What is the glory of God? What is the defining expression of that which transcends yet includes all things?
Before time and space, before the universe was born, there was nothing. Then suddenly from nothing came something. There was an explosion, and what we all are right now is that explosion in motion, which, in turn, is one radiant being, conscious, whole, and undivided. Enlightenment is the direct recognition of one’s own true face as none other than that radiant being — conscious, whole, and undivided. And it is the recognition of the utterly complete and always perfect nature of that true face that releases the sense of individuality from identification with the hypnotic grip of ego consciousness. But there is more to enlightenment than the liberating discovery of the inherent perfection of the absolute or non-dual nature of all things, and that is the emergence of a powerful imperative to evolve. When something came from nothing and the explosion in motion that is all of life came into being, a perpetual state of becoming was born. In the spiritual revelation, that movement is experienced as an impersonal command from the self to transcend, to evolve, to utterly transform this world so that it can become a dynamic, living expression of the perfection that it already is. This spiritually inspired passion, which arises from the self, unleashes the fire of absolute love and ego-defying compassion into this world and is always a force to be reckoned with. Its unceasing demand is evolution, and its tangible expression is to create order out of disorder. Indeed, the boundless creativity of this evolutionary impulse in action strives to manifest higher and higher expressions of miraculous wholeness and integration. This call for transcendence and evolution experienced in the spiritual revelation is the unrelenting scream of the Absolute beckoning all who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see to surrender wholeheartedly for the sake of that evolutionary imperative. This ceaseless imperative to evolve is also the glory of God, and the greatest paradox is that that glory is both the radiant, ever full and complete, always perfect ground of all that is and the very foundation and essence of that explosion in motion that strives to manifest higher and higher expressions of wholeness and integration. Enlightenment, then, is the direct realization of the dual nature of the glory of God as the inherent perfection of all things and a ceaseless imperative to evolve. In that realization, there is not only the release from the hypnotic grip of ego consciousness but also the ecstatic movement of energy that occurs only through submission to the creative principle. What is so precious about human life is our sacred potential to experience this glory in our own hearts and minds and, by so doing, become a conscious instrument of it. But the evolutionary journey is a perilous one and, as in other dimensions of life, the blossoming of the human spirit can also go terribly wrong. When the ecstatic embrace of the evolutionary imperative is not firmly grounded in the profound knowledge of the inherent perfection of all things, the consequences are almost always disastrous. The simple reason for this is that it is the discovery of that inherent perfection alone that has the power to liberate human consciousness from the ego’s insidious and deadly investment in power and domination. In fact, it is only that knowledge that makes it possible to experience the glory of God untainted by the hubris of selfhood. Established in that radiant, ever full and complete, always perfect ground of all that is, the expression of the evolutionary imperative in this world will remain undistorted. The other great potential for confusion is when the glory of God is seen to be only the inherent perfection of all things devoid of any evolutionary imperative. Whenever this misrepresentation of the complete and paradoxical nature of the glory of God occurs, the unrestrained creative potential of the explosion in motion that we are will be profoundly inhibited. Andrew Cohen is the author of numerous books, including Enlightenment is a Secret, Freedom Has No History, and the forthcoming Embracing Heaven and Earth: The Liberation Teachings of Andrew Cohen, from which this article was adapted. He is also the founder and guiding force behind What Is Enlightenment? magazine. For information on his teachings, books, or retreats, call (800) 376-3210. |
The glory of God is the shattering realization that everything is always perfect. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. Even earthquakes, disease, and bloody warfare: that’s all the glory of God too. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things as they are. You see, from an absolute perspective, the eye of the self sees only God and makes no distinctions whatsoever. Heaven and hell, good and evil, everything known and unknown, seen and unseen are all recognized only to be different expressions of that one incomparable mystery beyond name and form. Beyond all pairs of opposites, the glory of God is all there is: just absolute incomparable perfection.