Enlightened Free Agency (Quote of the Week)
by Andrew Cohen | September 27, 2010 at 11:11am | 23 comments
When the context for our human choices expands to embrace the infinite depths of our cosmic identity, then our unique power of free agency becomes informed and enlightened by the limitless passion of the energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process.
Filed Under: Consciousness • Cosmology • EnlightenNext Editors’ Blog • Evolutionary Enlightenment • Evolutionary Spirituality • Quote of the Week • Spirituality • meditation
What did Cohen just say? I’m confused by this Quote.
Could anyone please elaborate? Thank you all for participating in this forum.
“Context” is the key word here.We all exist within frameworks or reference points that are contexts within contexts within contexts…you can’t necessarily “see” the contexts because it is the reference by which you view the world.That is, your contextual frameworks are your “eyes” – you can’t see your own eyes, unless you look into the mirror of your own consciousness thru transcendence, then you can see your “view.” But this takes differentiation and discernment of what is valuable,what has quality for progressive development.For example, your culture is a huge part of your contextual framework.Can you “see” your culture in you,how it IS you, how you navigate the world according to its standards and norms, the pushes and pulls of its collective energy? This is the “big one” of Andrew’s quote. He is saying that culture is more “you” than you can see, but if we could individually/collectively begin to transcend culture, then we are truly in a place to create culture,make a new framework, and to experience the limitless passion and call into service our free agency to create, because we have expanded the context itself by transcending it. And this does not mean repressing culture, or standing at its fringes and calling it evil. One must be thoroughly “inside” culture, involved in its dignities, and its unfortunate aspects, in order to “see” it and differentiate how it moves you, then to make it an object of contemplation/meditation, and transcend it rightly. It all begins with responsibility on the individual level, and as you change, your contexts are changing and you become with greater and greater clarity the “energy and itelligence that initiated the creative process.” This is one of my perspectives from this quote; I hope it helped you.
Thank You Nada for your clarity, it helped me …
Thank You, Irma! Please see directly below…
Yes, thank you Nada, what you said makes perfect sense.
Cohen is convoluted with his speech and some times his communication is meaningless to me.
I wish he would just say things plainly and succinctly,
the key to effective transmission between “teacher” and
“student”. I will try to listen better with an open and
empty mind, closed mouth. Thank you all, sincere appreciation and love for contributing to this forum.
I am very grateful! for your appreciation, but would like to say that whatever clarity I put on this page was hard won by development into my deeper, higher and wider potentials,”translated” into an evolutionary-developmental-integral *context*…My perspective is; Andrew Cohen knows he needs to challenge us, frustrate our egos/intellects a bit with his language, so that we feel our own conditioned & self-imposed limitations,and in an attempt to contribute our bit, we must grope(creative friction) some for the language to describe what we think/feel;and in sharing ourselves in this process we have, hopefully, transcended our limited selves.His intention/care is Real! So please don’t stop yourself from contributing! If you see it as *part* of the method by which you can develop beyond your separate self, you’ll recognize the power and beauty of this gift we call language/communication and the intersubjective as a space to explore in community.As you can tell, I have a lot to say! But I wholeheartedly support A.C. in his efforts in this world! because he has *Realized* the Kosmos(interiority)& Universe(exteriority) are Not-Two, but Empty Potential Spirit in all its wonderful,diverse forms of expression!
Love To You
Freedom is a property of the spontaneous vitality that arises when our formless is aligned with our form, our infinite game with our finite, in awareness and presence. Non-spontaneous is effectively a part dominating the whole; impulse driving; the tail wagging the dog. Context that is unlimited only occurs when invited in stillness and with innocence, gratitude and appreciative embrace. I enjoy your work. Blessings.
When my cosmic identity has learned to engage in true human love and learned to receive true human love, only then can she truely and fully incarnate in this human body and only then will her ever responsible choices bear fruit, that will truely nurture and nourish her offspring and at the same time sustain her own needs of cohesion and connectiveness, which in turn will expand in ever growing circles of more cohesion, more connectiveness.
Woke up to this quote after a day of resistance yesterday. After the big – huh? it was followed by an unequivocal Yes! The reality that the passion of the limitless energy and intelligence IS at our disposal is what keeps me doing the work of transforming my consciousness.
Perhaps When we embrace our cosmic identity, we will BE enlightened by the limitless passion of the energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process.
it appears to be past time…
We know we can do far better than we’ve been doing for the last few millennia. My mind turns first to a proverbial principle, that of ‘aiming for the Sun, and you may reach the moon.’ And, to a paraphrase of Gandhi: ‘[Perhaps] nothing you do will be very significant, yet it is very important that you do it.’ Many teachers/guides encourage us to do our best, but also to be not so attached to results. (That’s tough for me; I want results—why the hell else would I be doing?!)
