How Shall I Live? — Awakening Your Authentic Self

awareness so that we can take on the daunting yet thrilling respon- sibility for how the future turns out. Why else would we be here if not to show up as passionate representatives of the creative princi- ple in the world? What other purpose could be ours but to embrace the awe-inspiring burden of this never-ending creative advance into novelty, which has been ours all along? This felt sense of being aligned with the future-oriented cre- ative vibrancy of the evolutionary impulse is the essential flavor of Evolutionary Enlightenment – and it is what sets it apart from Traditional Enlightenment. The New Enlightenment generates an entirely different cosmic teleology. Its purpose is not only to awaken to the radiant bliss and radical freedom of timeless form- less Being, which is the focus of Traditional Enlightenment, but also to wake up to the ecstatic urgency of evolutionary Becoming. An Evolutionary Enlightenment Dharma is an embodied spiritual vision that embraces an evolving universe and awakens within us a powerful moral imperative to serve its further unfolding. Evolu- tionary Enlightenment is the ecstatic recognition that God evolves through us! How Shall I Live? – Awakening Your Authentic Self Throughout the ages wise minds have always maintained that the two most fundamental questions of life are: ‘Who am I?’ and ‘How shall I live?’ The Dharma of Evolutionary Enlightenment answers both questions. The answer to the ‘Who am I?’ question remains exactly as it has always been, ever since the Great Traditions first revealed it to us: Who you truly are is neither your body nor your mind, but Pure Consciousness – radiant without limitation! But our answer to the question ‘How shall I live?’ is refreshing, compel- ling, and radically new. If we realize that our body-minds are the instruments through which the universe becomes more conscious of itself; that evolution requires our presence here, right in the midst of life; and that God’s next move depends on us, it awakens within us the thrilling sense that life is full of meaning, purpose, and directionality. This is the energetic inspiration guiding us on how to live our lives. But what makes the answer to the question ‘How shall I live?’ really concrete for you as a unique individual, is when you truly begin to live from what we call the Authentic Self. The Authentic Self is a state in which you are identified with the dynamic, ever-evolving creative principle as it expresses itself through your own heart and mind. This is the self that is always inspired, always sensing the imminence of higher potentials, and always ecstatically striving to create the future. Whereas the True Self is formless, and prior to time and space, the Authentic Self is our non-contracted liberated self within the relative world of time and space. It is the self that is completely aligned with the evolu- tionary energy that animates the world of form. Just like timeless, Being, this evolutionary creativity is immortal. The products of evolution are transient, but the evolutionary impulse that gives rise to them is imperishable, unchanging, and indestructible. The evolutionary impulse is the God-Force that perpetually creates new forms. When you are aligned with your Authentic Self, you actually feel the force of evolution coursing through you as a real push to become more conscious and advance the leading edge of the creative process. The pure creative vibrancy of the Authentic Self utterly outshines your egoic resistance to change. This is why attuning to the evolutionary impulse is instantaneously self-liber- ating, the same way the realization of the Ground of Being is. The Authentic Self, therefore, is your evolutionarily enlightened self. It is your already fully free and unconditioned self, as it expresses itself creatively, right in the midst of life. And thus in this teaching, living in alignment with your Authentic Self and the evolutionary impulse, vibrating at the very heart of all forms, is how ego-tran- scendence is achieved while we navigate the world. The more you awaken to your Authentic Self the more this creative evolutionary drive begins to energize and enliven the innate talents and skills that are unique to your body-mind-person- ality. As a result, your personal development intensifies and your self-actualization process really kicks into gear. Here is why: Like a knife slicing through butter, the powerful creative vibrancy of the Authentic Self swiftly cuts through the karmic density of the ego’s personal and social conditioning – enabling you to shed it more effectively and achieve greater freedom from it. As it clears your egoic obstacles, your deepest potentials, once buried beneath layers of egoic conditioning, are now liberated and begin to blossom. You grow into the positive power of your own uniqueness. You feel lit up by the deep urge to become the most you can be; to pursue your budding aspirations; and to continually evolve as a person. As your alignment with the Authentic Self deepens, you even- tually cross a threshold where the Authentic Self becomes the dominant force in your being, and your ego takes a backseat. This is the turning point that allows your self-actualization to pivot into its highest expression. From here on, your motivation changes dramatically. Actualizing your potentials is no longer purely about