Andre van der Braak was born in 1963
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. From 1981 to 1986 he studied at the University
of Amsterdam, majoring in clinical psychology (comparing psychoanalysis and
buddhist insight meditation using Ken Wilber’s model), as well as comparative
philosophy (graduating with a thesis on Nietzsche and Buddhism).
His search
for a synthesis between Eastern spirituality and Western psychology led him,
via TM, yoga, J. Krishnamurti, advaita vedanta and Buddhism (he was a buddhist
for five years, practising meditation intensively), finally in 1987 to Andrew
Cohen.
He lived in
Andrew Cohen’s community for eleven years, was editing his books and was the
first editor-in-chief of the now well-known magazine ‘What is Enlightenment?’.
In 1998 he left the community disillusioned. Since then he has worked for
several years as an IT Consultant for ABN AMRO bank and as IT manager for various
internet startups. Currently he lives in Amsterdam and has just finished up a
Ph.D. dissertation on Nietzsche’s
sceptical ethics of self-realization. He teaches philosophy at the
University of Amsterdam and at Luzac College in Alkmaar.
Andre van
der Braak can be reached at avdbraak@xs4all.nl