Timothy Wilken
I would like to recommend a very interesting telecourse on what is called Evolutionary Enlightenment by Craig Hamilton. Craig was/is a long time associate of Andrew Cohen. He is currently teaching independently of Andrew, but they shared a “thinking space” for a number of years.
I finished the class that started in October this morning. Craig will re-present the class again this January with some evolutionary improvements. The only time Craig isn’t thinking, he is meditating.
The class was both inspiring and highly meaningful. Craig would like us humans to show up in the world as our best selves. This means we should strive to walk our talk. If we say people should be kind to other people, then we should strive to relate to all others we meet during our day with kindness. If we say others should think, before they speak, then we strive to remain in mindfulness throughout our day, and from that perspective, speak with compassion and thoughtfulness. But more than just being thoughtful, kind and compassionate people, Craig wants us to do something. Craig says being is not enough. We also need becoming.
As a student of human intelligence and human knowing, I would describe first enlightenment as the “Understanding of Being.” This is classical enlightenment or “Buddha Enlightenment.” Human intelligence emerges from the integration of Spacial and Temporal Intelligence. Classical enlightenment is Spacial Enlightenment.
Those seekers on the leading edge, are now discussing a second stage enlightenment that transcends and includes the Understanding of Being, this new enlightenment is what I call the “Understanding of Becoming” or Temporal Enlightenment.
Craig uses the word Evolution to represent temporal enlightenment—Evolutionary Enlightenment. Craig asks his students, “How are they going to make the world a better place?”
The following quotation is credited to Andrew Cohen, but I think Craig would agree with it.
Why Are We Here?
When we awaken to the evolutionary impulse, we realize a completely new relationship to what it means to be alive and what it means to be ourselves here and now.
Not only do we discover a freedom to be ourselves that we’ve never known before, but even more importantly we find a reason for living with intense commitment and liberated passion that gives us an incomparable sense of personal, philosophical, and spiritual self-confidence.
We suddenly begin to understand, in ways that both include and transcend our intellect, that the reason we are here on Earth (once all of our basic survival needs have been met) is not merely to experience security, comfort, pleasure, or even peace of mind but to develop.
We realize that we are here to consciously evolve, to intentionally do anything and everything we can to unleash all of the extraordinary creative potential within so that the human race’s next step can, in some small but not insignificant way, emerge through us.
—A. Cohen