March 19, 2012
When the Door Opens
The kinds of spiritual experiences that have the power to liberate or enlighten us are not so difficult to come upon if we earnestly seek them out. But if we want to evolve in the most important way, there is a much bigger issue that needs to be understood. And that is the all-important matter of whether we’re ready to respond wholeheartedly, fearlessly, and courageously when that door that we may have been knocking on so insistently unexpectedly opens. Our willingness to respond without reservation is what gives the evolutionary impulse—or the God-force in the universe—its power to affect real and lasting change, to catalyze the kind of transformation that will ultimately have an impact on our culture.
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, founder of EnlightenNext, and the author of 
These are powerful words and my wife and I are on the threshold of seeing this coming into full bloom. The last three years have been exhausting for us and yet we continued to do what we felt was right and loving, and these doors you speak have swung open in such a wide way, we never even considered, and it is wonderful. Thanks for all your encouraging words especially this past year. Dispair was there, and yet hope prevailed.
So simple yet profound, willingness to respond without reservation
If I understand Andrew’s message accurately, we need to suspend our particular concerns sufficiently to be open to what Tillich calls “ultimate concern” so that those particular concerns might be invigorated with creativity, courage and energy drawn from the spiritual dimension of our lives.
Exactly!
Love,
Andrew
dear andrew god!! to me is not force it is power ,force indeed moves in timebut that would be an illusionary movement where as power never moves,one can never seek it once you seek you move away from truth surely enlightement is not about responding but just listenening withought an observer then the impulse as you call it will be the movement of life … otherwise who is responding ,? rob
Hi Robert, I can appreciate your effort at the subtle discernment between “power” and “force.” If I understand you correctly, perhaps what you mean by “power” is Spirit as Foundational and Causal Source (?), That Which Is – Absolute Truth; and “force”, as you’ve indicated, if it is a movement, it is an “illusory movement.” (?)
Please allow me to explain what Andrew means, based in my own direct experience of “God-force.”
Because All is Spirit, God, Brahman, etc., then the movements of consciousness are Spirit’s movements; Spirit is Consciousness. Spirit is then both All movements in and as consciousness, and simultaneously Absolutely Transcendent of All movements, or “forces”, as we are discussing here. In other words, Spirit in “manifest” form is energy and force, and as Andrew uses the term, the Evolutionary Impulse or God-force or Eros of the universe, is the force of any and all, in and as, movements of consciousness. God as force, then, is an Archetypal Deity, the force of Ascendance, the energy of transformation through the stages of development. Spirit as manifestation is a Hierarchy or Holarchy of Being. The stages are movements of ever-increasing freedom and embrace, simplicity and complexity, Wisdom and Compassion(Agape – see below), God and Goddess, Emptiness and Form, etc.
To unite with the God-force is to become aware that Spirit is moving in and through you, as you, and indeed, you are the vehicle of Spirit’s Self-realization; you are the agent of Evolutionary progression, which brings most profoundly the Realization of the great “I AM” with enlightenment.
The complimentary opposite to Eros is Agape, or Spirit as Goddess or Descent. These Two are the creative forces of stable, integrated, evolutionary transformation. But here, with Andrew’s guidance, we are mostly talking about the God-force as evolutionary impulse…the impulse to “Become.”
I hope I’ve clarified for you what Andrew means by “God-force.” If you look more deeply into his writings, you’ll find a fuller explanation that will perhaps help you to understand your own impulses as they arise.
Light and Love,
L. Nada
Some deep thoughts I will enjoy processing. First my take on force vs power was, I think a bit different than yours. My impression was that, according to the way Andrew used the words, “God-force” was/is potential (as in Deepok Chopra’s “Pure Potentiality”), wereas “power” is force somewhat actualized, made manifest, or a more outer view of the God-force. I thought of the silly song from a sit com from the 50s. “A force is a force, of course, of course, unless the force is the Manifested Mr. Power.”!
Or perhaps I have it completely backwards. On the face of it, power is (as you seem to describe) more covert (not always manifest), and force is the outer effect of that power.
