From Spiritual Intoxication to Spiritual Evolution

I have listened to many of your talks and read your work and find it all to be very on-target, especially when you speak of the experiece of the Authentic Self being the means to an end, not an end in itself.  I think we need to be specific about that end.  Is it not a utopic society?  It seems imperative that we act now against a one-world government dystopia tyranny which some are trying to manifest through one manufactured crisis after another.  We need Self-realization to build a society based on genuine freedom, on every level, decentralized power/dependency, peace, democracy, health, etc. (progressivemanifesto.us)
My question:  Why is the process to realize the Authentic Self not discussed plainly?  What is that process EXACTLY?  If it is meditation on ones own awareness for at least an hour a day, why not say so?  We need a specific practice to follow, otherwise we are talking about the wonders of Self-Realization w/o a way to get there.  Thanks for your time and for your great work.

Thank you for a sobering and yet explosive blog.

I was wondering what it is about your blog that is so objective and intimate and deeply and broadly touching at the same time? I find that it is because what you write makes sense of and gives space for my own experience.

The more I stay with your blog I see that you are doing the opposite of my post-modern tick: you are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater! As you explain that spiritual experiences are not the goal, you also say that spiritual experiences, and even intoxication, are important � at a certain stage of our development.

The evolutionary perspective means I don�t have to leave behind previous parts of my life. I can stop leaving empty bath-tubs in my trail and embrace my whole life, and the whole life-process, as part of evolution. It does not mean that there is less urgency to get out of the postmodern confusion but it means that evolving out of it is a move towards more fullness � and that makes a lot of difference and a lot of sense, emotionally and philosophically. And also experientially.

Having been fortunate enough to be able to take part in collective spiritual inquiry in which I have experienced the call to be that next step that you mention in the blog, I know that the future is in the direction of more fullness, not less. So reading your blog is like having an essential piece of the puzzle added to that future: my very own experience and self, warts and all. You are giving a new set of eyes with which it is possible to see not only more, but actually completely differently. And what a difference!

Do you believe that evolving to a higher level of consciousness is an act of grace, or one which the individual has the capacity to influence, and if so, how?

Incredible. This post is searing in its clarity and explication of the physics of individual and collective evolution, and it is also so profoundly human and close to home. An amazing juxtaposition of the future that is possible collectively and the responsibility each of us has individually, right here and now!

Wonderful post. The peak experience of higher states can become permanent realisations. Then there is true enlightenment.

Hey Colin,
I just read a book called ‘11 Days at the Edge’, by Michael Wombacher. I recommend it highly. It very clearly and thoroughly details the way in which Andrew and his teaching can bring one to easily recognize and dwell in the authentic self. I am not affiliated with Michael, nor am I a student of Andrew, so I say this impartially. But I did attend some of Andrew’s retreats several years ago and can attest to the fact that the book is right on. If you are truly interested in discovering the authentic self, for yourself, then reading about it won’t be enough. It will just become philosophy for you, not actuality. Very big difference. If you are ever inclined to, you might want to jump into fray on one of his retreats, then you will know without a shred of doubt, what it is all about.
Salvadore Poe

Really awesome post!  I am a psychotherapist, and this post reminds me of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: embracing all that we are right now, whatever experiences have made us.  In that full acceptance, we can make changes now for our future.  In practice, it is what you are describing--that fully-present embracing of something much greater than we are.  We think we are our business, but in full presence, we are much, much greater.  Thanks for this refreshing post!

The Christian mystical tradition teaches that “by your fruits you are known”, in other words it is not enough to rest in the womb of the Ground of being but one must “go out into the marketplace” and that is where one is tested.  Andrew and Ken Wilbur’s inquiry on the difference between living from the “bottom up” or the “top down” deepens this inquiry.  It seems Evolutionary Enlightenment challenges us to live from this “top down” perspective with the humility to accept that we all are on the path together and don’t live there 100% but that is our goal both individually and as a WE.  I’m so grateful for Andrew’s teaching.

The clarity and strength of your message is like a powerful and pure voice calling me out of the desert I find myself in my life based mostly on ‘form’. I read the book 11 days as the Edge and was moved and thrilled throughout it--there too your voice was so profoundly clear. I have chosen to adhere to the 5 tenets, but could you tell me clearly and with a step by step guiding process what can I do each day to ‘evolve’. I spend so much time alone, I can talk to no one about this in my existing contex. And all day long I am assaulted about all kinds of experiences that take me away from my personal evolutionary goals. How can I keep myself on track in the face of so much ‘non-evolved’ energy and negative pull?

Hello, after reading all of the comments ,the question that was asked by Abbey interested me the most. When like for Mr. Cohen to address the question.Thanks

Father Rohr is the voice of Evolutionary Enlightenment in the Catholic church. Evolutionary Enlightenment is not something new. It is a return and remembering of the Ancient of Ways--the shamanic insights and gifts for humanity of Taliesen, Abraham, John the Baptist, Jesus, Mohammad, the author of the 23rd Psalms, the author of Gilgamesh, etc. The origin of the word “shaman” is singer, or one who touches Source and is able to sing of it to others. Father Rohr’s gem on Where Does Joy Come From? answers your question.

INSPIRING N Encouraging, with Absolute Trust n Conviction in Self Absolute, thanks Andrew, we Luv U !

