The Universe Project with Andrew Cohen

 Dear Andrew and Jeff,
What a wonderful phone call it was this evening!  Thank you so much. Somehow on the phone call your voice sounded vulnerable and penetrating at the same time, in a way that was really quite sublime.  I am hoping that this program gets turned into a podcast that I can direct my friends to via links or whatever. I think it was perhaps the most succinct, impassioned and simply compelling description of the context, the purpose, and the passion for Evolutionary Enlightenment that I have heard yet.
Thank you so much!
Carl

Dear Jeff

I have just heard Andrew Cohen’s talk via the web. I like his conclusion that basically we are all one in primordial consciousness. But now - in manifestation - we are many and the universe is our project.

My question is: why does 'our' Universe Project contain so much pain??!! Isn't evolutionary spirituality, like every other theology, crumbling under the tremendous amount of pain present in this world? Is it all just involution and evolution - a godly game - lila and existence, consciousness, bliss -satchitananda (Sri Aurobindo)?

Looking forward to your reply, yours

Michael (Zurich)

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your question. I have to agree that there is tremendous pain in the Universe. I am not as certain that the existence of pain is the source of our problems. The goal of Evolutionary Enlightenment is not is not to end pain, but to discover universal purpose and meaning. I don’t believe that pain is what causes so much suffering in the world (particularly not for highly developed cultures in the west) rather it is the lack of meaning and significance that holds far too many of us in a state of meandering despair. My own experience of Evolutionary Enlightenment has been that the more I have found the drive of my own deepest heart to be non-separate from the creative drive that initiated the process of evolution in the first place, my concern with the experience of pain has been replaced by the explosive inspiration for what the future could be.

Thank you again for writing,

Jeff