Andrew Cohen Interviewed in Israel part 2

let's talk a little bit again about growing up yeah how do we do that how do we grow up yeah we go from being a spoiled self-centered adolescent to a mature adult who begins to care about life uh well I think it first it requires a a a deep introspection we have to really begin to think deeply about who we are and why we're here the two basic questions yeah but we have to really think about it so I like for example I got to that point in my own development as a as a Young Man where I felt where if I didn't find out to to the answer to that question it wouldn't be worth living MH so we have to really realize that unless we find the answers to some of the most important philosophical and spiritual questions it's inevitable that we're going to make a mess out of it and people do and most people do make a big mess out of it because we don't know what we're doing we we have everything we've been given everything you know we've been given the gift of Education of wealth the the freedom to do whatever more or less anything we want to do we can go anywhere more or less that we want to I mean there we we are the privileged generation I mean the last the last 20 or 30 years 40 years there's there's been millions of us that have had a level of PRI privilege freedom and education Freedom of Choice has never existed before there never been a group of human beings like us I feel that when we look back at how well we've done I don't think we've done that well but this privilege made us confused this is what let's say I'm talking about myself this is what what made me confused I mean my father had no privilege he was in the war he had to run away he came he came to Israel he built the country thank you very much and then he went to sleep at night that's what he did exactly when I wake up in the morning I've got everything around me it's a whole big Supermarket that makes me confused of course that's why the the philosophical and Spiritual Development is essential and moral development is essential in order for us to begin to learn how to make the right choices for the right reasons I mean it it's it's it's really a big big big problem yeah but this is very nice theoretically but most I'm not talking about theoretic we have to do it maybe it's a matter of uh stages but first of all I want to make myself better I want to make my angers my frustrations my I don't I don't believe you why is that why I most people don't really want to quote unquote make themselves better people the only reason anybody's G to truly strive to become a better person is if they find a very big reason to do so so us what do you mean a big reason to do so well there has to be a reason Beyond how you feel about yourself so a lot of people because they suffer because they suffer they have they suffer psychological emotional pain and fear they want to feel better but wanting to feel better doesn't mean you want to be a better person it means you don't want to suffer that's right just because you don't want to suffer that does not automatically mean you want to be a better person yeah but most of the people most of the the spiritual paths that are now open for us talk about that talk about but most of the spiritual paths that are available cater the uh the postmodern narcissist it's like it's like it's just another option yeah it's just another way to feel better about yourself it doesn't really challenge the very notion we have about ourselves so so that we'll be able to really Embrace a larger reason for being that really is not self- serving but isn't there any other way I mean in in your point of view you have to go into a higher level you have to grow up you have to be more mature you have to strive to become more mature if I if I need to stve you know this a very big leap for me if I'm doing my my the world's in a crisis man isn't it I feel it on a daily basis other words crisis but my life is in a crisis before but just a minute if the thing is if you really Tak in the whole picture personally I'm in a crisis the world's in a crisis all right I'm part of the world that means I don't have time the reality is I don't actually have time to carry on with my with my self-c concern and my problems because I have to get my act together for the sake of the fact that we're in a crisis together I don't have listen I don't have 10 15 20 years to work out my problems I have to get it together now but you're talking about the most basic thing about humanity is about taking care about yourself who who do you rescue before okay if we're on a boat do you rescue yourself or do you rescue the world the main the most of the people especially in Israel would first of all rescue themselves I'm asking you how can you persuade people who naturally want to want to save themselves first to go to a higher level World the world is over there my life is over here I want to deal with the world you has to be exploded sorry the world you has to be exploded so well for example what does it mean for an Israel so for basically for for an Israeli he or she feels you know uh my my way of life and the way I know it's being threatened because of this local problem but don't you I think more Israelis need to see their own predicament as part of this larger Global crisis don't you think that's part of the problem yeah I can see it's part of the problem I'm asking you how can you persuade somebody to do that when your own problems are just knocking on the door I mean this is different I mean Einstein Einstein himself said the only way to solve a problem is to find a solution that comes from a higher level than the one that the problem emerged at he was a good Jew and in some way I don't know why it sounds a little bit like the philosophy of the kibuts