Until the ropes of attachment to that which is conceived of as permanent and/or impermanent attainments, evolutionary and/or de-evolutionary enlightenment, blissful and/or blistered states, higher and/or lower states, co-creating and/or not creating forms of idealized and/or imperfect futures are cut away, then nothing will be rendered into clarity.

As Ngak’chang Rinpoche puts it: “If we simply remain in natural uncontrived presence, without sinking into an oblivious drowse (the “oblivious drowse” refers to remaining hypnotized by forms of all kinds at the expense of the formless or transcendental, and on the other hand it also refers to getting caught in the “oblivious drowse” of the transcendental at the expense of fully engaging the infinite forms that arise as expressions of the Divine, i.e., it’s not two at the expense of one, and not one at the expense of two), then we will naturally disinhibit our spontaneous clarity.”

Without the direct experience of “disinhibiting spontaneous clarity” and thus directly realize the instantaneous and natural liberation of all limitations in every moment as they arise, anything can be agreed or disagreed upon ad infinitum.

Let’s please marry the discussion to our direct experience, and direct experience only, and thus avoid falling into the “oblivious drowse” of head-dominant philosophical or esoteric conceptual frameworks or paradigms that can merely be prattled and argued about until the next whatever. As George Herbert adroitly points out: The fierceness of such arguments makes error a fault, and truth discourtesy.

i enjoy this explanation thank you. The premise of ‘higher states’ suggests a hierachy which i feel is a limiting structure...and poses the question perhaps ‘are we there yet?’.. . It is my individual experience that i can choose to chase a high. Coupled with an egoic programmed rowdy voice - “ you can always do better.” i manage the ‘maniac’ by changing the relationship in the immediate - and as a result realise not an ecclesiastical, miserable or comfortably numb moment.
For me this is an ongoing practice… i have faith that my own practice liberates my experience and therefore everyone’s. The explanation sounds a little narcassistic compared to the collective surge that is promised. I am confused by words such as attainment as it suggests we need something extra. Or we are heading somewhere? in the practice i have been exposed to i feel by acknowledging the egoic self i live as my authentic self. Practice is not to rid me of my egoic self but to observe it, and to acknowledge that i am in a realationship with it. Bon voyage!

Thanks.

The intoxicating influence of spiritual bliss leads some of us into spiritual materialism from where we might spend our time basking and pontificating but doing very little else. We may feel we’’ve ‘discovered’ the true nature of our authentic self and that’s the end of the game.

However perhaps we’’ve not realised something vital.

Realisation - Noun An act of co-creation that is a hybrid experience of both discovery and creation.

An individual who understands and accepts that there are no predetermined, absolute laws or fixed realities to discover outside of certain fundamental and necessary physical laws is then ‘realising’ everything.

Therefore feeling, thinking and acting in service of this we accept responsibility for the fact that me-you-we are part of the one, absolute process that literally co-creates (or realises) the realities of the past, the present and the future.

The evolution of consciousness for me-you-we-the one is then even less about discovery and all about creation. Taking action and actively ‘realising’ the evolution of consciousness is vital now.

However, until we literally, physically, psychologically and therefore emotionally evolve out of this current body/mind we are manifesting, with it’s archaeological record presenting in the feelings thoughts and actions of the majority, ‘realising’ a new, evolved way of being remains a distant vision or even fantasy.

In comparison to what we can and will become when everything and everyone is more, or fully conscious we are now at the physical and emotional level and stage of the dinosaurs.

Thank you for such a thought provoking blog! Christ talked deeply of a heaven on earth. I believe we are in the midst of a quantum shift in collective consciousness that will usher in a new world utopia, or, as Christ put it, ‘Heaven On Earth’.

Dear Abbey,

From my direct experience, the timeless eternal divine already is and always will be our true nature. Our task, once we are firmly rooted in this knowing, becomes a focus on the man-made aspects of our being - namely the personal(ity). Thus begins the process of understanding the emotional, mental, and physical nature of our personally man-made selves- made up of all the layers of worldly experience that overlay our soul awareness. Once we can take ownership of everything we think, do and say and bring awareness to such, we begin to uncover a finer and finer feeling/sensing awareness of our ever-present true nature.  We begin to act, think and choose consciously from that finely-tuned awareness - in alignment with our divine natures, and can then see so clearly how we create our individual and collective realities. Of course, this process is much easier said than done, and in my opinion takes lifetimes to cycle through.

I too was inspired by your description of the movement from ecstasy to evolutionary enlightenment.  Alike inspiring are the comments and questions from respondents.

Several asked for a protocol, one that inspires the flow, harmony, and ego-transcendent consciousness, but that doesn’t take too much time from busily scheduled days...and...has residual benefits that resist immediate devouring by world circumstances and personalities.

I offer, for your delectation, heart coherent tai chi kung.  Google it.  It partakes of the heart coherence principles researched by Institute of HeartMath, synthesized together with ancient and modern harmonizing practices of tai chi kung.  It is an intentional alignment of body and mind with a radiantly purposeful Spirit.  In a group, the harmonic energies evolve into an intelligent, loving “Whole greater than the sum of Its parts.” Again, both scientific research and ancient mythology and legend attest to the beneficial energies entrained, moved, and released.

