TED Community » Amir Freimann

About Me

I was born (1958) in a kibbutz and grew up in a small village in Israel. At the age of 17 I became deeply interested in spiritual-existential questions about the nature of consciousness, freedom, self and the Whole. I served in the Israeli army and became a pacifist after participating in the 1982 Lebanon War. Studied medicine but at the end of the 5th year of my studies decided to leave medical school and devote my life to spiritual awakening. I then went ahead and spent 2 years meditating in a Zen monastery in Japan and over 20 years doing intense spiritual practice and engaged in philosophical-spiritual exploration in the community of EnlightenNext in the USA. In 1998, when I turned 50, I left the community and moved back to Israel, with the intention of participating in and facilitating cultural-spiritual growth and development in Israeli society. Together with a group of leading educators I started the Education Spirit Movement (eduspirit.org.il), and I'm presently serving as its Managing Director. I'm married and living in Ra’anana, at the center of Israel. If you read Hebrew, check out my blog Bi'Tnua (In Motion) at amirfreimann.com.