Reflections on Evolutionary Enlightenment by Craig Hamilton
Is your motivation really deep enough? Is it simply to feel better, to gain inner peace, self fulfillment? How do you find the will or the motivation to live from a deeper place?
These are some of the compelling questions coming up from my Evolutionary Enlightenment course that has generated much contemplation. Craig goes on to explain that if our motivation is merely hedonic in nature, we will fall short when asked to live our lives from a more evolved perspective. A perspective beyond ego. It’s explained more thoroughly in what he calls the 4 spheres of Enlightened Motivation. The first sphere is realizing our interdependence. We are not an island. Our lives are not our own. We don’t have a private life. Everything we do affects the whole in visible and in invisible ways. Our actions send out ripples. How we show up in our life on a daily basis affects everyone we encounter. So to be a participant in evolving thought on this planet, do we really have the luxury to think that we are an independent entity?
I’ve been sitting with this for a few weeks now and have tried to simply develop awareness around my daily decisions. When I decide to do or not do something, ask myself why? Is this simply for my own benefit, or could I make a different choice and benefit someone else? When I’m about to criticize someone or something, to share my opinion, what do I hope to achieve by sharing these ideas? Will my words generate virtue in others, or will it contribute to endless faultfinding, anger, and negativity? Something we certainly could do with less of in our world. If my actions and intentions were sending out influential ripples on the minds of others, wouldn’t it behoove me to be more selective about my output?
So as I contemplate interdependence, I’m forced to view my relationship to this precious human life in a very different way. My life is not my own to do with as I please. Those are pretty powerful words to embrace, to embody, to live. But they are true, whether we choose to abide by them or not. Interconnectivity is both spiritual and scientific. The question is how much impact do I really want to have on my world today? Am I committed to being a positive force for change? If so, I will have to push the pause button on my mind many times during the day to ask myself the question: What is the most evolved response I can have to this situation? If my motivation for spiritual practice is simply to feel better, I probably won’t make the higher choice. Choices for anyone living life from this place, will often be harder, more uncomfortable, perhaps even painful or fearful. But if our intention is to live in service to the greater good, we will stretch, we will respond with conviction. To act from this place, even though every cell in our being is screaming RETREAT! go to safer ground, curl up on the sofa and watch TV, is to act from our deepest spiritual center. There is indeed no time left to take a break from having an impact.