Yes yes!  This is one of the clearest statements of this spiritual dynamic that I have ever seen. Without coming back to the real-time in which we physically live, we risk the danger of getting forever lost in bliss-ninny-land, and have to put up with everybody we meet thinking rightfully that we are just weird—or wired!  BRAVO!

Hi Abbey,
According to Andrew’s work on evolutionary enlightenment, as I understand it, we as humans have gotten to the stage of evolution, not just human evolution, but overall evolution, where it is now, for the first time in history, completely in our own hands to evolve to the next stage of development. Because we, those of us who have inquired and come to know our true nature, now know that we are god itself, not separate in any way from that. And we are the only species to be able to know this. As this is the case, it must be we, god itself, who will manifest this evolution. We cannot wait for, or expect, grace to do it for us. Not only, according to Andrew, CAN we create this evolution, in fact, it is ONLY by our own volition and effort that this next stage of evolution will occur, It will not happen without our full conscious participation. Anyway, this is my two cents according to how I understand what Evolutionary Enlightenment is about.

I just found this website today and while reading this blog i smiled because for the last month i have been talking to many about how this world is exactly how Mr. Cohen explains it. I feel it imperative for like minded people to continue to interact wtih others. Especially with the knowledge and passion we have to evolve into better beings and a higher state of consciousness. I feel estatic and true happiness to know that i’m not crazy to think that there is more to life then what was manufactured for me to believe. I’m 25 and finally found my calling and it came from just thinking and knowing that there was always more then just this material world Thank You Mr. Cohen and the rest of the world. Its not going to be about the single experience anymore its about the transformation. No more just feeling the water out with my feet its time to jump in. Again Thank you World !!!!

Hey… my “thing” is getting to this point - - - maybe you can send some light… “However, when we do the unthinkable, when we actually and demonstrably evolve to a higher stage beyond the veiling influence of postmodern existential confusion, we will be able to see that future as easily as we see our own face when we look in the mirror. Seeing that glory will no longer be dependent upon the presence of a higher state�because we will already be there....”

Thanks - Rob

Thank you. And how to do it? How can I remember the ultimate when I am not in it.  I myself use the forms of the lineage I am practicing in and still I keep forgetting. And I depend on others to remind me. So, thank you. May you be happy.

Thank you for this brief and clarifying post. I can relate to your writing strongly from my personal experience as within CHE-NL. A question I have is how to support the emergence from ‘falling in and out of consciousness’ towards ‘evolving into consciousness as such’ on both the individual as the collective level. I know there a no easy or general answers to this and we are experimenting with this as you are within EnlightenNext. I am very interested in your thoughts on this and the, especially, the experiences you and your students have.

It wasn’t very long after studying the insights of Andrew Cohen that the estatic union of oneness began to appear in my experience… when around other committed individuals.  That expereince is so compelling to me that I would choose to experience it continuously if possible.  It was and is curious to me that everyone would not choose that.  And there in lies the “work” of the spiritually inclined individual… to remove the blocks to freedom.  And in that process, resting in all that we can and can not know to continuously evolve to freedom. Knowing that the overwhelming responsibility of our own liberation is in fact our most beautiful way out of the trap of the small self.

what you write corresponds well with my own experience, most of the time it’s just one rerun sequence after the other, mental, televised or overheard, and it seems that the ego has a charming way of turning big words into metaphors for low impulses. Ie save the world is in no time unmasked as meaning get a pizza. And then nihilism kicks in aksing: Well, if the spirit and authentic self is so great, compassionate and powerful, how come the ego always wins? What’s up with this FORCE? Why can’t it just kick in the door and take over? And behold: Another good excuse for the eluvise ego.

Good distinction. I’d like to add a few points:
“In love” is how you feel. “Love” is what you do. Although feelings of love, bliss, etc. may make it easier to act in loving ways, the responsibility to continue acting with love and respect don’t end when the feelings do. Although we love the feelings we associate with “enlightenment”, and they do make it easier see what is right and to act well, real enlightenment is continuing to act rightly no matter how you currently feel. We are not as enlightened as we feel, we are only as enlightened as we act!

i think this is a call to cut through the bullshit, atleast in the case of me. I believe that if youve experienced the spiritual dimension you have an obligation to give your whole life away. we get so excited about spirituality, but the real test is whether you are willing to surrender to that which wants to emerge out of you, and that requires an absolute commitment from yourself, which means total renunciation from the ego, and total surrender to Eros or the evolutionary impulse

something that arouses my curiosity is when you write that it’s about creating the future from the inside out: I realize that this is going to be some kind of surprise, but I feel that one ought to be able to at least guess some of it. However, my mind is blank at this point. It doesn’t have too much to do with fascinating altered states, what is it then? Altered States (Nations), and what are we going to be doing once peace is established? Make the Blue Meme happy? Dancing? Creating cool video-games? New versions of ancient human drama for the stage? Space-travel? Can you help me past this hurdle? I can’t get over the musings of Terence McKenna, who had a couple of quirky ideas regarding the meaning of life. However, the last part of the piece offers some hope… I think I see… It’s not a cure for cancer… It’s more like the Retro Virus forgiving itself and joining the body in a united effort to create love… A very good point.

