As regular readers of this Newsletter know, I write routinely about the urgent need for humanity to embrace their observing ego and learn to tame the primitive ego of their unconscious inner-child; the part of our psyche that creates so much judgment and conflict in the world. The other subject that I focus on in this Newsletter is the urgent need for reform and intellectual integrity in the theologies of our mainline religions. Despite what our primitive ego would like to believe, the unverifiable faith beliefs of our world's mainline religions do not represent "absolute truth"; they are only the beliefs that a religiously oriented person accepts on "faith" to be true.
I write about these subject because we have the ability, called reflexive consciousness, to think about what we are thinking about. It gives us the ability as a species to create reality through thought alone. Given the technological advances of the last few hundred years, we no longer have the luxury of allowing the unconscious, black-and-white psyche of a young child, or the religious beliefs of a pre-modern culture that lived 2000 to 3000 years in the past, to dictate our social and political behaviors.
In this issue of the Newsletter I will focus on the concept of Co-creation to illustrate why taming our primitive ego and embracing the intentional growth in our observing ego consciousness is so important to the future survival of both our human way of life and our planet.
The concept of Co-creation is not complicated. It is based on the simple reality that we have to think about something before we can create it. In other words, someone first thought about everything that has ever been created by our species.
For example, language, the wheel, the use of fire, bridges, farming, the printing press, compassion, love, medicine, computers, and caring are things that would not exist had someone not thought of them. We dream and plan our future and then we get about the work of creating it. We think about lunch and then we make it. We picture the concept of a bridge in our mind, and then we build the "bridge". We love another person, so we create for them the behaviors we call "compassion and caring".
Unlike less conscious animals that only have the ability to function "on line" and react to direct stimuli from the environment, we have the ability as humans to think about what we are thinking about. Reflexive consciousness which is often referred to as "thinking off line" gives us the ability to create the world thought-by-thought, idea-by-idea, and belief-by-belief.
Unfortunately, there is also a serious down side to this evolved human ability we possess; a down side that creates much of the conflict and violence we experience in the world. Whether we are conscious and self-aware, or operating unconsciously out of our primitive ego, our thoughts and beliefs are still fully capable of creating form in the world.
When our thoughts and beliefs are conscious, when we are self-aware, when we are operating out of our more enlightened observing ego, we have significant choice as to the forms we are creating. What we manifest in the world is often positive and helpful. When we are not paying attention or fully conscious of our thoughts and beliefs, when we are not self-aware, when we are operating out of our unconscious primitive ego, we create realities in the world that are often hurtful to ourselves and others. In other words, without conscious self-awareness we have little or no choice as to the forms or realities we are creating.
This is a fundamental reality of reflexive thinking that we can no longer afford to ignore as we struggle to create a compassionate global culture. As we move into the 21st century, learning to pay attention to what we are thinking about moment-by-moment, and developing the enlightened spiritual ability to take full responsibility for what we create, are beyond doubt two of the most important consciousness skills we must learn to master. I am convinced our individual futures and the future of our species will ultimately be determined in large measure by our ability and willingness to embrace these important concepts.
Authentic spiritual growth, enlightenment, and the ability to accept full responsibility for what we are creating with our thoughts and beliefs all require an intentional growth in self-awareness. We must become self-aware and learn to pay attention to the forms we are creating; consciously and unconsciously. Let us take a look at why I feel this is so important for the future of our species.
It is a common religious belief that the creation of the form we call "our universe" was preceded by the thoughts of the "Initiating Consciousness" we call God. Most of our religions teach that God thought about creating the universe and then created the universe in seven days---"out of nothing". We were obviously not present during the creation of our universe, so we don't really know how it came into existence. Who or what initially thought up the idea of creating a universe remains a mystery. In other words, for those who are religious, belief in the existence of God, the "Initiating Consciousness" that created our universe, is a "faith" belief.
Such thinking of course leads us to the question, who created the Creator? Who created God? There are many scientists and mathematicians who believe there may be an infinite number of parallel universes that come and go in some mysterious never ending process of birthing and dying. Others believe that the creation of our universe is simply part of a larger reality that has mathematically existed forever outside of the space-time continuum.
If they are right, it could lead to proof that there was no "God" or "Initiating Consciousness" needed to create our particular universe. So whether we believe in God or not, we are still stuck with the same question, who or what started the whole process? The bottom line reality; we don't know how or why our particular universe was created; and we do not know who or what preceded the Big Bang. The concept of God is simply another "faith belief".
As self conscious humans, we may experience numinous or sacred moments that feel like we have experienced the presence of "God", but as important or powerful as those experiences may be, they are not conclusive or verifiable proof that God or an Initiating Consciousness exists.
