To steal from the late Br. Thompson (Hunter S.): now, less than ten years later, I can go up on a steep hill in Calgary and look West, and with the right kind of eyes I can almost see that basement suite -- the place where my then room mate Trevor and I first discovered What Is Enlightenment? magazine.

It really doesn't feel that long ago that Trevor, myself, and many of the contributors here at Beams and Struts were gobbling up the pages of EnlightenNext (nee What Is Enlightenment?) for the first time. For many of us, EnlightenNext was one of the first formal expression of integral/post-postmodern ideas that had so lit us up. It was exciting to see people working with these concepts in a public space -- indeed a public space and through a successful endeavour like a magazine. 

Watching pioneers like Andrew Cohen, Ken Wilber, Carter Phipps, Elizabeth Debold, Craig Hamilton, and a host of other experts discuss, evolve, and live into these concepts right in front of our eyes gave us both confirmation that we weren't crazy and hope that one day we might look to fashion similar contributions in our own right.

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that in lieu of formal associations, these people became our de facto mentors -- remote teachers who provided guidance, lessons, and wisdom to a gaggle of precocious upstarts. We wanted to take on the world and these were our role models.

EnlightenNext has been providing vital insights and groundbreaking copy on evolutionary spirituality and integral theory, culture, politics, religion, education, and pretty much any field of inquiry you can think of for twenty years. Started in 1991, Editor in Chief Andrew Cohen described the founding of the magazine as follows,

Early on in my career as a spiritual teacher, I found out the hard way that while the mystical truth of existence discovered in the experience of revelation is ultimately simple, living that simplicity amid the complexity and hard-core reality of human life is truly the ultimate challenge. Indeed, it was through endeavoring to make deep sense out of my own life and the lives of my students in light of that simplicity that the ongoing inquiry behind EnlightenNext was born. 

Giving voice to that perrenial struggle is in no small part what has made EnlightenNext's contributions over the years so prescient and singular.

So it was no small trip to be told that our latest effort, Beams and Struts, was to be formally reviewed in EnlightenNext. Suddenly, we were to appear in those hallowed pages we had only so recently deigned to dream of gracing.

The review was welcomed for all the conventional reasons: exposure, increased traffic, recognition. But it is a special honour to be featured in a publication that has remained such a constant wellspring of inspirartion for so many and played such a pivotal role in our own lives.

I believe I speak for everyone at Beams and Struts in saying that the experience is simulatenously exhilirating and deeply humbling. As the old Nietzsche quote goes, "One repays a teacher badily if one remains only a pupil."

The review we received is, in fact, just the most recent iteration of EnlightenNext's support for our efforts at this site. In addition, many of the contributors and producers of the magazine have regularly stopped by to read our essays and articles and offer feedback in the comments. And the magazine has offered various online shoutouts on relevant postings.

We owe a great debt of thanks to EnlightenNext for its generous support in our nascent months and wish the magazine as much success in the next twenty years as it has seen over the previous twenty.

Namaste,
The Contributors of Beams and Struts