I appreciate your coverage of this subject, Mr. Cohen. Most spiritual writings consider enlightenment and one time event...it’s done. I have spent months in the love state you describe, only to be “shot out of it” when a major crisis arrives. I’m presently able to hold onto that oneness while embroiled in some present crises. It has taken alot of work, but I can see that after that initial experience I had to “do my own part” in maintaining that oneness. That requires an all out battle of wills with the ego, and it’s strategies. The ego would rather have me dead than surrender, which has been the test of my life. The enlightenment “process’ (not a one shot deal) has a great number of challenges post experience. How to go back to the world...which will never look or feel the same way again? There’s not much info (a handbook) of sorts to help us along the way. Unlike Tolle, most of us can’t sit on a park bench for 2 years awaiting our next step.
I have found that I must surrender entirely and take the “high road” always in order to stay in such awareness. A huge challengs, but life seems to flow from within to “meet itself” out there in the everyday world. Now my task is to bring this awareness into my work and everything I do. I am literally at the precipice of reinventing myself in a whole new way. There is no certain outcome here, except that a new, vital miraculous world opens and embraces my intent when aligned with this energy. I am also aware that “worrying about where I am going” is a useless ego trip. I leap into the future having no idea where I shall land. If not for this blissful state I could not do it. It requires absolute trust in the Spirit AND myself (the hard part is the latter). It is not a task for the faint of heart...that’s for sure. Chop wood, carry water is about all that can work for me at the present time. Blessings, and thanks for the info.

Thank you for the words .

I had a conversation in this vein the other day with a friend--she was upset she could not hold onto the bliss on a moment to moment basis and that the coming down and back into lets say the 3d existence left her disconnected, sad and in pain, she wanted to give up on her spiritual journey. My responce was simple, the more light we bring in, the dark will be reveiled and that brings us to the awareness of the pain we hold and must let go of, we will hold that bliss and carry it with us and into everything we do once we can hold more light than dark and that light will inspire/in spirit, it is then we will feel and bring that bliss into all we do!

peace

I think that taking the next step is not to consider what we have a Permanent Attainment, but to consider perhaps backing out of the deal, becoming too extreme, entering where we did not expect to go, waiting for reinforcements, learning that we will never become what our “Presence” is because after joining into a 6th race type human being, we will have to split from the girasas kingdom and go on without them.

Yes, I am addicted to the measures of Maintaining the Association which I have learned, but I also feel the effects of withdrawal and the danger of continuing at a fast pace or increasing the dosage, not necessarily to myself, but to the girasas being who hasn’t been fully integrated in our society yet.

I do not want to go permanently into their place. I want to bring them here where we outnumber them. And I want other people to participate more fully before I can solidify my own gains because they have more knowlede and different knowledge of the world than I do.

I’ve tried to share this view of evolution on Intent.com in response to Carter Phipps and elsewhere on the internet.

All human beings experience higher states of conciousness, but as you have said these states are fleeting and leave us back with our egoic selves. I would would like to learn more about how we all can move to higher stages of conciousness, with those more permenant characteristics which define higher stages of spiritual development. I enjoyed the blog.

Thanks Andrew:
A spiritual teacher told me, “Jimmy, you were walking around, asleep, dreaming you were awake. Now you are awake, but you must stay seeking, or you will fall asleep again, and you will begin to dream. And you will dream that you are awake.”
Another, older spoke of ever progressing in spiritual enlightenment as “Faith without works is dead”.

Once again, you are right on… and I am soaking up every juicy word you write. Evolutionary enlightenment, to me, is centered around Freedom. And I experience Freedom when I am spiritually awake and being the glorious future that we collectively see. I experience Freedom when I am consciously evolving, not just seeing that glorious future, but holding it in my hands, in awe of Our beauty, and bringing this Beauty, our glorious future in to my day to day work, in our political advocacy, in our schools, at the dinner table with our children, in all of our relationships. Andrew Cohen, you rock the evolutionary world, you put into words what my mind can not. Once you taste this kind of evolutionary Freedom, you are compelled to create it as often as you can, and find yourself experiencing a potential you never thought you were capable of. Good thing that at some point, we stop thinking about things, and learn to intuitively think through things instead

You say, “in… Evolutionary Enlightenment, the goal is individual and collective conscious evolution in real time.” And isn’t it the collective, real-time part that’s always been so problematic? - eg. the nightmarish problems of organized religion/dharma?

Your inspiring message is what every spiritual beings has wanted since time began. What mechanisms do YOU have in place to help avoid the mess down the line?

The inevitable dilemma is that hyped up and charismatic people who have the energy and will to tackle the endless meetings, the inevitable politics/personality problems, the constant financial focus etc. connected with outer forms, often have little time left for the really deep inner work. Hence the “movers and shakers” are rarely honed, deeply transformed individuals, but are moved by a superficial rajas and the collective “group-high”.

And though you also say… “[T]his process always begins with transformation at the very deepest depths of our own selves.” I wonder… Is there some screening process to check that the people jumping in ARE transformed at the “very deepest depths”?  Is there some requirement on your part that they make a regular commitment to spiritual practice? Otherwise…

I’m obviously coming from the… “I’ve-seen-what-happens-after-30-years-involvement-with-spiritual-organizations” space…

AND I’m wishing you success!!

Perhaps this is why in the Christian tradition the desert fathers and mothers lived a life of spiritual disciplines and spiritual direction. A life of contemplative prayer transforms all spiritual experience into lives of holy evolution.