In fact, Freud may be right. Perhaps, out of our need to feel safe and control our existential anxiety regarding death, unexplainable natural events, and other mysterious "unknowns", our ancestors simply projected their image of a "parental deity" onto a theistic "Being" they called God. If true, then as reflexively conscious beings, they unconsciously created the form we call God---"out of nothing". Whether we are talking about creating a universe "out of nothing", or a God "out of nothing", both require that there first be a conscious thought. In other words, all beings with a reflexive consciousness are fully capable of creating form out of only their thoughts and beliefs.
At the moment evolution gave birth to reflexive consciousness in homo sapiens, "God" was no longer the only being that could create form "out of nothing" but thought. At that moment in time, homo sapiens became fully responsible Co-creators of reality "with" God. This leaves us with the uncomfortable reality that if God does not exist, then homo sapiens may be the only known beings in the universe capable of creating form out of nothing but their thoughts and beliefs; the only known beings in the universe "totally responsible" for the future evolution of their species. For reasons I will explain below, it is my belief that, God or no God, we are still fully responsible for "all" of the forms we create; both past and future forms.
God is an important source of hope for humanity, but the reality is we simply do not know if "God" actually exists or not. A strong "faith belief" that "God" or an "Initiating Consciousness" exists is not considered a conclusive or verifiable proof that God is real.
Absolute verifiable realities are not called "faith" beliefs. We use that term only when we do not have verifiable proof and must therefore accept the reality of our belief on "faith". On the other hand, there are atheists who do not believe there is a God. Because they have no verifiable proof for their beliefs, they too are basing their belief on faith; the "faith belief" that God does not exist. For the time being we have to make the assumption that ultimately, either side could indeed be correct. For now, we only have our unanswered questions and our "faith beliefs". We simply do not know.
Fortunately, after the Big Bang things get more concrete and defined. We know that in our universe matter evolved and created the conditions and elements required for single celled life. Over time these single cells got together, created the conditions required for the evolution of higher life forms and eventually evolved into the species known as homo sapiens; a species with reflexive consciousness. The human species quickly got about the task of creating form. In addition to astronomy, mathematics, science, language, physics, psychology, one of the first and more important forms that humanity created was called religion.
As I pointed out above, religion was created by the narcissism and black-and-white thinking of our early ancestor's collective primitive egos to manage their existential anxieties, so it should be no surprise they would have transformed their questions and "faith beliefs" about God and creation into absolute, black-and-white, religious truths and certainties. Unfortunately, as we have explored at length in past Stonyhill newsletter articles, the narcissistic, black-and-white thinking process of our collective primitive egos are directly responsible for the many religious "certainties" that have created much of the conflict and violence visible in the world; both currently and historically.
I understand that the idea that we are Co-creators with the Initiating Consciousness is a concept difficult for many people of faith to accept. It feels like we have lost all humility. If you are a person of faith, it may be helpful to affirm that we are not saying that as Co-creators we have become "God". That would be the narcissism of our primitive ego speaking. What I "am" saying is, because of our reflexive consciousness, we must learn to become fully conscious of the forms that we are consciously and unconsciously creating. As difficult as it may be to accept, we "do" have the ability to create virtually any form that we can imagine.
We can no longer hide behind primitive religious faith beliefs, self-righteously assuming we possess "religious truths", while continuing to ignore the fact that we are creating violence in the world. Intelligent design, for example, is an unverifiable "faith belief" that we cannot assume is real. The belief that we will somehow be "saved" by God is another. To place total trust in such faith beliefs reduces us once again into helpless dependent children waiting for "God" to fix the consequences of the choices we have made. I will come back to this subject shortly.
So to briefly summarize, first, we do not know if God actually exists, and secondly, we have evolved to the point where our species is capable of creating reality out of thoughts and beliefs. We have literally become Co-creators with God for those who believe in God, and we have become the ultimate Creators of our own future for those who believe there is no God.
Regardless of which group you may identify yourself as belonging to, the bottom line is clear. Whether we are a species that has come of age, as responsible Co-creators of form "with" God, or as responsible creators of form in a world where there is no God running the show, the responsibility that faces us is identical. We all share a responsibility as reflexively conscious creators of form, to be fully conscious and self-aware of the forms that we are creating in each moment. To ignore this responsibility on the assumption that a God, that may or may not exist, and who, may or may not come to our rescue, is a level of irresponsibility that simply defies common sense; a denial of reality that could bring an end to our existence as a species.