At any rate, your distinction of the two terms “force” and “power” really got me to thinking. I’ll think a bit more about force/power and the rest of your statements, and I’ll respond once I process your ideas.
Thanks,
Darrell Moneyhon, Author of Allsville Emerging (www.allsvilleemerging.com)
Following my initial response to your comment, this statement you made does make a lot of sense and suggests that I got the meanings backwards between “force” and “power:”
you: Spirit is Consciousness. Spirit is then both All movements in and as consciousness, and simultaneously Absolutely Transcendent of All movements, or “forces”, as we are discussing here. In other words, SPIRIT IN “MANIFEST” FORM IS ENERGY AND FORCE, and as Andrew uses the term …
Me: That makes more sense than the impression (based soley on the brief context of Andrew’s message) I had. I agree with your interpretations of the diff between force and power. In fact, my own mind started in that direction even before I finished the intitial response to your comment.
Here is a poem that just might “exercise” a reader’s “causal body:” I used it as a post at Integral Life today. The post read: “Poem Exercise Reader’s Causal Body?” (Not sure if format of poem will survive this comment box, but at least the CONTENT of the poem will be there):
OUR GLASSES
These Magnolia trees are hourglasses.
Bright, light, plush, petals fall
(one here, one there;
one then, one now)
like grains of sand.
The fourth dimension
turns into a tangible
part of the other three.
Forces seen: atrophy, gravity—
a coming apart, a going down.
Resting on a tender bed of grass
and giving a gasp
of “I give up.”
Marking moments horizontally
for those wiling to note grace’s fall.
The floor of each hourglass
is a Zen garden—the office desktop kind
with a miniature rake
and small stones to place randomly
in a paradoxical kind of way.
No signs of success. No winning.
But no losing either;
simply no set way to succeed.
Loosing instead, a pointless sift of sand—
an insight: “Falling is not failing.”
The crumbling of each flower,
now seen as being an integral aspect
of its beauty—
so softly and easily
having been.
© 2012 Darrell Moneyhon
Nice, Darrell. I appreciate your poetic expression…
As for the rest of your comment, I hope you noticed that I was trying to understand Robert Horler’s use of “force” and “power”, since I wouldn’t use “power” to describe the Purely Transcendent, since no words can be used to describe and language fails miserably or has paradoxical meaning when attempted.
Movements of God and Goddess in tandem are principles of Force; the Causal Ground or Pure Spirit is complete dissolution of all Force, even God and Goddess dissolve or resolve, as the Ground. To directly experience this is to know with undeniable certitude that the Divine and Human are Not-two.
Blessings,
L. Nada
Nada, Yes, I developed a human flare model to visually depict the depth dimension of manifestation and existence (from deep inside to out) or “unfolding” Deep in the continuously unfolding (or slowly erupting) flare everything is bundled or “packed” in a form that does not lend itself to distinction or duality. If one’s “originating point” (center) is deeper in the flare, then duality will melt away and spirituality will be deeper. To the extent that the originating point is well integrated with the operating point in the “real” (physical) world, then the flare has more transformative “power” for self and for world. For stage-advance (Wilber) there needs to be an integration of way deep and surface (where the rubber meets the road). Integrating points of the flare that are close to the Source (more pure energy-like) with points of the flare that are manifesting in the physical (matter-based), dualistic, realm one of main goals of spiritual growth. In this way we become more transformative.
Those “flare” model ideas seemed highly consistent with some of the ideas you shared. I am planning to describe the flare in detail in a chapter in my book (in progress) Christians Thinking Like Energy. The flare is reminiscent of “Fountain flowing deep and wide” (from Bible school song), but updated to reflect modern concept of energy and solar flares. A visual metaphor to help explain some of the truths (in my opinion) you mentioned.
Darrell
Yes, I love your post. This is what I have been discovering. Am I will to be nakedly give myself to god. And I am willing to be vulnerable and experience what comes my way, keeping the door open. Am I willing to surrender into the unknown and trust. This is the work of transformation. I love your words,”respond wholeheartedly, fearlessly,and courageously,” WE all have this opportunity when the door opens, to respond from the deeper place of fearless yearning in order to connect with the god force of the universe and transform. Thank you for your clarity Andrew.
