January 24, 2012
A Cosmic Orientation
The evolution of our consciousness and our culture is an awe-inspiring task, but I believe it is possible for anyone who cares deeply enough about it. Those of us who feel compelled by the evolutionary impulse must be willing to embrace the dramatic scale at which the life-process is operating. When we awaken to the fact that we are part of a fourteen-billion-year process that is going somewhere, we begin to see our own day-to-day, moment-to-moment choices in a literally cosmic context. We see our own presence here on earth in relationship to the evolution of the cosmos itself.
This cosmic orientation is essential if we are to succeed in taking the next evolutionary step. If our orientation is not that big, we are always going to fall short. Our habitual ways of thinking are just too small-minded, petty, and personal. In order for authentic, profound, and meaningful transformation to occur, we have to make the effort to see all of our choices in this cosmic context. And that, in itself, is evolution. That’s what our next step is: awakening to a cosmic orientation to being a human being, here on earth, right now.
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, founder of EnlightenNext, and the author of 
The real meaning of non duality: we are that, the whole shebang, (no pun intended), the stars, the process, the planets, the universe, that is going somewhere. What a fabulous place to be
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If my life is lived in and as a cosmic unfolding , what is the need of any structure to contain or supposedly to sustain me? In a cosmic context, is there any difference between individual and collective? Or this difference is created by a non cosmic perception of life ?What is human relationships in an absolute context? Is is based on mutual reward ? mutual exploitation? Or could it be that in a cosmic context there is no collective nor individual but the process and therefore no choice .
Andrew, Perhaps it would be easier for us ordinary mortals to understand what a “cosmic orientation” to life entails if you would give us some concrete examples. Is it meditation, good works, love of our fellow journeyers, care of our planet and all of its biological inhabitants or all of the above and more? What can one individual do to achieve the ends you espouse? I deeply hope that the consciousness of our world will evolve in a way to make “Heaven on Earth”.
Dear Gus,
As you said, “all of the above and more.” What I’m pointing to here is more a overarching perspective and a higher source of motivation than it is any specific action. When we are consciously, energetically, spiritually inspired by the vertical impulse of the creative process, we will notice that the future, rather than the past and the present, is captivating our attention. We notice that we are now magnetically/ecstatically attracted by possibilities and potentials that have yet to emerge in the present moment. Most importantly, it will become obvious that our very captivation will ultimately compel (through our own actions) those potentials to become manifest here and now.
I just posted this quotation by Andrew on the supplementary “Classic Quotes of The Great Story” page that I keep on my website. I already had 3 previous quotes of his there, and this one is just as powerful. I very much appreciate being on the e-list receiving those weekly quotations. Any reader who wishes to check out TheGreatStory.org classic quotes pages can visit:
http://thegreatstory.org/morequotes.html
and
http://thegreatstory.org/what_is.html
As an example, I liken Andrew’s quote to the “glass half full” metaphor.
The ego identifies itself as the water, half-way to the brim. It tries to reach into the “Space” above it, to extend itself rationally or psycho-emotionally into the Space, because it senses its own partiality, its own “half-way fullness”, but it’s unwilling to let go of the surface tension between itself and the space…it is deathly afraid of losing itself in the void. So it takes on theories and ideas and beliefs about the Space, which is fine, because intellectual curiosity or emotional yearning are a necessary first step to a “cosmic orientation.” This is “translation.”
But, the ego can make the choice to let go of the surface tension, to actually transcend its fear of the Space which it desires to become, and to genuinely begin to expand into the Space by the form of the Soul, thereby becoming the Space, filling the Space with water only to realize, the Space and the Water were One all along. And this is actually *becoming* the “cosmic orientation” and realizing the glass was full and overflowing with Spirit’s intention from the very beginning. This is “transformation.”
LOL(;} and Blessings
I could not agree with this more. We need to RE Alighn (where the work religoun came from) who we really are, and radiate that to the world. I believe it all lies in the excitement in everyday dream chasing. I’ve actualy got a video on y blog that shares how we can begin this journey, check it out if your interested, http://www.onenessblog.com/all-posts/12-01-your-heros-journey-begins-now.html
For some time I have been contemplating what it means to be an individual holding a cosmic orientation. Certainly within this orientation and its huge time-line, “I” don’t stand out as anything special. And yet, neither did an individual bacteria surrounded by a sea of bacteria. But somehow, and slowly, individual bacteria “pushed” into something new together that finally emerged as multicelled organisms and then on up the evolutionary ladder to conscious humans. Those evolutions can be viewed as evolution of the exterior form of things. So putting all this together as “me-right-now” within a cosmic orientation context feels like something analogous to a bacteria pushing into something new, but the new that I/we are pushing into is an interior evolution of consciousness within a collective. Just as the bacteria had to work together to evolve the new, so do we. This is where the joy, challenge, and importance of intersubjective, non-egoic communication becomes so cosmically exciting.
I’ve been enjoying your comments for some time, Andrew, and this last post really hits home for me. I’ve been drawn to look at where my choices are not truly in alignment with what I believe – when I’m not actually walking my talk – seeing my choices in a cosmic context as you point out, and absolutely knowing that the only real power I have to shift things in the world, are to shift them within me. A dear friend recently said, “there are no problems outside of me.” This brings it right back to my own choices – how I consume, do business, what I choose to put on my plate, the stories I create about my partner’s behavior, and on and on……
Thank you for the clarity of your voice, and the depth of your devotion.
Blessings, Katherine