Charles Eisenstein
Charles Eisenstein (born 1967) is an American public speaker, author, and activist. 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, the spiritual teachings of various indigenous peoples, the New Age, and conspiracy theory, including various forms of popular pseudoscience, including anti-vaccine misinformation.
As an activist, Eisenstein has been involved in the Occupy and New Economy movements. He has promoted eco-villages, permaculture, local currencies, gift economies, economic degrowth and universal basic income. Noting the influence of conspiracy theories on Eisenstein’s writing and activism, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew Remski described him as the “poet philosopher of conspirituality.” Eisenstein was a senior advisor for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign.
- “We never were separate from nature and never will be, but the dominant culture on earth has long imagined itself to be apart from nature and destined one day to transcend it. We have lived in a mythology of separation.” ― Charles Eisenstein, Climate: A New Story
- “In civilization, what you are is a discrete, separate individual, among other individuals, in an external universe that is separate from you. In religion, you are a soul encased in flesh. In psychology, you are a mind encased in flesh. In biology, you are the expression of DNA serving to maximize your reproductive self-interest and greed. And that conception of self has basically poisoned our planet, because we treat it as if it were an other.” Charles Eisenstein, author of The Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics
- “While Climate Change is a symptom, the fever that our Earth has contracted, the underlying disease is the disconnection from Creation that plagues human societies throughout the Earth.”
Eisenstein refers to the “story of separation” as a narrative that holds humans apart from nature and from each other. This story is the basis for many of the world’s social and environmental problems.
The story of separation leads people to believe that:
- They must dominate others to have a good life
- They must control nature to be secure
- They must be in competition with others for resources
- They must be in competition with nature for resources
Eisenstein believes that the story of separation is a myth that can be replaced by a story of interbeing, which recognizes that humans are connected to each other and to nature.