One Big Yes (Quote of the Week, 6/28)
What is our very own personal experience of the evolutionary impulse? And what is its unique quality as it expresses itself in our physical bodies, in our urge to innovate, and in our spiritual aspirations? If we examine the movement of this impulse at different levels of our own being, what we become aware of is that its nature is overwhelmingly positive. If we look at the psychic and emotional quality of that impulse as it vibrates within us, in our biology and our consciousness, we can indentify that vibration as the manifestation of one big yes—the expression of the fact that life is good. Existence is good. Becoming is good. Of course, that doesn’t mean that everything that happens within the evolutionary creative process is good. The process itself is quite messy and takes all kinds of wrong turns, in nature, in culture, and in consciousness. But the drive itself, the evolutionary impulse at the heart of the process, is overwhelmingly positive, and that overwhelming positivity is the very essence of what manifest Spirit is.
Filed Under: Consciousness • EnlightenNext Editors’ Blog • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Evolutionary Spirituality • Quote of the Week • Spirituality
I submit if there’s anybody who hasn’t yet noticed that the Internet is instrumental in driving human evolutionary consciousness with electronic instantaneous pace. It’s a concrete though virtual metaphor of human interconnectivity, being reinforced by humans using this venue to reach out and touch someone. We may see Internet PR increasingly shaping worldwide politics. Dictators, en garde!
I wonder if humans will undergo much in the way of external modifications evolutionarily but I think humanity is more probably becoming mentally transformed and I believe spiritual development can and will be affected, more people realizing our interconnected commonality.
If the Internet effects education of the masses in more countries and modern thought becomes more disseminated, it’s to be hoped this will be beneficial to human life.
A little learning can be a dangerous thing and can be subverted by those interested in maintaining power by mis- and dis-information. I maintain trust in Abe Lincoln’s “You can fool some of the people some of the time, etc”, though it’s a struggle even in democracies.
Think of our political parties, trying to maintain and gain power, by hook or crooked disinfo.
What’s important in the breakneck unfolding of events is to maintain personal spiritual health and not go crazy.
Stay well, all!
Aloha, namaste!
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.—James 1:2-4″
Yes! I’m counting everything, every moment, and every experience as joy, learning and evolution. That pretty much sums up my current spiritual practice. I feel on fire with aliveness, hope, love, gratitude, and inspiration!
Thank you.
The problem is that most of humanity doesn’t understand the nature of that yes.
John Shim says:
June 28, 2010 at 7:32 pm
The problem is that most of humanity doesn’t understand the nature of that yes.
I agree fully with John Shim as I, myself, don’t understand the nature of that “yes”. There may be many more like me, out in the wider world. Is there any way to bring all of them on board along with the rest?
I’d like to submit and give a shout-out to Ken Wilber’s putting the Four Quadrants of Spiritual Consciousness on the inside of the covers of his “Sex, Spirituality and Ecology and Spirituality”. It made me realize in a very clear way what’s involved in Evolutionary Enlightenment in reminding me to approach consciousness, spiritual awareness and behavior in a holistic way. I hope I’m not the only one who refers to the Four Quadrants often to keep on track in our development and spiritual work.
Thank you, Ken!
Aloha, namaste!
I joined IntegralLife, downloaded a ton of videos/audio and just purchased most all of Ken’s books from Amazon. I’m starting with the story of Treya Wilber. I’m ecstatic to have found his work!
Wonderful! This is a true gospel in modern terms.
We still need to hear this message of hope and positivity no matter how spoiled we may be in a material way in this culture. This is the way to inspire us in the cold and dark Scandinavia.
Thanks.
To say One Big Yes to life is to Accept it, to Approve it the way it is, to Admit it is a beauty, a gift from God though undeserved by us. The yes saying is when you bow down to Life in awe and gratefulness, when you understand that life is the way it should be, nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, but just live life, savor it, let it be.
Re: “To say One Big Yes to life is to Accept it, to Approve it the way it is, to Admit it is a beauty, a gift from God though undeserved by us. The yes saying is when you bow down to Life in awe and gratefulness, when you understand that life is the way it should be, nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, but just live life, savor it, let it be.”
Thumbs up for your positivity in that comment. What I contend with is accepting things when we see so much that needs redress. I accept the status quo but as a spiritually conscious being I abhor the unfairness of life and inwardly protest but allow the wrongnesses, feeling powerless to deal with the enormities and settling for the puny gestures I make. I ask you: is religion an opiate that allows us to be complacent of such wrongs?
I see that selfishness is the root of most of our problems. Those who engage in indulgent excesses of need deprive those who have little or nothing and engenders the kind of dissatifaction and resentment that builds to justifiable hatred. The phenomenon of homelessness is a manifestation of that deplorable dynamic.
I deplore guilt that still allows these things to continue. I try to personally address that concern but feel impotent in really changing anything. I live with that but harbor the hope that collective humanity will contend successfully to resolve how the resources of the planet can be shared more equitably. Contented peoples are peaceable, no?
A really spiritually conscious being (and all consciousness is spiritual though, there is no other than spiritual consciousness) never things life is “unfair and wrong”. A really spiritual, conscious being knows life is a beauty, is a blessing.
What is unfair and wrong is human mind interpretation of things and human mind illusions, which overpowered human existence with unconsciousness and blindness. Unfairness, wrongness and ugliness are products of living in unconsciousness not of life itself. Living in consciousness makes human beings realizing how beautiful and precious life is.
And living in consciousness is not and cannot be a collective process; it is a very individual and intimate experiencing of truth, of awareness. As even one candle is enough to blow away the darkness, the same way an enlightened human being makes illuminating the whole existence.