Our definition of God was created by our pre-modern ancestors, people who "were" dependent and powerless; people dominated by poverty, uneducated, and controlled by the "empires" of the world. We live in the 21st century. We must move beyond the religious belief that we are inadequate, helpless, dependent children. We have to grow up, intentionally grow in self-awareness, accept the fact that we have been trying to live our lives out of the primitive ego of our inner-child, and accept full adult observing-ego responsibility for the forms we have created in the past and for those that will be created in the future.
I do not believe that an Initiating Consciousness capable of creating a universe filled with billions of galaxies; each containing billions of suns and countless billions of planets, would have gone to all that work just to create a weak, fallen, broken, sinful, inadequate, narcissistic species, put them on a small and insignificant planet, and then force them to adopt religious beliefs so as to insure that they remain stuck behaving as whining immature children endlessly praying and asking for things instead of growing up and using their incredible gift of reflexive consciousness. That scenario simply does not make sense to me. I certainly would not want that for my children.
It is my personal belief that if we "were" somehow intentionally created by a parental Initiating Consciousness through the process of evolution, I have to believe that "IT" would want us to grow up, take responsibility for the gift of free will that "IT" has given us through the evolutionary process, and get on with the task of creating the peaceful, compassionate, global culture that will be needed for the evolution of a yet higher form of consciousness for our species. "IT" would have given us a reflexive consciousness and the ability to create form for "some" reason. I can not believe that "IT" would simply want us to continue making immature, dependent, child-like choices that would lead to our extinction. That simply does not make sense to me either.
What "does" make sense to me is that we are no longer tied to the evolutionary roulette wheel called "evolution by chance". The future evolution of our species will no longer be confined simply to a biological hit or miss evolutionary process, it will come primarily through the intentional growth and evolution of our reflexive consciousness as we mature out the dominance of our primitive ego and into the enlightened influence of our observing ego.
It seems clear to me that we must learn to embrace an evolutionary spirituality in which we accept full responsibility for the conscious evolution of our species. We must learn to work "with" the creative evolutionary process that we "know" exists in our Universe. Our future is no longer about pro-creation. It can no longer be about the narcissistic "me" of our primitive ego. If we are to have a future, it will be about "us"; about the creation of a compassionate global culture. Our primitive ego may have gotten us this far, but only our observing-ego can move us successfully into the future.
What makes sense to me is the belief that our evolution from single celled life to reflexive consciousness is part of an on-going evolutionary process; that we were not religiously "put here" by God as the finalend product of 14.4 billion years of evolution like our narcissistic our primitive ego would like to believe. The creative evolutionary process is not about our narcissistic primitive ego's belief that God created us in "His" image. Whether God exists or not, we are simply evolution's latest manifestation of humanity called homo sapiens sapiens. We will evolve our reflexive consciousness or we will cease to exist as a species. All life forms and living systems continue to grow and evolve or they die.
Our goal as both individuals and as a species is not to strive to become "God". As I said, that would be our primitive ego speaking. Our goal should be to become fully human; to reclaim our essential self from the unconscious bondage of our primitive ego, learn to love unconditionally, and learn to take full responsibility for the forms we are creating whether there is a God or not.
Finally, the only concept of a God that makes sense to me is a non-theistic God; a God that is an integral and immanent part of all creation, the ground of being; a God that is the unfolding creative evolutionary process itself; a God that uses the creative evolutionary process to show us the power of love and cooperation; a God that does not tinker with free will and assumes that we are mature enough to accept full creative responsibility for the consequences of the choices we have made and for the forms yet to be created as the living universe continues to evolve beyond life and reflexive consciousness.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
As I finished writing the article above I decided that rather than add to the length of the article, I would use the personal thoughts part of the Newsletter to add a few other ideas that I personally believe are important and make sense to me about our role as Co-creator. So here are a few more thoughts on the subject that I hope are helpful for you.
What makes sense to me is that if God "does" exist, then "we" are the incarnation of God. We are creators of new form and we share a co-responsibility with God in the creation of new forms. In other words, we are fully responsible for the creation of compassion, love, caring, justice, mutuality, and hope in the world whether God exists or not.
What makes sense to me is the idea that free will is free will. That means that God does not tinker with reality and God does not alter the consequences of our choices. God is not going to come and somehow save us from the forms that we have already created. That is our responsibility whether God exists or not. Just as we are fully responsible for the creation of love and compassion, we are fully responsible for the creation of prejudice, judgment, conflict, violence, injustice, and all of the inhuman ways we have treated our fellow humans and the earth mother that birthed us.