I do appreciate some of what Andrew Cohen says but I think this latest comment misses the point of why we each need liberation. I believe it would go well for us if we get further from “self” and what “we” need to do for the world. Once we’ve attained freedom from “self” and “personality” we can be free to help anyone in the world. Thank you.
dear carl your comment about freedom from self to me is what most so called gurus ect missout … the personality is force its always in conflict with other persons so when self as personality is seen as false thier is power as the word is not it but we use words to communicate power is now to be felt beyond the word , then one can use the word and not cling to it like the personality does and call it an experience to be reapeated then ,as you say i am free to help !
Agreed, Andrew. Your advice is vital and powerful. The equally large issue that needs to be described and understood, though, is how one responds wholeheartedly. It doesn’t happen by just willing it, or deciding to.
As you know, a long and often difficult process of seeing and “witnessing” our habits of thought and feelings is necessary. And this is only half of it. There is, simultaneously, the need to separate the “I’s” that have to deal in the world from those that are generated by the God-force in the universe. When, with time, more “I’s” of the world are put under the influence of the divine, and unproductive “I’s” are jettisoned as excess baggage, we become spirit living in the world.
We are then closer to wholehearted, fearless, and courageous acceptance. I am then a life impetus that serves evolutionary impulse. And when the time comes, I am ready.
One fine autumn day, as I was aimlessly and peacefully wondering around the spacious yard of my childhood home, I came to rest in the “stateless state” of Nonduality…I had simply dissolved into Oneness as the entire display. I was, at that moment, Free. But just then, these words arose from the depths, swift and clear, “I want to be free.”
It was 1980, I had just turned seventeen, and making “future” plans, especially graduating high school and starting college, was never far from my mind. I had had many mystical experiences thus far, had indeed, “experienced freedom” many times, without having any language or philosophy to help me “understand” them. Without knowing it, I had an already evolved contemplative capacity, so this experience and these words “I want to be free” were not particularly startling or upsetting, except this;
Why, just then, when I was indeed “free”, did the depths of myself announce a desire to “become free”? How could it be that I wasn’t just already the freedom I had felt so many times, including then? What had to be done in order to be free?
All these questions and more became my ongoing contemplation, and even as I made choices, attempted to make plans, it was because of my contemplation of those words and that experience,of all the words and experiences that had come before and after, that I became more capable of uniting with the “path to freedom.” It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t always clear, and I went through many difficult trials, testing and tasting that path to freedom until I “became free” in the spring of 2003.
The deeper intention of my Soul and Spirit were that Path, but “I” had to reciprocate. It was this “I” that I felt myself to be; a bodymind moving about a sensate and contextual world that tried to condition me to it’s “status quo” consciousness, that had to challenge that status quo at every turn. It was this vehicle, which I called “myself” that had to agree to what was arising and being shown to me; I had to agree that “free” was what I “wanted” to be. It was via my contemplation that I “yoked” myself to, and united with, the Eros of my being, and I maintained that contemplation through all the strange and wonderful things that were occurring.
It’s not enough to “have experiences.” Emptiness and Form are Not-two, and while repeated contact with Emptiness, as with meditation, helps with moving through the stages of development, it’s not always guaranteed, especially because identification with Form is so powerful. If one continually identifies the meditative state as a state they must “get into”, as being different or more profound than the state they are in right now, the “path” is going to be avoided or turned into an object, when indeed, the path and the goal are the Pure Subject, living the life that you ARE, right now.
As Andrew said above, we must agree and “respond wholeheartedly, fearlessly and courageously” when the “door unexpectedly opens” and reveals itself to be the deeper intention of Spirit’s own self-realization through, and as, us.
excuse me…i incorrectly stated the year…it was 1979…oops!