Andrew, I always enjoy reading what you write and thank you for this one, as well.  I would only offer a small word of caution to those who may find themselves “charged” in a religious setting only to have it seemingly “go away.” While emotional “highs” can be wonderful, we need to let them mature into real spiritual experiences, in order for them to mean the most of our lives.  Keep up the great work, Andrew.  You are a blessing to many.

Hey Barb, I totally ditto your post. As the old cliche goes “Actions speak louder than words.” As I have continued to grow on my spiritual path my actions get stronger yet often more subtle. I am on the cusp of a breakthrough of screamingly imminent possibility that Andrew talks about. It is so exciting yet with that comes some fear/anxiety but it is so worth it!

While I almost always agree with Andrew on most levels, the pragmatic part of this essay, that seems to be missing, is that moving up the levels of consciousness, personally and as a society, culture, country and race, is usually filled with a lot of chaos on the way.

On a personal level, the transitions can be very unsettling, as you have to let go of many of the things you once took for granted, or as being “truth.” I remember the feeling of being untethered, or simply greatly confused about what to accept as truth, and what to abandon during times of transition.

The even bigger problem is how all of this happens collectively, as many people start to get the “itch” for change and something new, both as a society and on personal levels.

Unfortunately I believe that a certain level of chaos is needed for these changes to take place. Which is the ying and yang of it.  One look back at history and the great turning points, reveals that they are usually precipitated by great chaos, turbulence and change.  And then out of that comes a new level, a higher overall consciousness, or even a new wave never seen before.

New here, tho I have read several of Cohen’s books. I wonder: Does he ever respond to the questions and comments posted here? As for Andrew’s post, I don’t really see what revelation he is offering. Seems to me he’s simply saying: Getting high spiritually is great, wonderful, but unless we evolve to actually internalize and make permanent that insight, it won’t be permanent. What am I missing here? OK, I guess he’s also saying you have a better chance of making a true developmental link if you share it with others. 

What strikes me as usual when Andrew talks is the ultimate precision of the terms used and the clarity that hence emerges out of it. Once again Truth seems to strike out of this text, with its unmistakable mark of simplicity.  Yes, and yes again, when one has made a transition, a critical step, then it must be permanent, and independent of whatever life brings to us in its flux. How to surrender as the disciple of Life instead of the victim of it? That’s the big question for me.

Spiritual Intoxication - to me is like an excitement… seeing, knowing, recognizing that wondrous Energy far greater than I - yet resonant to me, in, with and through me.
I would like to redefine Faith - Faith is the recognition ( deep within ) of that Energy and the Enlightenment that comes as it permeates all into ALL. Hope is holding on to the string, the remembrance, the connections to that Energy and Enlightenment in the midst of each day, in the face of the world in which we live. And Love - well, it may sound easy but it is the path… it is the recall and the ever-constant memory of the Energy and Enlightenment.  We can have great Love and and moments of Love - we are human and this is our journey… Religions, governments,mothers, gurus and healers large and small have carried the responsibility and the mantle to re’mind’ us, offer tools and pathways of remembrance of the Energy or Godhead from whence we have come ... after all to remember is to make it a member of our Selves. We can find and keep company with others of like minds and Spirit but ultimately, each of us can and will make choices which determine our timing in this time/space continuum - our existence....  those choices/each choice of every consciousness is of great significance. Consciousness is NOT magic - it is a process of awareness - Every moment of our existence is recorded in these bodies and minds - as we come aware of what influences our choices - we make more refined choices with personal and universal understanding… We are in the process of being human to discover awareness, consciousness, enlightenment and the resonance of our choices - it is a journey.  Our paths and choices - are taken into the great Energy and Spirit - yes, that is the ever-evolving nature of Spirit and the ever-changing relationship of Spirit to man in, with and through enlightenment. So I think - it is all good - ‘intoxication’ - may there be many moments until there is resonance and the will to hold the lifeline and the capacity to ‘be’ more and more in resonance with Energy, Light and Spirit… and these are mere words seeking to offer an image to connect with ~ what we are talking about is far greater than mere words ~

It is true that if I never truly awaken I will never be able to see this vision long enough to manifest anything out of it. I will never be able to participate in this whole life process the way I was probably born to do. I will continue living in this seperate state of conciousness and self love. With mere glimpses of all the beauty that is behind everything. I am most likely never going to live a life of any real authentic intergrity. I basically will miss out on the enire real deal. I am hoping that this will create enough tension within me. To truly walk this path and be able to stay with it. I do not claim that anything in this world is harder than this.

This blog was a very nice follow-up after finishing the 11 Days book. I appreciate your leadership and understanding. Connected with the Integral movement since Ken Wilber began it, and as a former Catholic, then a Mormon, and now a student of Eckankar, it resonates with the highest inner/outer teachings of all of those paths and especially with the teachings of Sri Harold Klemp to choose not to remain on those wonderful plateaus of Christ/cosmic consciousness/ enlightenment, self-realization or even God-realization--but to go on, choosing to be a co-worker with God in everyday life as part of the still unfolding, great work of Divine Love, as Spirit or what we call the ECK, and riding that Kosmic wave of the Light and Sound of God, the HU, that impulse of evolustion and experiencing our lives as ever creative, ever loving, for evermore. Thank you for your many gifts. May the Blessings Be.

