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We are delighted to share with you Watkins’ 2024 list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People – spiritual teachers, activists, authors and thinkers that change the world. The list came out in print in the issue 76, Winter 2024 of Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine on January 11 and you can get a copy of this issue here or take out a full year’s subscription here.
Watkins bookshop in London has been encouraging spiritual discovery and providing seekers with esoteric knowledge for over 120 years. In 2011, we started publishing the 100 list with the goal of celebrating the world’s living spiritual teachers. Our special magazine issue features 16 pages dedicated to interesting details, bios, photos and highlights about each person on the list. As you read through this list, we hope that you feel as inspired as we are by each individual’s significant impact.
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1 – Pope Francis 2 – Dalai Lama 3 – Oprah Winfrey 4 – Eckhart Tolle 5 – Gwyneth Paltrow 6 – David Lynch 7 – Marianne Williamson 8 – Gabor Maté 9 – Julia Cameron 10 – Sadhguru (Jaggi Vasudev) 11 – Jane Goodall 12 – Jay Shetty 13 – Arianna Huffington 14 – Wim Hof 15 – Graham Hancock 16 – Teal Swan 17 – Matthew Fox 18 – Deepak Chopra 19 – Paulo Coelho 20 – Gregg Braden 21 – Rick Rubin NEW 22 – Dr Joe Dispenza 23 – Alice Walker 24 – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar 25 – Amma – Mata Amritanandamayi 26 – Vandana Shiva 27 – Esther Perel 28 – Uri Geller 29 – Justin Welby 30 – Rainn Wilson NEW 31 – Rupert Sheldrake 32 – Mark Manson 33 – Greta Thunberg |
34 – Michael Pollan
35 – Robert Thurman 36 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople 37 – Robin Sharma 38 – Jon Kabat-Zinn 39 – Esther Hicks 40 – Richard Rohr 41 – Rhonda Byrne 42 – Alex Grey 43 – Ruby Wax 44 – Rowan Williams 45 – Bessel van der Kolk 46 – Michael A. Singer 47 – Ken Wilber 48 – Martin Seligman 49 – Karen Armstrong 50 – Vex King 51 – Bruce H. Lipton 52 – Hamza Yusuf 53 – Richard Bach 54 – Thomas Moore 55 – Neale Donald Walsch 56 – Prem Rawat 57 – Daniel Goleman 58 – Edith Eger 59 – Iyanla Vanzant 60 – Rob Bell 61 – George Noory NEW 62 – Gary Snyder 63 – Andrew Weil 64 – Mooji 65 – Roxie Nafousi NEW 66 – Brian Weiss 67 – Don Miguel Ruiz |
68 – Byron Katie
69 – Jack Kornfield 70 – Erich von Däniken 71 – Vishen Lakhiani 72 – Stanislav Grof 73 – Daisaku Ikeda 74 – Eben Alexander 75 – Rupert Spira 76 – Seyyed Hossein Nasr 77 – Raymond Moody 78 – Steve Taylor 79 – Charles Eisenstein 80 – Caroline Myss 81 – Jack Canfield 82 – Elaine Pagels 83 – Matthieu Ricard 84 – Ronald Hutton 85 – Tara Brach 86 – Susan Cain 87 – Pema Chödrön 88 – Starhawk 89 – Anita Moorjani 90 – David Wolpe 91 – Adyashanti 92 – Fritjof Capra 93 – Drunvalo Melchizedek 94 – James van Praagh 95 – Gary Lachman 96 – Sharon Salzberg 97 – Gabrielle Bernstein 98 – Vivianne Crowley NEW 99 – Brené Brown 100 – Ajahn Brahm |
There are several factors that were taken into account when compiling the list. The main three criteria are:
1) The person has to be alive as of November 2023
2) The person has to have made a unique and spiritual contribution on a global scale
3) The person is frequently googled, appears in Nielsen Data, has a Wikipedia page, and is actively talked about throughout the Internet. By taking into account the amount of times that a person is googled or how many times their Wikipedia profile is viewed, the list gains a highly democratic and transparent parameter. Additionally, we were highly selective in creating this list and did our best to remove candidates who spread messages that were hateful or intolerant. Ultimately, this list is meant to celebrate the positive influence of today’s spiritual teachers.
To discover more about each spiritual teacher, pick up a copy of issue 76, Winter 2024 here.
