From EnlightenNext, based on a talk by Andrew Cohen given at the LOHAS Forum 2009

Global warming. An increasing potential for pandemics. Weapons of mass destruction. Such threats to human survival understandably arouse fear. This fear can cause our perspective to contract rather than expand. Ironically, a focus on survival can impede our survival. The best way to survive and thrive is to evolve, not only as individuals but also as a species. The impulse to survive greatly differs from the impulse to evolve. The former can lead us to focus so narrowly that we lose touch with higher consciousness; the latter does the opposite.

The impulse to survive is ancient and instinctual. Like other animals, we’re biologically programmed to respond to threats to our individual or group survival. In contrast, the conscious desire to evolve—to become more as individuals and as a culture—is relatively new and not experienced by everyone. You experience the evolutionary impulse when you feel passionately excited about your potential to reach a higher level of consciousness. In becoming aware of your infinite potential, you get in touch with the best part of yourself and have an overwhelming sense of goodness. If we harness this evolutionary impulse, we can work together to accomplish all of the important things we want and need to do.

It’s tremendously important, then, that we inspire people to change, not in small ways or for petty purposes but profoundly so that they maximally participate in and contribute to the evolutionary process that continually produces greater consciousness. In other words, people must become enlightened. By enlightened I mean becoming deeply aware of one’s own consciousness and also igniting a desire to expand, or evolve, that consciousness.

Scientists believe that the known universe began about 14 billion years ago. All but a small fraction of that time passed before the appearance of self-reflective consciousness, awareness of one’s own awareness. However, the capacity for such awareness must have been present from the beginning of time. Otherwise, such awareness never could have emerged. Earth progressed from lifelessness to insentient life to sentient, or conscious, life. As organisms became more complex, mentality—interior existence—emerged. Eventually, humans developed the capacity to reflect on their own consciousness. The fact that sentience arose from insentience indicates unimaginable potential. We all share in that potential. To the extent that we actualize new and higher potentials, we advance the evolution of consciousness. That evolution is a process of expansion.

The opposite of such expansion is personal ego, a narrow focus on one’s own desires and fears. The ego is the perennial obstacle to higher spiritual development, especially in contemporary Western society, which, for all its advances, also ends up encouraging narcissism and self-absorption. In early infancy we’re entirely egocentric, aware of only our own needs and desires. We don’t realize that there are perspectives other than our own. As we mature, we become increasingly aware of others’ needs and perspectives. In most cases, our sympathies expand to include family members, friends, and other people with whom we have direct contact and then extend to all people who share our ethnicity, nationality, race, and/or religion. Many of us progress further, to a sense of oneness with all human beings. Relatively few progress still further and develop a sense of community with all sentient beings, all creatures who possess consciousness.

If God is everything that exists, then all consciousness can be said to be the mind of God. Your own consciousness, as well as that of every other sentient being, is part of that mind. Therefore, we all are part of the infinite and its boundless potential.

I first experienced a sense of infinite potential as a teenager. I had a feeling of great expansion, an increased awareness of consciousness—indeed, a cosmic sense of all consciousness. When you experience such awareness, you become inspired. You gain a new purposefulness that transcends personal circumstances. Acting on the evolutionary impulse, you’re filled with creative energy. Instead of seeking personal gratification, you see yourself as a vehicle of consciousness, the ultimate mystery. You shed your ego, which confines, and are free to experience fully. By regarding situations and events from a cosmic perspective, you realize your higher potentials and advance the evolution of consciousness.

Consider highly creative, intensely motivated people such as artistic and scientific geniuses or deeply inspired political leaders. Such people radiate positive energy. They’re passionately engaged in their work. Innovators, they envision what’s possible and make it reality. Like evolution itself, they turn the latent into the manifest. Driven by a desire for greater consciousness, they tap into infinite potential.

You, too, can tap into that potential. To the extent that you don’t, you’re only partly awake. At best, you cope. You don’t move yourself and others forward. The best way to overcome negative thoughts and feelings is to move beyond the narrowly personal and recognize that you’re part of something much larger than yourself: the very evolution of consciousness.

Engineers can design robots that calculate and that perform other functions, but engineers can’t create awareness. Consciousness has been evolving for billions of years, since the beginning of the universe. You can reflect as you do because of that long history. The direction of evolution has been toward ever-greater consciousness. If you’ll contemplate the amazing evolution of consciousness, you’ll feel awe and wonder that are the opposite of ego. At the same time, you’ll realize that you’re part of that miraculous evolution. You’ll appreciate the preciousness of consciousness and of the capacity for consciousness. You’ll marvel at the infinite potential that enabled consciousness to emerge and that becomes increasingly manifest as consciousness continually grows.

According to the Big Bang theory, all matter could fit on the head of a pin when the universe began. We all derive from that original matter. All things truly are one. If you understand and ponder that, you’ll begin to realize your higher potentials. You’ll experience oneness with the entire creative process. That oneness will liberate and empower you. You no longer will feel separate or insignificant. Instead you’ll have a cosmic, God-like perspective. Seeing the infinite potential in yourself and others, you’ll arrive at a higher level of consciousness. Through such consciousness, we won’t just survive . . . we’ll evolve.

If you want to view a video of Andrew's presentation from the LOHAS forum click here.