Meet the Author

Brief Biography

Rich Van Horn

My name is Rich Van Horn and I am the creator of these websites. I am not a spiritual teacher or guide.  But throughout my life I have learned things which you might find interesting.

I had a 30-year career as a management consultant and trainer, much of it in in Silicon Valley.  My outer life was very conventional. My wife Elizabeth and I raised our family and participated in our community’s activities like everyone else.

In the early part of my career I focused on teaching effective behaviors on the job. In time I came to realize that there was a sub-set of behaviors that could not be taught.  Internal forces inside each of us block our ability to change these behaviors. Unless we address these internal forces, I reasoned, our behavioral training would be limited. In the late 1980’s I began to explore what these inner forces are that hold us back.  I did not realize it at the time, but I was entering into a fascinating exploration of our own human consciousness.  

I designed a training program called MindSet Mastery.  It enabled participants to identify within themselves 4 mindsets which are universal in all of us. But the 4th mindSet was elusive.  I called it Unity State.  Most people understood what it was, but very few claimed to have experienced it.  I wondered why this was. 

In 2003, the high-tech recession devastated Silicon Valley and left me with a life-changing decision.  As more people heard about my work, I had become busy. But companies don’t buy my kind of training when times are hard.  The recession would put my work on hold for a while.  Elizabeth and I could live on her salary but she was unhappy in her job.  We made the decision to sell our house and retire to a ranch outside of Bend, Oregon.  While I was disappointed that I would not be fulfilling the potential of my work, I now had the time to devote to another goal:  experiencing Unity MindSet.

Elizabeth and I joined a local Zen meditation group.  Within six months we were attending week-long meditation retreats at the Great Vow Monastery northwest of Portland.  After a year and half of these retreats, we became students of Adyashanti, an enlightened teacher back in the Bay Area.  At my first week long retreat with Adya, I had my own awakening.  This was followed by a five year transition during which my consciousness shifted entirely. 

Around 2012 I started a writing practice to help develop my understanding of consciousness.  In 2016 I created a website called The Story of Enlightenment.  The reaction to this website led me to believe that I would have to expand the scope of my writing.    The result is what you find here.

If you would like to know more, you can read about my individual journey and/or my professional journey.

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