Such insight in these comments. Thank you all for sharing. There is a group called awakeningasone that is doing something i believe does exactly what is being spoken about here. thanks to the internet, we can now connect from our respective solitude and collectively guide humanity through this shift. google these folks and look at two short videos they have produced called “the call” and “the plan”. very interesting.
Aliya,
Do you not see the duality in your statement?
“To say One Big Yes to life is to Accept it, to Approve it the way it is, to Admit it is a beauty, a gift from God though undeserved by us. The yes saying is when you bow down to Life in awe and gratefulness, when you understand that life is the way it should be, nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, but just live life, savor it, let it be.”
Do you mean by this that there is Life and God on the one hand, and humans on the other?
Even the human mind and ego are Life, Existence, God; there is nothing that isn’t.
The Universe is in the process of becoming aware of Itself. That’s not a dualistic notion, it just reflects the process whereby the One becomes manifest into Existence by building Itself up from Light. Evolution describes this development of Matter through Time. But regardless of the shape and complexity of the evolving products (the Many), they all are NOTHING BUT LIGHT in essence, i.e., the One. When the Light of Consciousness is able to apprehend the Light of Manifestation–well, that’s an Enlightenment worth savoring!
The truth of this will be proved mathematically in due (evolutionary) time, that Light, Matter, Time, Being, Becoming are ONE.
Absolutely not, Caroline, human mind’s product the ego is NOT Life, Existence, God; ego is a falsity, an illusion, a non existentiality. Ego is your illusion of being separate from God, from Existence. Ego is your only bondage and greatest enemy, which refrains you from seeing the reality without the veil of the mind illusions.
“When the Light of Consciousness is able to apprehend the Light of Manifestation–well, that’s an Enlightenment worth savoring!” Non, that is not enlightenment, that is spiritual non sense, a mere wording with no meaning. The only thing Consciousness apprehends is that there is nothing to apprehend, that everything is already known. Enlightenment is to come to know that there is nowhere to go, nothing to become, because you are already IT. And you have always been. Enlightenment is when all answers disappear because there are no questions left. You are utterly yourself, in peace and silence, in bliss and love.
And peace, silence, love, truth, freedom are the flavor of an enlightened being; they will remain forever elusive, no proof possible. Because the basic qualities of godlinness cannot be proven, cannot be resolved mathematically, they will remain a mystery for ever. If you demystify a thing it is no more alive, it will be dead. Only death can be mathematically proven. To prove love, you will need to have the heart of a lover – there is no proof. To see the beauty of trees you need an eye for art – there is no proof. And godliness is the collective name of all the beauty, all the love and all the truth of this universe. For it an unwavering consciousness is needed, a witnessing is needed … where no word remains, no thought …where no mental dust remains and the mirror of consciousness is perfectly pure. What proof?
such overwhelming positivety is in the nature of the life force itself, from the great explosion of the big bang became what we know as life in all its creation. being here and now every moment in awareness, to become manifest our one universe collectively is all good. looking into the future with sometimes trepidation for whats unknown is only a matter of path. we can now see that the journey will bring us, what was always meant to be.
It seems common in today’s mood, if I listen to the media, GOP, and even the administration’s explanatory assessment of how we as a nation is doing to have deep concerns for the health of our nation and to hear derogatory negative remarks for what seems to be having clay feet, considered by detractors as failing and getting a come-uppance for our perceived arrogance. I wonder how many of us Americans can (even with eyes and minds wide open) and would say: “I’m truly proud and glad, thankful to be an American?” I’ll say it now, I do, I am!
May our nation, this beautiful agent for bettering the world, not only for us fortunate Americans (for the most part, TY) but for all humanity and all which accompanies us on this planet we share–in the Light of Democratic Collective Wisdom of, by, and for we the people–continue in our American Experiment and succeed mightily to inspire in our efforts to better the world for all!
Happy Birthday, America–you Beautiful Idea!
When we’re spiritually,integraly evolved we may all experience unlimited freedom.This may be possible because we may all be free from constructs including time,space.Til then we’re limited by the physics of gravity,emotions,basic needs,etc. Til then we HAVE to use all the social and cultural constructs:$,judgements,comparative,competitive physicalities of strength,youth,beauty,etc.,to survive.One telling quality that accompanies using these ego/drama constructs is that we are emotionally defensive about using them,even in absolute self-defense,due to emotional guilt. Of course this justification,defensiveness can be without conscious/subconscious awareness.Using ego and/or drama can be “justified” verbally,externally,internally. Try considering this tho:if there is ANY justification,defense,communicated at all,then the communication represents at best PRACTICING TO BE.Instead of BEING, the ILLUSION of being HAS you! In other words,ANY communication of justification,defensiveness represents PRACTICING TO LIVE,because our cultural and social constucts are doing our living,communicating FOR us.When we evolve, live in flow, we’ll live limitlessness,by accessing the NATURAL resources of resilient vulnerability: emotional,physical,spiritual, human,animal,vegetable,organic,inorganic.When we’re spiritualy,integrally whole we’ll instinctively,intuitively be aware of this.We need to deal with the complexities involved(distribution,overcoming the illusion of moral judgements,deservedness,crime,etc.)to provide basic needs to all.This is the gravest problem preventing an integral spiritual transformational realistic utopia to develop. With basic needs given to all then we could give limitless spiritual attention(fulfillment)INTERNALLY to ourselves-as-others,living authentic lives.
But the drive itself, the evolutionary impulse at the heart of the process, is overwhelmingly positive,
The way I would put it is that while the evolutionary impulse (which like God or “All That Is”) is neither positive nor negative, I hope humans see it as positive.