Nada, Your transformative experiences and the Not-two of self and formlessness really resonated with me when I read you comment again today. Without referencing your sharing here, I commented with similar (although not quite as definitive) spiritual experiences (as the being the base of, and/or basis of, my writing). Unfolding is the word I would use, but “free” works too. Arjuna Ardagh’s “translucence” works also.
Not sure I have assimilated the spiritual experiences into my life as fully as you seemed to have, but I feel blessed that I have enough for your words to resonate.
Thanks for sharing some of the doors you sensed and opened.
I describe several different types of “doors” in my book, Allsville Emerging (www.allsvilleemerging.com), in chapter 4. I state, or at least strongly imply, that they can be intentionally accessed by means of internal cues and “mind experiments.”
Darrell
These words about readiness really spoke to me. Yes, I’ve talked and talked about looking and awaiting that experience. But now, I need to explore whether it is more than just talk and if I will have the courage to act.
Indeed so very true. When the inner self is alert, we find many doors opening everyday every moment. The doors to infinity remain permanently open and we can access them anywhere anytime, if we DESIRE to. thanks Andrew.
Reminded me of a concept I developed about 2 years ago: “multiple destiny tracks.” The idea of multiple tracks combines predeterminism and free will. If you have one of those doors and you open it, you might jump onto a more “lucid” destiny track where your reality (God’s dream) is more awake and offers a greater degree of syncronicity or attraction experiences. The more awake or transparent our destiny track is, the more synchronicity events (and “doors”) will appear. God allows us greater access to the dynamic aspect of Mind. But if you walk on by a lot of doors the opportunities will still present themselves, but just not as brilliantly or transparently. On a lower frequency destiny track you are protected from seeing as many doors. Or, perhaps, we choose (subconsciously) to have thicker veils or stronger reducing valves (Aldous Huxley). Suggests a vertical dimensionality that exists within our horozontal lives on the earthly plane. The multiple destiny track concepts also hints to link between Ken Wilber’s states and stages.
This concept was not included in my book ALLSVILLE EMERGING (www.allsvilleemerging.com), but other potentially provocative and valuable concepts made their way into that work, and may well have helped paved the way to that metaphysical model. In my book in progress, Christians Thinking Like Energy, I do introduce the metaphysical model of the continuously unfolding “human flare,” which includes a similar depth view of human existence. I believe the depth view is something real, although it may be accessed more in Wilber’s UL quadrant of subjective consciousness. The sub-atomic scientists are, however, seeing glimpses of depth reality within the (Integral) UR quadrant.
IMO, evolutionaries will start seeing/sensing the depth-to-surface axis/dimension as an increasingly important “reality.” Up until recently, it has taken a “hit” from our scientific “flatland” (Wilber, et. al) that we, as modern thinkers, inherited culturally (our world view – which I call “thinking like matter,” as oppossed to “thinking like energy”).
Andrew, thanks for the thought and spirit provoking message,
Darrell Moneyhon, author of Allsville Emerging
P. S. I gave someone in your organization a complimentary copy of Allsville Emerging, but it might well have gotten lost in the shuffle. I hope someone had a chance to read it. Email me about the status of my sharing of the book. If it got lost, not the end of the world. I wont have a fit. I appreciate the chance to share ideas (and books).
Thanks again,
Darrell
I only have one question, Darell;
Have you directly experienced any of the things which you have written about, or is it mainly philosophical extension?
L. Nada
Nada, Have experienced high levels of synchronicity, even some “pschoid” (telekinetic) events during deep meditative states. While deeply pondering death and related symbols, tree fell over on sunny calm day just as I was leaving the area.
Also many other experiences of uncanny synchronicity, as though I was becoming more an active participant in God’s dream (our reality).
Several premonitory dreams and dreams that appear to be spiritual instructions.
Darrell
Hi Darrell, Do you have the humility to accept that these experiences are not enough?
Yes, Just smoke and mirrors compared to applying and assimilating spirituality in my everday, down-to-earth, where-the-rubber-meets-the-road, life. Such mystical experiences are the stuff of glimpses and states, but I believe have little to do with the stage work I need to do (using Ken Wilber’s useful distinction between “states” and “stages” or “levels”).
