The First Tenet:
Clarity of Intention
The first tenet is called Clarity of Intention, and it places the outcome of the spiritual quest directly in your own hands.
In the teaching of evolutionary enlightenment, the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own development. You may say that you want to evolve, that you want to become liberated or enlightened, but whether or not that aspiration bears the fruit of transformation is entirely dependent upon you. The bottom line is that if you truly want to be free, nothing will be able to stop you. Clarity of intention is the foundation of the spiritual life, and it states that your desire for freedom, your impulse to evolve, has to become more important to you than anything else in this world.
Wanting to be free more than anything else is not a feeling; it's an action. It is a conscious position you take in relationship to every choice you make. Without the clear intention to be free, no amount of spiritual practice will change you in the long run. Your success depends entirely upon your conscious choice to be free in every moment. Ultimately you will reach a point where you no longer have a choice, where your own freedom is recognized to be a choiceless obligation. Then the authentic self, which is already perfectly free, will have become the dominant force in your being and therefore the first tenet will no longer be something you are struggling with. But until you reach that point, clarity of intention needs to be consciously cultivated.
When you begin to contemplate clarity of intention, you are likely to discover, as most of us do, that you don't really want freedom more than anything else. You may want to experience the liberating bliss of higher states. You may even have glimpsed the absolute nature of reality from the perspective of consciousness itself and felt compelled to respond to that revelation. But when you attempt to bridge the gap between that higher perspective and the reality of your life in the relative world, the ultimate challenge of spiritual freedom reveals itself. You recognize that to become a living expression of that higher perspective demands nothing less than everything.
The serious contemplation of the question, Do I want to be free more than anything else? will inevitably catalyze a profound confrontation with your relationship to life. It will bring to light deep and powerful structures that usually remain hidden_the authentic self's unbridled passion for freedom and the ego's fierce resistance and inertia. The first tenet makes it possible, once and for all, to freely choose which of those will determine your destiny.
Clarity of intention is simple, but its implications are radical and profound beyond measure. If you want to be free more than anything else, you don't have to depend on higher states; you don't have to wait for God to save you; you don't have to hope for grace to descend. In a truly courageous soul, this tenet will forge a strength and independence of spirit that in and of itself is liberation. Clarity of intention is the foundation of the enlightened life and the key to the evolution of consciousness itself, because it places your freedom entirely in your own hands.
Andrew Cohen
Clarity of Intention
The first tenet is called Clarity of Intention, and it places the outcome of the spiritual quest directly in your own hands.
In the teaching of evolutionary enlightenment, the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own development. You may say that you want to evolve, that you want to become liberated or enlightened, but whether or not that aspiration bears the fruit of transformation is entirely dependent upon you. The bottom line is that if you truly want to be free, nothing will be able to stop you. Clarity of intention is the foundation of the spiritual life, and it states that your desire for freedom, your impulse to evolve, has to become more important to you than anything else in this world.
Wanting to be free more than anything else is not a feeling; it's an action. It is a conscious position you take in relationship to every choice you make. Without the clear intention to be free, no amount of spiritual practice will change you in the long run. Your success depends entirely upon your conscious choice to be free in every moment. Ultimately you will reach a point where you no longer have a choice, where your own freedom is recognized to be a choiceless obligation. Then the authentic self, which is already perfectly free, will have become the dominant force in your being and therefore the first tenet will no longer be something you are struggling with. But until you reach that point, clarity of intention needs to be consciously cultivated.
When you begin to contemplate clarity of intention, you are likely to discover, as most of us do, that you don't really want freedom more than anything else. You may want to experience the liberating bliss of higher states. You may even have glimpsed the absolute nature of reality from the perspective of consciousness itself and felt compelled to respond to that revelation. But when you attempt to bridge the gap between that higher perspective and the reality of your life in the relative world, the ultimate challenge of spiritual freedom reveals itself. You recognize that to become a living expression of that higher perspective demands nothing less than everything.
The serious contemplation of the question, Do I want to be free more than anything else? will inevitably catalyze a profound confrontation with your relationship to life. It will bring to light deep and powerful structures that usually remain hidden_the authentic self's unbridled passion for freedom and the ego's fierce resistance and inertia. The first tenet makes it possible, once and for all, to freely choose which of those will determine your destiny.
Clarity of intention is simple, but its implications are radical and profound beyond measure. If you want to be free more than anything else, you don't have to depend on higher states; you don't have to wait for God to save you; you don't have to hope for grace to descend. In a truly courageous soul, this tenet will forge a strength and independence of spirit that in and of itself is liberation. Clarity of intention is the foundation of the enlightened life and the key to the evolution of consciousness itself, because it places your freedom entirely in your own hands.
Andrew Cohen
commonman:
Fascinating. I visited his web page and I think his writings are worth exploring. But how does evolutionary enlightenment compare to, say, ethical culture? Or even Unitarian Universalism?