SIMPLY LIFE
People today are like gardeners who look sadly at ruined saplings and shake their heads, saying the seeds must have been bad to start with, not realizing that the seed was all right, but that their method of cultivation was wrong. They go on their mistaken way, ruining plant after plant. It is imperative that the human race escape from this vicious circle. The sooner people realize their mistake, the better. The more the situation is changed, the nearer the human race will come to happiness. [Suzuki, S. (2013). Nurtured Love: The Classic Approach to Talent Education, 106]
It was August 18, 2018: an LA Fitness bike was the distraction and the personality—ego mind—was sad. Quite simply, reflections about Andrew Cohen’s “freedom” genius were life changing: surrender, let go, stop searching. Here’s the story.
In January 1973 the new job as Purchasing Manager was exciting. Having left the Army behind in April 1970—West Point, eight years of the Army, Major, airborne and ranger schools, two years of combat—the transition from soldier to corporate America was trying. Coors Container Company was the third business challenge; and while walking in the aluminum can plant with the new boss—in step and one step to the left and one step to the rear—he remarked, “If you do not learn to manage your self-created stress, it will kill you!” Motioning with his left arm, he continued, “Get up here and walk beside me!” This comment unleashed a perfectionist’s 40 year plus, self-discovery and self-awareness journey to uncover a perfect response to life.
The trek started with reading Thomas Harris’s I’m OK–You’re OK, an insightful classic of popular psychology based on Eric Berne’s theory of Transactional Analysis. This was followed with a Mountain States Employers Council seminar entitled “I’m OK–You’re OK.” And as life has unfolded, coupled with bucks, books, degrees, seminars, programs, retreats, religious studies, communities, practices, spiritual experiences, et al, the search has continued: search, search, search and search some more!!
In July 2016 the “searching” took a side trip into the evolutionaires’ world: Michael Murphy, George Leonard, Ken Wilber, Carter Phipps, Sri Aurobindo, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Peter Francis Dziuban, David Bhodan and Andrew Cohen. In August 2018 Andrew Cohen[1] blew the freedom chaff from the wheat with a question: “What is the relationship between nothing and something?” (16) His answer: “A perfect response to life…when there is no longer any distinction between the inherent perfection of the Self Absolute and that response that is its expression in the world of time and space.”(17) Simply, freedom to show up as perfection beyond duality—ego mind—when the inner[2] and outer[3] truly become One—freedom, spiritual freedom, emptiness, nonduality, wholeness, God, peace-of-mind et al. Cohen’s formula: taste spiritual freedom, meditate and contemplate.
[1] Cohen, A. (2002). Living Enlightenment: a Call for Evolution Beyond Ego, Lenox, MA: Moksha, 17.
[2] Inner: thoughts, feelings, intentions, psychology, relationships, culture and shared meaning. (Wilber, Patten, Leonard & Morelli, 2008, Integral Life Practice, Boston, MA: Integral, 28)
[3] Outer: physical body, behaviors, environment, social structures and systems. (Wilber, Patten, Leonard & Morelli, 2008, Integral Life Practice, Boston, MA: Integral, 28)