When time began, for an unknown reason, something came from nothing. Suddenly, an impulse emerged -- the impulse to become, to create, to evolve. One could call it the God impulse. This urge to take form gradually became the whole universe, eventually including you and me as we are right now.
As human beings we experience this evolutionary impulse on many levels. At the gross physical level, we feel it as the sexual impulse, the powerful urge to procreate. At a higher level, the cognitive level, we experience this same principle as the uniquely human desire to know, to understand, to create. And at the highest level, the level of consciousness, we experience it as the spiritual impulse, the mysterious urge to evolve as consciousness itself. This urge to evolve is what I call the authentic self. The movement of the authentic self in each and every one of us is not other than the one evolutionary impulse that is driving the engine of creation. When you feel the irresistible compulsion to develop at the level of consciousness, you are experiencing in your own soul the same impulse that initiated the big bang.
In those moments when the creative impulse manifests itself at the biological level as sexual desire, the outcome is always predetermined. But when that same impulse expresses itself at the highest level, the level of consciousness, the outcome is not predetermined. That is why, for human beings who are awakening to the authentic self, being alive is suddenly recognised to be such a deep and profoundly creative experience. Through us, the same impulse that initiated the entire evolutionary process is becoming aware of itself and awakening to its own deepest desire, which is to become conscious. If we intentionally engage in this process at the highest level, we will find that we are literally creating the future. If you have the courage to let this in, you will recognize the true meaning of your aspiration to evolve. You will begin to see the precious significance of even the barest murmurings of your own struggle to become conscious.
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher and founder of the award-winning EnlightenNext magazine. His new book is called Evolutionary Enlightenment: A New Path to Spiritual Awakening. Click here to learn more.