The One

Spiritually, the enormous challenge for each and every one of us is to look directly into what it actually means to be the one who is going to consciously evolve for the sake of our collective salvation and transformation. From the absolute or nondual perspective that emerges in spiritual revelation, there is only ONE. There literally is no other; there is only one without a second. To truly understand conscious evolution, we have to grapple with the profound implications of that absolute fact. I believe we can only consciously evolve to the degree that we have actually realized at the deepest level of our being that we are that one without a second. Facing into the truth of nonduality—that the many is the one and that the one is ultimately who we always are—in an evolutionary context forces a confrontation with any relationship to the life process that is less than whole, complete, and fully committed. To consciously evolve is to surrender unconditionally to the truth that there is no other and at the same time to accept responsibility for what that means in an evolving universe—a cosmos that is slowly but surely becoming aware of itself through you and me. That one without a second is simultaneously awakening to itself as it develops, as it evolves, and it is that one, as you and me, alone, that can now begin to take responsibility for endeavoring to consciously create its own future.

Andrew Cohen