I think of such states or experiences as kind of riding an elevator up to a higher floor, seeing the door briefly open there, and then returning to the lower floor where I live. Until I’m ready to pack my bags, put them into the elevator, ride it up once again, and then get out, bags and all and live there on the higher floor, then not a lot of bragging rights.
Also, even if I do stage-advance, there’s plenty of floors still above me. Nothing to get boastful about. Unless it is a huge blind spot, I think I am fairly good at humility. I am confused more than I am enlightened.
Darrell
Dear Andrew,
Was it closed ?
illusion , illusion …. quand tu nous tiens !
Dear Darrell, If you are “confused,” what qualifies you to accomplish the writing you are doing?
I’m very curious about your process…
Thanks,
L. Nada
Partial Confusion. Partial Consciousness. I sense quite clearly what is true, but realize that not all my translations of those percieved truths will be perfect. I do the best I can. And I feel “called” to speak the truth and to reflect those truths as best I can in my life.
I felt called to advance an interfaith or transfaith version of spirituality one day while waiting in fast food drive through. Who knows exactly why just then. I was waiting for a Whopper, and I got a whopper of an assignment.
I listen to nudgings like that.
Regarding method of writing, I think things through as clearly as I am capable. I don’t see intellectual processing as being at odds with intuition, but see it as serving sensed truths. I try to tap deep as I write. I incorporate meditative/contemplative insights into the writing. I combine intuition and reason.
As an example of my ecclectic or holisitic style, in my book, Allsville Emerging (www.allsvilleemerging.com) I describe 7 (count ‘em, seven) vehicles to be used to help make an optimal community. Reason is one of the 7. Awareness is one (and this is where meditation, prayer, and contemplative practices enter in). Mind skills is one (again, prayer and meditation/contemplation). Vision is another, followed by Culture, Community, and the use of the global Market to propogate the optimal communities.
I’m getting curious, Why do you ask?
Darrell
Nada, Continuation of our line of discussion overall: I don’t just think this stuff, I live it. One of the most meaningful uses of accessing something deep and spiritual is when I performed visual/energetic healing prayer on my youngest son while he lay in a coma after a car accident. Whether the very positive outcome was the result of the energy exchanges or not, the experience of my intuitively guided version of healing prayer is deeply meaningful to me. I have been using it on/with a five to six month fetus who has a condition of too much amniotic fluid (Hyrdops or Hydrox?). Just as I did with my son a year and a half ago, I placed light around the fetus, saw the light weaving through the body, lungs, etc. of the “Mechana” (sp?). With my son, John, I saw light fibers weaving together in a healing action. With Mechana I see light strands carrying out the excess fluids, like evaporation. Kenesthetic feeling was involved in both healing practices. Also love feeling and interpersonal images such as sitting at shore of ocean with my son and wife as ocean breeze blew softly on my son’s forehead. In the case of Mechana, I wrapped my fingers around the fetus, saw myself holding her after she was born and healthy. Experienced the successful outcome and invited Mechana to come join us. Interesting that I had the sense that I was talking more to another soul, rather than to only a premature form of a being. I assumed equal status with the object of my prayer. And in both cases (my son and my Niece’s high risk fetus) I acted as a conduit of transpersonal spirit, God. Not that I see God as outside of me, but as deeper than I generally operate from. My diety, my God, is a way of tapping deeper Self, trans-me. Non-dual Spirit. Pure energy. Etc.
Experiences. That is the foundation, or base, from which I try to write. Even if I tend to get quite philosophical and speculative at times. Closer to poetic logic than straight logic. Or intuitive thinking, more than straight thought.
Darrell
I have just ‘met’ you, Andrew Cohen. It was through a book that I found at a flea market in Cape Town, South Africa, where I live. The book is called 11 Days, by Michael Wombacher. I have also recently met AH Almaas, and your teachings are very similar. I think this is not a ‘coincidence’ and there’s nothing I particularly want to say except namaste, at this point. Today is my 60th birthday in this body-temple and I hope I will be able to respond with my all, when I see the door that opens before me.