Wow Dear! You’ve just hit ... the point, the axis mundi, the middle of the the kosmical heart ... with that conscious “nail” of light and hammer of compation .... that’s really nice to feel that for some already the potentials are realities ... Bless You The Cosmic Heart ... WHICH THROBS WITH LIFE AND LIGHT ...thanks brother!

A quote below from Rob Brezsny’s “Pronoia is The Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings (my current favorite read). Brezsny’s previous “The Televisionary Oracle” novel is online and also a fun read.

“In some spiritual traditions, devotees attempt an arduous process of self-transformation as they retrain themselves to perceive the world from God’s point of view. If they succeed, they’re honored with an initiation ritual and given a new name to consecrate their altered state.

I have the same problem with this custom that I have with the idea of enlightenment: Once isn’t enough. Just as anyone in his or her right spiritual mind has a duty to keep claiming fresh varieties of enlightenment until the end of time, so should the initiations and renamings continue forever.

In my opinion, these considerations apply to you. You may not have sequestered yourself for years in a mountaintop monastery, and you may not have risen every morning at 5 a.m. to say prayers for hours, but you are an authentic devotee who has undergone equivalent ordeals. Your spiritual transformation has unfolded as you’ve dealt with the challenges of daily life during our epic moment in history, when unprecedented levels of annihilation and resurrection are the norm.

You have earned the right, therefore, to enjoy enlightenment after enlightenment and initiation after initiation and renaming after renaming.

I invite you to get started with a do-it-yourself initiation ceremony. It doesn’t have to be long and complicated, and you can create it yourself. As an example of what you might do, here’s a ritual that some Beauty and Truth Laboratory’s initiates have performed: 1. Eat a pinch of dirt to declare your solidarity with Mother Earth. 2. Burn a five-dollar bill to purify your relationship with symbols of wealth. 3. Kick yourself in the ass to affirm your ongoing intention to discipline your shadow.

As one of your initiatory rewards, consider adopting a fresh alias during this and every initiation you carry out in the future. You can abandon your existing name if you want, or simply add your new tag to the current mix.

To celebrate the occasion, I invoke on your behalf the inspiration of all shedding things. Your tree of power will be the eucalyptus, whose bark peels away to reveal fresh layers beneath. Your lucky symbol will be the molting snake. Your sacred insect will be the silverfish, which bursts through its exoskeleton as it grows a new and bigger one. Your role model will be Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849), who had such a passionate commitment to reinventing himself that he celebrated 60 births, each time giving himself a new name.”

Your post is wonderfully put and awe inspiring. As a psychotherapist I am often called to translate this message into the immediate language of the person in front of me in a way that motivates them to do what it takes to have the spiritual experience that will inspire them to trust that they can have an experience that will motivate them to act on that experience. It’s like jumpstarting Spirit. And that first “doing” is always an act of faith. At first it may have to be faith in me or another teacher but with each personal experience comes more faith in Spirit itself (yourself, myself, ourself). Our current cultural crisis of faith is in part due to the failure of organized religion to cultivate personal spiritual evolution due to the fear of losing power over its constituency. People need teachers and communities that are willing to be on the quest, invite others to join them on the quest, and be fearless of losing them to the quest. I commend you, Andrew, for being a teacher and community leader of this quest for spiritual growth and development!

Hi… I have only started reading your blog and other EnlightenNext material with attention recently.  Now I can find new meaning to it due to a personal experience which I guess could be called a consciousness awakening of the most profound kind.  I am wondering whether this blog and most of EnlightenNext work is directed to those people who know of Kundalini Awakening or similar.  In any case, I did not know anything about it until it happened to me spontaneously, without participating to any group meetings, without doing any yoga and so forth.  I did not even know what it was before it actually happened to me. Before this I would be conscious of a certain necessity to work together toward a new collective consciousness and awareness (after having “awakened"our own) without really knowing to which extent that could be reached. I knew of spiritual awakening only in words and as a concept and now I can say to really know it.  While my work and daily efforts were already oriented toward contributing to the creation of a better future now I will do it with a different energy and with a higher awareness: I will try to take it to the next level. I am only wondering whether this specific post is dedicated to people who had some sort of Kundalini Awakening because it seemed like it was actually talking to me.  Synchronicity? Best regards, VB

I see why this post was recommended in the letter. Your findings are absolutely valid. As a practioner I can agree totally that when we are not in the state as you put in the first para istself I am almost a brute, an animal, and later when I reflect on my behavior or speech I realise how far away I am from permanently being there. This has recently given me cause to challenge myself and push me to heighten my awareness and see through the various ego mechanisms which appear regularly and almost in waves deterring me and driving me into the mad world of the ego, as you put it cynical, nihilist etc etc. thanks for dealing with this now, since for me uncannily it is very relevant at the moment.

Totally true and inspiring.  It is time to make effort and bring the highest vision of ourselves, the best parts of ourselves and the most positive and beautiful glimpses of our culture down to Earth, here and NOW!!