What makes sense to me is the idea that God would expect us to pay attention to the feedback that our planet is giving us; global warming, the depletion of fresh water and other natural resources, the over population of our planet, the injustice of poverty and hunger, and especially the self-righteous creation of violence and suffering in "His" name. I expect that of my own children. I certainly would not ask them to remain childlike and dependent on me for all eternity. Regardless of their personal beliefs, I have always expected them to be kind and compassionate to others.
What makes sense to me is the idea, whether God exists or not, that as Co-creators, we are part of, and share in what is eternal whenever we are working Co-creatively with the infinitely ongoing creative evolutionary process. Eternal life is not about "heaven". Eternal life, like meaning and purpose, comes when we embrace an enlightened evolutionary spirituality; when we are an intentional and consciously contributing part of the creative evolutionary process itself; when we personally contribute and intentionally work to support the evolutionary growth of our species consciousness.
What makes sense to me is the idea that we create meaning for our species and ourselves one choice at a time. One new form at a time. There is no grand divine plan for the future. Some choices may be more helpful than others, but there are no right or wrong choices. We are going to have to improvise and use our observing ego to pay attention to the feedback our planet and our human culture gives us. Whether there is a God or not, we have been given the gift of reflexive consciousness. We have been given the Co-creative ability to create any form and any future we can imagine.
To repeat what I said in the article, our goal as both individuals and as a species is not to strive to become "God". Our goal should be to become fully human; to reclaim our essential self from the unconscious bondage of our primitive ego, learn to love unconditionally, and learn to take full observing ego responsibility for the forms we are creating with our thoughts and beliefs whether there is a God or not.
The only concept of a God that makes sense to me is a non-theistic God; a God that is an integral and immanent part of all creation, the ground of being; a God that is the unfolding creative evolutionary process itself; a God that uses the creative evolutionary process to show us the power of love and cooperation, but a God that does not tinker with free will and assumes that we are mature enough to accept full creative responsibility for the forms yet to be created as the living universe continues to evolve life and consciousness. Like it or not, we are now reflexively conscious Co-creators of form with the Initiating Consciousness that created the form we call our universe.
We must learn to embrace intellectual integrity, intentionally grow in self-awareness, embrace an evolutionary spirituality, and continue to strive for enlightenment. The lives of our children, the lives of our grandchildren, and the future evolution of our species will be determined by how well each of us alive today are able to embrace authentic spiritual growth as responsible Co-creators with the creative evolutionary process. This is a work that our narcissistic primitive ego is not capable of performing.
I hope these thoughts have been helpful for you on your journey toward enlightenment. Responsible, adult observing ego Co-creation is the ultimate manifestation of authentic spiritual growth.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
To paraphrase a sign I once saw, 'it always takes opposing sides to make a war. So the riddle then is this: if you don't want wars, how do you eliminate opposing sides without, at the same time, creating another conflict?'
How do you objectify fear once you're so involved in a situation that it goes psychologically out of control? How does one step back from the self-protection mechanism (of our primitive ego) that injects complicated situations with an overabundance of emotion? Sometimes willing yourself to be courageous through it all does not work. The emotions well up and overtake one's good intentions so much that having control never gets past being just a good idea.
My experiment right now is to attempt to lessen the emotional complications by communicating as simply as I can ---to try not to feel that I have to attack or be on the defensive when I have to deal with a tough situation. Just express the truth as I see it, and then let things develop the way they will, without trying to force them one way or another.'
Our primitive ego loves to take opposing sides because it always assumes that it alone knows the truth on any subject.
I try to never forget that reality.
When I am able to pay attention and self-aware, I find that simply expressing the truth as I see it, and then letting things develop the way they will without trying to force them one way or another to be one of the most important and helpful spiritual practices I can use to keep my primitive ego under control and out of the conversation.
QUOTES
Before the big bang, before the beginning, there was a void. It couldn't have been more still or peaceful, simply because absolutely nothing had yet occurred. Then suddenly an impulse emerged and exploded-an impulse to become-that gave birth to a powerful creative process. But who or what initiated that process? What energy or intelligence made the choice to take that miraculous leap from formlessness to form? Somewhere, somehow, a choice must have been made. Such an audacious move, that instantaneous leap from nothing to everything, could only have been made by a force that was nothing less than God-like. So I interpret the word God as meaning not only the empty Ground of all Being but also that creative principle-the evolutionary impulse, the urge to become, the First Cause, the elemental driving force behind the evolving universe. And that creative principle does not exist "out there" or somewhere up in the sky, but emerges from the deepest dimension of Being itself, which is not separate from your very own consciousness. Andrew Cohen, What is Enlightenment Magazine
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