The Evolution of Enlightenment Pt 4 - Andrew Cohen

this is really what the next step is the we we have evolved from uh you know the the first this is the very the very simple definition of The evolutionary stages the first one is egocentric which would be the awareness of the small baby we all know that small babies are very egocentric all they're aware of are their self and their own needs they don't even have a and they're very very young they don't even have the capacity to be aware that another exists so that would be the extreme narcissis of the small child the next level would be um ethnocentric so ethnocentric is when you remember is when you identify yourself with you identify with your blood so then you see you identify yourself as being part of a particular group a particular tribe you identify yourself with being one with all the other individuals that share the same bloodline as you that's ethnocentric level of development and that's very problematic because in an ethnocentric level of development you are going to be in conflict with everybody who's not part of your tribe and part of your group that's why a lot of the the the the eth the wars that are going on in places like Africa this the the fighting that was going on recently in Yugoslavia these were ethnocentric battles the next level Beyond ethnocentric is worldcentric but there two substages beyond that when hum when human beings discovered the great Traditions when for example when Christianity emerged individuals from separate tribes now suddenly began to share this sense of Oneness or community Union with other people who share the same creation myth right so when you then so then when you become part of a great religious Tradition now you begin to share the same creation myth with other people that are no longer just part of your tribe but now they're part of a much so then the universe gets bigger and bigger and eventually you know and and for most people now the mo at the postmodern stage of development which is obviously everybody here at the conference most of us have reached what's called a worldcentric level velopment and for someone who's at a worldcentric level of development which is very highly evolved relatively speaking that means for most of us see ourselves as first and foremost human beings so a lot of you you know you see well F basically I'm a human being before I'm a member of a particular Nation before I'm the member of particular religious orientation before I'm anything else I'm a human being first and foremost and I'm sure most of you see yourselves as being human beings first don't you so that's a very high level development so someone at a world- Centric level development see themselves as being a human being who's a citizen of the planet Earth but this what I'm describing what I'm describing for everybody here is a Step Beyond that which is when you awaken to this Consciousness I'm speaking about this evolutionary impulse you experience yourself to be a citizen of the cosmos but but as well it's true I mean I'm not ashamed to admit it I'm proud of it because it's true because and the reason is is because you feel that the energy and the intelligence that's driving you and that's motivating you and that's moving you and that's compelling you to care for things that far transcend your your your your your personal world and your personal ego are coming from a source that is that one that you know with with the with the creative process and that's when you start to see your own personal life experience your own personal life experience and everything that's happening here from from a cosmic perspective you see the the the the the ultimate contextualizing uh the ultimate context for everything that's happening is is the cosmos itself and and then from that perspective you see everything that's going on from your person personal problems to the problems we're facing as a global species and everything else you see this literally as a cosmic event and your perspective gets pretty big now I I want to just I'm I'm talking so fast because I'm just freaking out about the time here usually have a few hours I can go through this stuff slowly but I want I want to speak a little bit about the energy and intelligence that I'm speaking about or the the Creative Energy and intelligence uh which I'm speaking about the evolutionary impulse just so everybody knows exactly what I'm talking about so there's nothing vague about it the first place to locate in The Human Experience what the creative impulse is or what the evolutionary impulse is is in the sexual impulse because the procreative energy that all human beings experience as a sexual impulse uh that's that same drive that is the Big Bang when you experience the sexual impulse you're experiencing this this in in the impersonal force of nature that is commanding you to procreate and the and and the nature of that impulse is both ecstasy and urgency and the reason that the sexual impulse is so problematic for people is not because of it's ecstatic nature but because of the sense of urgency it has to happen now it has to happen now it has to happen now right because I I always wanted to know what God feels like so if you were the energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process and were driving the creative process what would you feel like a lot of people what does God feel like you know I I can if you say with me you're going to know exactly what God feels like so so of course but the the sexual impulse which is the energy which is the Creative Energy this Universal Creative Energy this procreative energy is very creative but it's really it's but it's a it's biolog it's a it's a biological command to procreate so anybody and everybody can experience it as as as ecstatic as the experience can be there's nothing there's nothing necessarily that profound about it if youve ever met a cre have you if you ever met a very creative person or someone who was very driven like a creative genius whether they were an artist or a musician or an engineer or a very inspired public servant but a a a a very creative a very inspired person someone who is driven driven driven to create that which is new it doesn't matter what the field is if you ever met such a driven person what you'll find and what you'll notice is that they're driven by an an a kind of an energy that compels them to stay up at night that compels them to push the edges because they feel I must succeed at this and there's a there's a sense and a quality that these people are driven by which is there are dri being driven by the unmanifest potential that exists in the future so so great and talented Geniuses whatever their field feel they must succeed at producing or giving birth to this unmanifest potential that they're aware of and they're going to work work work and do whatever they need to do stay up and lose sleep you know is so that this thing's going to come through them now where does it come from where does this and you have to know that human beings are the only life forms on the planet that are driven to create that which is new driven to innovate weird human beings are driven to innovate millions of years ago the Innovation maybe happen once every 500,000 years right we do the same old thing glun glun you know and then 500,000 years later glun Lun but everybody knows that the rate of change now has sped up and it's become exponential and the rate of change is happening so fast you know we can't keep up with it it's just it's absolutely overwhelming but where does the drive that human drive to innovate and create that which is where does it come from because you know you can't teach anybody about that miraculous Drive to innovate and create that which is new and you know that there are very the most talented and creative people the people that have created our that have made the biggest impact on our development you know in all levels you know from art to music to culture to science have been individuals that have been driven right from from religious Geniuses to Scientific Geniuses to Great Arts they've all been driven but where does the energy come from because you can't it's not something you can teach somebody it comes from and mysterious place doesn't it and we know that not everybody is driven by this energy you follow but these people that are driven are driven by it's what does it feel like there's an ecstatic urgency ecstatic so what does the Manifest God feel like feels like an ecstatic urgency and if you meet people like that if you tell them why don't you calm down you know take a vacation you're pushing yourself too hard you know they just look at you like you know get off my back because they know that you don't know how turned on they are you know and even if and even if they are a little abnormal or you know or not exactly you know peaceful and cal every minute of the day they're being driven by an ecstatic potential to give birth to something new and the highest expression the most profound expression of this of The evolutionary impulse is the spiritual impulse and the spiritual impulse is felt by people today as an urge towards Consciousness so the way this is experiences is some people feel a mysterious compulsion to become more conscious and how and how this compulsion is experienced is I must become more conscious some people and certainly not everybody a lot of people don't experience it have you ever expelled this urge towards conscious they go huh