Dear Leonard,
This is what I am being led to think and feel after what I lived, experienced, read, learnt till this moment, in the Here and Now, and that I would like to share.
The manifestation of What is in every one of us, in this life cycle, is the culmination of an ongoing sacred process of universal growth. The understanding, conscientiouslization/growing awareness of this divine/cosmic evolutionary process is the target of each life in the here and now. We are as parts/pieces of a immeasurable puzzle that wants to manifest in all possible forms of universal manifestation. Existence/Being alive and awoken as humans is thus a way of sharing divine co-creation. When each of us is aware of this ongoing process one needs to choose: just think and talk about it (more or less philosophically and get stuck in the higher mental vibrations like a broken record); think about it and try to live according to internal insight, get hurt because everyone else thinks one is a fruit cake by trying to live Love on Planet Earth, stage of the most basic learning how to deal with primitive emotions with all that this implies, and just give up; persist in what one learnt about the spiritual manifestations of Love in one’s life and dare to act according to spiritual, non tangible love vibrations.
Waking up to spirituality, that teaches us we are more than meets the eye and choose what to do with it, is the practical exam that awaits each one of us sooner or later. The suffering that results from having chosen to Be/Act Love amongst those who chose not to bother to believe or love, is the touch stone to the individual sacralization of Life while humans on this planet. Once one starts to awake to the essence of True Self, the necessary mortal combat between the Ego, that allowed us to live and start awakening to spirituality, and the increasing manifestation of a Spiritual Life on the here and now, starts. The Ego “shell” is then to be left behind (like the butterfly that has to emerge from the cocoon). In this process, duality will be more difficult to bear until the spiritual bodies gain consistency.
So, if we got lucky to be alive/to be born and be aware of all this as humans, in the here and now, we can choose to do here below, what we learnt from above. The one below will mirror the One above (the sign of the infinite, horizontal or vertical, as we may want to see it will make full sense). And then again none of what I said above matters, because one can be illiterate, economically poor and still be a truly good human being while others, like me, still get undecided between the “recipies” and the plain skill of boiling water. Does hate, misunderstanding, envy and all the other “tools” necessary to live in this profane, consumerist world make us feel Happy? If not, once one was given the “taste” of Love, why not try to get hold of the epiphany and find a way to put it into practise. Maybe the ones around us start doubting the ways of the world (be born, go to school, get a degree, buy a house, cars, get married, have kids and die), are not to be taken for granted. The positive doubt we create on others may be a sort of “virus” of Love that will change the understanding of Life in the Here and Now.
Best wishes,
Bela

Who am I to add to the varied and excellent comments which have already been posted but I will add how well I know that state and how clearly all the systems of everything become but a web of interconnections which hum with the energy which flows through them. Is there not a parallel between this and the movement of individuals to the next turn of the spiral in v-memes(Beck and Cowan)?
Are we not aiming to lift our internal values out of subsistence and into existence by accepting and valuing all values and systems which operate and therefore free ourselves from the struggles which have sustained mankind since time began and move into that Brave New age which Orwell hinted at and I believe the Mayans recognised by ending their calendar at this time?
Once we allow the constraints of the last 100 000 years of development fall to the wayside, acknowledge their learnings and move on, will we step into that state of total acceptance and understanding you so eloquently refer to.

Indeed once we go all the way with enlightenment we will “always only be creating the world that we have already become”. The profundity and scope of Andrew’s blog inspired me to share a few words.  Especially when I read, “Together we can see and feel, directly cognize, and intuit a glorious future that is possible to create here and now, in the present moment--not as a remote ideal but as the most screamingly imminent potential imaginable.” I want to carry Andrew’s words--"Most screamingly imminent potential"--out to their absolute fruition rather than simply read their poetic beauty. Although I could use a little of your optimism, Andrew i.e. if a total re-identification with one’s Authentic Self is humankind’s most imminent potential, and how lovely a world that would create if humankind actualized that potential, all the pain and suffering as we know it would end. Still, I don’t see the imminence at all...i wish i could. Andrew, I could use a little of your inner beauty here.  This imminent potential, for those of us who don’t live with beautiful human beings (your students) who want nothing more than to hold the space you are describing, it’s not quite as easy to see the collective accomplishing this feat.  But I love you for staying enlightened--for your inner beauty as I love myself for doing the same because via that clarity--that knowledge--there is only ONE reason for being here, ONE passion, ONE subject and that’s to die (transform) into infinite Source.

Thank you Andrew. So beautifully and powerfully written.For the analogy, I would rather say it is like recovering memory of Ancient Love.
And also and not the least
“Humanity’s emergence into the Greater Community will be quite difficult because of the Intervention. It will require that a Higher Consciousness be cultivated, protected and maintained in enough people”
Allies Of Humanity BOOK II p146

As you always say, Andrew, spiritual intoxication properls us on the rocket ship that takes us beyond our “puny” egos, and if we’re able to sustain that propulsion absolutely within ourselves as well as relatively with the world outside ourselves...we finally come to the end of our journey, stepping out onto that entity which is Evolution itself; that passionate energy always moving forward. There we will remain, always evolving, at ONE with Evolution itself.

what we need is tools for channeling new power-structures. But spirit will take care of it, that is my faith. I feel that the same creative energy that shaped the bio-sphere, also shaped the theoretical landscape, rolled up it’s sleeves and said: “Let’s boogie.” It’s two making two. Pairs of order interacting with other pairs of order forming new pairs of order. It’s not complicated. Complication arises when stubbornness tries to build a house with a banana. It’s every man for himself now. Navigation. The Techno-Spirit is The Alien. This is an AA-meeting turning into an all-night orgie. There is no Red Pill. We are all super-models and metafor-makers, carving and digging and finding treasures that destroy our assumptions. Darwinism is water turning to eyes. Culture is energy making a joke. This I know about myself.

