Big Think

Question: How do people learn about your teachings?

Andrew Cohen: Well, the way to have this kind of experience would really be to spend time with someone like myself in a retreat context or to spend- to hear me give a lecture because when people spend time with me and I’m able to share some of these ideas what begins to happen is something slowly but surely begins to be transmitted that’s- that- at a level that transcends merely cognition. One begins to actually experience the things I’m speaking about. One of the things that gives me a great sense of confidence is- and I’ve made a lot of effort for this to be the case is that my teaching is very rational and especially if one really considers the teachings it’s- it- there’s a logical progression and it makes a lot of sense. It makes it easier for people that are rationally oriented to accept the fundamental principles inherent in the teaching. And that creates a sense of trust and the trust makes it possible for then the individual to awaken to the reality of what I’m speaking about at a level of their own intuition. They begin to actually experience what I’m speaking about directly so that it’s not something that they’re just thinking about but they begin to actually say, “Oh, this is actually the case” and begin to experience some sense of the excitement and inspiration because the thing is I have no doubt that, to put it in theological terms, to just take some liberties here, that when God decided to create the universe, when something came from nothing, the big bang was a huge yes. And when we awaken to the evolutionary impulse and the spiritual impulse we experience an unparalleled sense of positivity about being here. We realize that life is good and the urge to become the original creative impulse that we experience now as the spiritual impulse is good. We realize that the creative instinct by its very nature is inherently the highest goodness, we experience how positive it is to be alive and we feel so fortunate to be alive. It doesn’t mean that a lot of things don’t go wrong in the creative process. There are all kinds of problems that are part of the chaos of creation that happens on all level including many of our own mistakes, but it doesn’t mean that the urge to become itself isn’t an ecstatically positive impulse. So when we become experientially connected to and awake to this absolute sense of positivity it is spiritually empowering in the most profound way.

Recorded on: 04/28/2008