years ago, I read Andrew’s book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Guide-Sacred-Activism/dp/1401920039/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485738953&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hope" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hope</a>. This was when I first discovered sacred activism, a form of activism that aligned with the path I was embarking on. As a long-time animal rights, environmental and social justice activist, I’d grown weary and disillusioned with the fighting and resistance-based activism that is most familiar in our world. It was no longer working for me, nor was it working for those I was supposedly fighting for. I knew there was a better way that aligned with the spiritual path I was embracing. The Hope gave me hope. It inspired in me the activism that was already emerging quite naturally, but that I had no language for. It was this activism that birthed the Unplug podcast as well as my book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Unplug-Recharge-Reconnect-Passion-Presence/dp/0994984502/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1485738916&sr=8-7&keywords=unplug" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unplug</a>. Needless to say, Andrew’s work has had a profound influence on my life.<br> In this week’s passionate conversation, we discuss:<br> <br> * The era of Trump: When the shadow descends on the globe.<br> * How the coma of denial has been broken. Now what?<br> * What is sacred activism?<br> * Transforming anger into passion to create change.<br> * Why we must feel the deepest pain of our most intense heartbreak.<br> * The danger of new age “spirituality”.<br> * Resting in the unknown.<br> * Living in a state of abandonment and true love in action.<br> * Embracing uncertainty as a path to liberation.<br> * The spiritual nature of animals.<br> * How animals reconnect us to our own Souls.<br> * The difference between happiness and joy.<br> * How joy is always with us.<br> <br> Enjoy this inspiring conversation with the eloquent, passionate, inspirational, and activated, Andrew Harvey.<br> Andrew Harvey and Guy McPherson<br> <br> SHOW NOTES:<br> <br> * Andrew Harvey’s <a href="http://www.andrewharvey.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Institute for Sacred Activism website</a>.<br> * Return to Joy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Return-Joy-Andrew-Harvey/dp/153200852X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485740997&sr=8-1&keywords=return+to+joy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on Amazon...</a>
