Peter Russell - 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People


I was dumbfounded to find myself listed number 21 amongst the new Watkins list of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People". After my ego had gotten over the unexpected praise (for which I should have been immediately demoted 10 positions) , I burst out laughing. Indeed I spent the whole morning chuckling to myself whenever I thought about. Apart from the irony of ranking spirituality, there were many on the list who I would put way above me in any spiritual listing - both in terms of spiritual awakening and in terms influence. And following the list's publication, I've been getting emails from friends as surprised as I was. A moment of undeserved fame.

For what its worth, here's their list:

1. Dalai Lama 34. Marianne Williamson 67. Caroline Myss
2. Eckhart Tolle 35. Lisa Williams 68. Michael Newton
3. Thich Nhat Hanh 36. Francis Chan 69. Daisaku Ikeda
4. Deepak Chopra 37. Don Miguel Ruiz 70. Vadim Zeland
5. Paulo Coelho 38. Masaru Emoto 71. John Bradshaw
6. Elizabeth Gilbert 39. Gregg Braden 72. Richard Bandler
7. Iyanla Vanzant 40. Andrew Weil 73. Jean Houston
8. Ken Wilber 41. Erich von Däniken 74. Starhawk
9. James Redfield 42. Adyashanti 75. Daniel J. Siegel
10. Rhonda Byrne 43. Krishna Das 76. James Lovelock
11. Alice Walker 44. Sonia Choquette 77. Judy Hall
12. Nelson Mandela 45. Joseph Ratzinger 78. Gary Snyder
13. Dr Wayne W Dyer 46. Louise Hay 79. Patrick Holford
14. Doreen Virtue 47. Amma 80. Oberto Airaudi
15. Michio Kaku 48. Vladimir Megre 81. Dr Azmayesh
16. Oprah Winfrey 49. Ervin Laszlo 82. Mother Meera
17. Alejandro Jodorowsky 50. Elaine Pagels 83. Rabbi Michael Lerner
18. Mantak Chia 51. Jeff Foster 84. Lynne McTaggart
19. Desmond Tutu 52. Seyyed Hossein Nasr 85. Michael Beckwith
20. Alex Grey 53. Neale Donald Walsch 86. Satya Narayan Goenka
21. Peter Russell 54. Drunvalo Melchizedek 87. Satish Kumar
22. Byron Katie 55. Pema Chödrön 88. Paramahamsa Nithyananda
23. Ram Dass 56. Diana Cooper 89. Rowan Williams
24. Esther Hicks 57. Bruce Lipton 90. Prem Rawat
25. Bernie Siegel 58. Dan Millman 91. Mooji
26. Richard Bach 59. Karen Armstrong 92. Stanislav Grof
27. Brian Weiss 60. Graham Hancock 93. Grant Morrison
28. Andrew Cohen 61. David R. Hawkins 94. Jon Kabat-Zinn
29. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 62. Jack Canfield 95. Dolores Cannon
30. Robin Sharma 63. Clarissa Pinkola Estés 96. Gangaji
31. Steve Taylor 64. Sogyal Rinpoche 97. Shakti Gawain
32. Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi 65. Swami Ramdev 98. Claudio Naranjo
33. Andrew Harvey 66. Philip Berg 99. Mastin Kipp
100. Marion Woodman