do you know the kibuts in Israel it's there are a lot of similarities because the whole notion of the kibuts is not just living for yourself but living for a larger larger purpose yes absolutely just a minute but but in what but the way I'm saying is is is Imagine The kabut here is the whole Cosmos all right so we expand the little kabut with you know 50 or you know a thousand people and expand that to being the whole Cosmos and what in the way I approach this is I is I try and help people to look at their own human existence from nothing less than a cosmocentric context that we're part of a 14 billion year process where that's gone from energy light to matter to life to Consciousness so who you are you're really 14 billion years old it's all I said really and it's taken 14 billion years for the universe to produce a life form that had the capacity for self-reflective awareness that would make it possible us for us to have this kind of discussion and they say wow so it's not it's a context of which we think about what it means to be human has to has to become really big you see what I'm saying not it has to has in the form of an experience of that fact and also in terms of expanding the way we think about these things and we also have to realize that the process really needs us it's not just a it's not just a high deal but it's literally true if you want to know what's going to happen to the Future well what's if we if you and I don't change what's going to happen is what's happening right now which means we're not going to make it I mean it's obvious just look around so the change has to happen and the first change that has to happen is at the level of Consciousness because if we we haven't evolved uh uh enough to appreciate that the problems we're facing demand a much bigger view in order to be able to address them and that bigger view is going to only come when individuals actually develop you and I have to do that now but in order to let go of all my personal small you pretend you you pretend your house is surrounded by Palestinians who want to kill you and your family right and drink your blood okay yeah well I live around the corner it could be by the way okay but you imagine but actually those aren't Palestinians you see that that's that's the human predicament of the 21st century you see yeah but but you see my point it has to do it has to do it has to do with our our survival as a global culture mhm okay but but in order to emphasize with what you're saying I have to let go of some of my most genuine beliefs about myself like what like that we are in danger here that I'm a Jew that my own personal identity has to be left because it doesn't really matter if we're looking at it in 14 14 billion years time no no it all matters no no but the point is you're a Jew okay yeah you're a Jew aren't you're a Jew right but the but the Jew is a member of a particular tribe MH right but that tribe is also part of a part of the human race so what so what's is it more important to be a member of a particular tribe or is it more important ultimately to be a member of the human race it is more important to be a a member of the human race okay just a minut just a minut so then so then the context gets bigger so then you even consider the whole idea of being a Jew in a much bigger context right and then you realize the human race is as far as we know the highest and most evolved expression of the life process that's that's been part of a 14 bill that's that's part of a 14 billion year developmental event right and then you start you start to see all this and then you see you see as as a planetary as a planetary uh culture and as a species we're in a lot of trouble so you start to think about your own problems in a bigger context and the idea here is you is your own problems don't go away but the context in which you consider your own personal problems you begin to see them in a bigger and bigger context that's where the strength comes from to make changes you have to understand there's no gimmick to this this yeah of course you see if you want to just if if it's going to be a small thing you can give to someone a gimmick but there's no gimmick in getting someone to really grow up mhm you have to put your hands on their shoulders look in their faces say don't you realize who you are don't you realize what this is it's not a game it's not a joke this is real yeah but growing up just this last question growing up is something that it takes time I look at my friend's baby I can't make him when he's crawling I can't tell him all right now read this he's crawling it needs time develop but but listen when it when when when a uh when for example Israel is at War when any group of people are threatened it's possible for a young man to grow up and become very mature because he has to because everybody's threatened okay now what we have to do is is look is look at that same possibility emerges when we realize that the process itself is desperate for our own maturity we we say I have to do this because when we realize it's important enough we do it because we have to yeah yeah it's for the same reason but very few people are willing to do that they're much more willing to pick up a gun when we have to protect oursel when we're being physically threatened but what about when we're being threatened in a in a in a much bigger way in a much more profound way as a species you see then we get what it's a lot harder for us to hold that in in our minds because our thinking is so small but we have to find that kind of big-heartedness we have to connect with reality in a much deeper way so let's pray that we should find this big heart let's not pray let's do it let's do it just do it thank you very much I'm going to do it right now okay thanks