What Andrew speaks of, if I understand him correctly, is the process examined in the Ageless Wisdom teachings.  As the soul infuses the personality - over many lifetimes - the dichotomy between the mundane and spiritualized selves dissipates, gradually to be replaced by a quality of oneness that embraces all of one’s identity, the temporal and the eternal simultaneously.  If we continue to interpret this process as a relinquishment of one for the other, there will continue to exist a frustration and disappointment around the difficulty and time required for self transformation thru incarnation.  It is the PROCESS of infusement itself, the JOURNEY of that self-evolution, so we can learn to live and be in and of both worlds, perceiving from both perspectives simultaneously, which is the point of human incarnation and the very thing which enables us ultimately to be able to “take it all in”.  Spirit PERMEATING matter, and through that process transforming it.  Learning how to do this via our individul and collective identities is the very challenge we are here to meet on the earth plane.  Overcoming resistance and learning to identify with, embrace and integrate the Highest, while loving and accepting the Lowest within ourselves, is the rigorous assignment of humanity. If we attempt to abandon personality, we run the risk of living in fragmentation and denial.  If we learn how to infuse it, we are walking the path of ultimate internal and collective unity and wholeness. This is how we create “new structures in consciousness, psyche and culture.” At least, that’s how I see it.  Always open to more insight…

The really enlightened people don’t talk about it-- they ARE it, in the form of passionate activists for peace (e.g., the Dalai Lama). Put down the bongs, quit stroking your own egos and go do something tangible in the world: grow some corn, raise a child, play some music, create some art, start a foundation!

As an artist and musician this post resonates with me very deeply. 

One of the most fascinating and mysterious things about performing great music is the search for, and the discovery of, inspiration.  I think this is the seeking and finding of spirit in and through music: the authentic expression of greatness that I must allow to take over.  Sometimes in my life this force has been violently insistent.  Music is a powerful force. 

This blog entry seems to mirror and explain very clearly the journey of singing.  In order to find one’s authentic Voice, one must give oneself to the spirit of ‘great’ music.  It can be thrilling and intoxicating to understand the way music can speak to us.  It can be humbling to understand its power--but technique is what keeps us performing consistently.  If we waited every day for spirit to appear and take over we would never sing well enough to get consistent work.

I’m wondering if we can apply the idea of musical technique to our everyday lives.  In spiritual circles we are blessed with individuals and collections of individuals who have achieved consistent greatness.  They achieved greatness not necessarily only through inspiration but through spiritual practice.  We also have examples of musicians who touch millions of souls through their consistent openness to spirit.  These musicians achieve this greatness through physical and mental training not unlike the training of spiritual greats.  It is no wonder that many great musicians look to spiritual practices at some point in their careers in an attempt to explain the way they, mostly through their own musical instincts, discovered their authentic Voice, which is a mirror of, if not always the same as, the Authentic Self.

Because music speaks so easily to me I like to think of all of life as a great symphony or opera.  The more I learn to be open to the music of life the more I have to understand WHY and HOW I am open to it, in order to inform my technique.  What was once a frightening insistent call from my authentic Voice became a mystery to solve: how do I allow this music through me without being physically destroyed by its greatness?  How do I achieve Ego death and physical strength simultaneously?  How do I live in a way that does justice to the great music that seems to take me captive?  Even the slightest imbalance can be harmful physically, mentally, or spiritually.  When balance seems to be achieved it is thrilling.

I think the shift in consciousness will reach the musical world eventually, but perhaps later than the rest of the world...not necessarily because we are far from realizing Authentic Self, but because we are so close to it.  Musicians live day in and day out with a force that demands of us almost the same things that the Life Force demands.  It will be a test to see if we wake up the the entirety of Love, using the great gift of Music to show us the way to the Highest Truth. 

Thanks as always for an infusion of greatness.

Yes!

“From that point on, we will always only be creating the world that we have already become.”

Isn’t that what we are doing all the time, no matter what (or how much) we have become anyway, for good and bad?

2 years ago I knelt down and looked at the clouds.
I opened my arms and surrendered to what I didn’t understand.

I found this page today.  I learned of Andrew Cohen today. The day I was born I was led to this point, this place. When I woke this morning I had no idea I would be reading such truth tonight. Now as I sit here intoxicated by what I read and what I already knew deep within. My day now looks like a set of dominoes being knocked down one by one. The end was already there when I woke.

I live in Australia. I have regular conversations with one friend of mine and we talk about the evolution of our consciousness’. We have touched on so many of the topics you have written about, but had never learned from anywhere else. Our conscious leads us both in the same direction, to the same point and reading it here cements the confidence and understanding I know within. I spoke to my friend about 18 months ago, we spoke about wanting to help as many people recognize the opportunity they have to be enlightened. I no longer need a soap box to stand on, because I feel a little more confident that there is a leader working towards global understanding.

I have never written on a blog before, but could not resist in the hope that my words could reach you and coax you to extend your teachings to Australia. A place where people can feel and know that a massive shift I the consciousness of all is imminent. I even fear for those who may be far to attached to material possessions. If they do not evolve they may suffer greatly.

If our happiness is to endure what may be in the future, the lessons need to be spread far and wide.

I tip my hat to you Andrew. If you ever consider traveling down under, you would be welcomed with open arms by many.