Frankly, I was a bit thrown by the reference to ‘the limitless passion of the energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process,’ because it seems all of these, the ultimate (limitless)Reality, ultimate identity, and ultimate goal, are all aspects that are at once fulfilled in the return to the One beyond naming (although I sure can label the heck out of it!): The Pure Timeless One Whole Real Essence (which is far beyond any of these word-symbols!). This pure space/place/dimension evidently (according to the records of seers and those who have ‘returned’) exists, transcendently, but even beyond passion and energy, for this is the pure potential center-point somehow at the source preceding all these creative evolutionary dynamics, urges, and polarities. Not a real practical point to deal with from this third-dimensional place of general darkness/unconsciousness, though, so at this point, I guess I’d settle for knowing that the persons/beings who are selected to serve as directors for earthly social and biological systems have *conscious familiarity* with this ultimate Reality of being—though I’m not clear as to what exactly might be the programs and directives arising from such awareness, but in general I think it would be a lot more softening of perceived boundaries of identity—
Perhaps an individual sufficiently evolved can fully grasp and cohere what is for me the several desperate ideas in your statement. What is the “context for our human choices,” and is it conceptual, experiential, or maybe spiritual. You say the context expands. I have read, and intuit that when consciousness expands, whatever that means, awareness is less ‘bounded,’(my concept)allowing for and expanded sense of experience. The difficulty I think is attempting to perceive the quality, or the experience of direct perception, through the filter of a language that is as yet evolved.
Quite frankly language cannot evolve sufficiently to adapt or adjust to the expansion of awareness. It never will. We cannot begin to describe in any meaningful way colors. Language is an imperfect reference with respect to consciousness, and spiritual insight. That is not to say “reality,” the goal or product of direction perception cannot be “inferred.” So for me reality at its’ best is directly inferred language. What that means is I have an excellent understanding of what is being said, read, or conceived. I am also suggesting that language cannot be separate from experience.
That is not to say we are thinking all the time. Mindfulness and meditation teaches us that there are spaces between thought. Many experiences cause a temporary transcendence of thought. Yet it is experience that, so to speak, creates time, and therefore its many ramifications.
In conclusion I have noticed on similar sites the reluctance to not only engage “unique” and grounded thoughts and opinions, but an unwillingness to dialog; an activity I argue has largely shaped and refined clear thinking. I believe the deep need for ‘community’and acceptance stifles free thinking and inquiry. Thanks
“Our unique power of free agency” is “the energy and intelligence that initiated the creative process.”
RE Enlightened Free Agency: Maybe IDENTITY itself is a limitation on free agency!. Instead of IDENTITY maybe we all need to throw off the chains of our identity “prisons”. Maybe we need to become aware by listening to and internalizing these newest Hip Hop lyrics (taken from a poem/performance comedy ) from : “I am male, I am male I am more male than I am human, I am female, I am female , I am more female than I’m human, I am black, I am black, I’m more black than I am human, Iam white, I am white I’m more white than I am human, I am jewish, I am jewish, I’m more jewish than I’m human…” Then the “chorus” tells about the alternative to limitations: “Exchange your “I” dentity for your “E Y E” dentity. Exchange your closed eyes for open eyes…”
The performance piece talks about how we all seek out identity vicariously, through roles we play, instead of risking to have our own unique unlimited identity.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XegltDJLUHo
http://www.facebook.com/video/video/php?v=1459909223435
This is a great quote, and a lot of fun. To me it’s an explanation of the unexplainable, a paradox. Another way to say it might be, “by experiencing samadhi, samadhi is experienced,” where samadhi is pure cognition of the unlimited. A more concise look is from Patanjali, Chapter 3, sutra 5: tajjayat prajnalokah. Translation: by mastery of samyama comes the brilliance of higher consciousness, where samyama is concentration, meditation, and samadhi. The union of these three is directed at this moment. But this moment is an open set extending to infinity, and by quantum symmetry of time, back to zero. It’s one big moment, thus making time fictitious. Lots of luck (and practice, surrender, etc)!
In a way, I understand this beautiful, inspired concept. However, it seems to me, in order to embody this big idea into a way of being will require cultivation of the perspective through time. I hold this as the core intention for entry into each evening’s meditation. To live from and as this space… how might we evolve together and make a difference in our communities. I love it.
When the present mind sees that its responses are limited by its faculty of good-bad, it goes silent. This silence lets the unique power of free agency come to the fore.
There is not much more one can add. This is of course our life’s purpose. As I was resting with these words an enlightened variation came to me, ie., change “that initiated the creative process” to “that is the creative process”.
Yes, it all comes down to remembering who we really are. But we can’t consciously access that energy and intelligence, or tap into the passion behind the creation of the universe, if we haven’t learned to put the analytic mind aside. This takes a dedicated practice in a technology of consciousness, plus grace.
SiriJodha,
Nice how you got right to the point: “dedicated practice…plus grace.”
I’m being chary of using the term “Enlightened” too much at this point of my development and would rather say “Spiritually Awakened”.
This appllies to the title of this thread and would subsitute “Awakened” in referring to Free Agency in that a spiritually Awakened person is committed to acting in a way that will have the betterment and maintainence of Life and existence for most of the others who share the planet. By maintaining this commitment, our actions will be directed toward worthy aims and eschew selfishness.
Yes we are free to choose how to act. To commit to consideration and compassion for all humanity is to be truly free to be assured our actions are with worthy intentions and not meant to harm others, including the planet and the non-human creatures who share Creation. We are only part of the large scheme of things and need to keep that at heart and in mind.
Those who act with little or no responsibility are not free agents, acting out of past experiences where they are heedless of the consequences of their bad behaviors.
Andrew Cohen has his own refined “language set” which is critical to being an effective teacher (of any kind). Consistency in language supports his particular teaching, Evolutionary Enlightenment,and so he *means* enlightenment and says it for a particular reason and to mean a particular kind of “spiritual awakening,” that is, the Choice of Choicelessness, which is what “enlightened free agency” is. Until you KNOW the choice of choicelessness, you are still on the path to it. Sincerely in Peace.
What does an authentic personality do when because of enlightened unlimited human energy their personality frightens others?