Andrew Cohen - N° 2 - LAST TEACHINGS - Dec. 24 | Feb. 2025

I think we have to be very careful when we talk about final liberation. We we mere mortals have to tread lightly on the with these grandio statements. So I think that [Music] um profound liberation is is attainable. But uh I see many people taste the state of spiritual liberation for short periods of time. Then they found out they weren't spiritually prepared to accept it because spiritual liberation is a state of consciousness gives us a glimpse into the ultimate or absolute nature of reality. But in order to be able to sustain that state of consciousness, we have to be able to give up a lot of other things. be very careful about how we're thinking about whether that's real. Most people haven't thought that deeply about anything let alone the nature of consciousness. So it requires a longterm commitment to total and final liberation that that doesn't neily happen in one lifetime. And that's one thing and another thing is that what's the goal of liberation? Is the goal of liberation to be free? So we don't experience fear or pain or or as liberation a state of consciousness that enables us to embrace life unconditionally, radically and absolutely and completely. We can live a big life for big reasons for everybody else's sake. We have to figure all these things out. What does final liberation mean? So I think there's a lot of contemplation that's necessary. contemplation, introspection, thinking, considering, asking important questions as if our life depended on it. And my I've been teaching for about 40 years, so I can tell you most people don't uh honor the potential for their own liberation enough don't take it seriously enough, don't realize what it means. So yes, it's a state of consciousness that makes us feel free, but it's much more than that. And it it needs to awaken a state of tremendous humility in us. And uh based on a very big contemplation of the ultimate nature of existence and the meaning and purpose of life, what's the meaning and purpose of life? What's the meaning and purpose of my life and your life right now? Who am I? Why am I here? What's the purpose of this experience I'm having? Is there any inherent and ultimate value in it? Is it meaningless and purposeless? Or does it have inherent meaning, inherent value? And if it has inherent meaning and inherent value, what's my relationship to that? Do I have enough self-respect, dignity to hold that enormity of what's involved in all this? Or am I still thinking in a very small-minded, self-centered, egotistical way? So I think we have to become big big minded big-hearted big people be able to bear the enormity of what we're talking about. That helps a lot. And another thing is that we live in a very scary time in human history right now. So I think we have to consider what does liberation mean? Such a chaotic and frightening time to be alive. Does it mean that we don't experience fear? What does it mean to be fearless in a time when so much is at stake? These are all important questions. So I think what Ramen meant by final liberation, he probably meant that he was free from attachment to anything. But I think that's well that's very valid. It seems to me like a rather old-fashioned interpretive framework simply not being attached to anything. the western person is not necessarily what freedom is all about. I don't think I'm more I'm more like to encourage people to think what's what based on all of my life experience, what would be the most perfect relationship to the human experience? What would that be? Once I figure out what that could be, can I do can I enact the most perfect relationship to the human experience in all my imperfection? Because we're all imperfect vehicles, right? So in our imperfection can we what's the most perfect way we can manifest the most perfect relationship to life? Can we do it with dignity, grace and uh spiritual self-confidence? It's a little more tricky than just not being attached. I think and also along with this is the the old the old vanta is very much the belief that the world is an illusion. The universe is an illusion. It's the play of consciousness doesn't mean anything. So we shouldn't get too involved. Don't take it too seriously. Don't get trapped in Maya or the world of illusion. But a more I believe a more progressive and evolutionary way to think about life is that God created the universe. But if God created the universe, it must be real. What's the most perfect relationship to this relatively real way of consciousness? If I'm going to get involved in I'm already here. You're already here. So if I'm already here, what's the right way to be involved? Should I go live under under a tree and have no relationship with anybody except the ants? Because the minute we get involved in having a relationship with anybody or anything, life gets more complicated, right? So in the context of this notion of perfect liberation, what's the most appropriate kind of way to have relationships with other human beings in which context? Which context would express inner freedom, spiritual freedom, spiritual liberation or a final liberation. These are big questions. It's a lot. It's a huge I just gave you three books. But it's it's not too much if you realize you'll never get to the bottom of it.