Andrew Cohen's Experience of Cosmic Consciousness

November 22, 2002

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Excerpt pasted in from his interview:

A When I was sixteen, I had an experience of cosmic consciousness

that occurred spontaneously. Completely unsought, it emerged from the

unknown. I was sitting up late one evening speaking with someone and

suddenly, for no apparent reason, the doors of perception opened. In

an instant, all boundaries disappeared and it literally seemed as if

there were no walls, as if I wasn't sitting in a room having a

conversation, but I was sitting in the middle of infinite space. I

could see the walls and I could see the room that I was in but,

inwardly, my experience was that all boundaries were gone and I was

actually existing in and as infinite space. It became clear to me at

that moment that there is only one point in space and that, no matter

where we may appear to be physically located at any time, we will

always be in exactly the same place.

I saw in a way that is difficult to put into words that all of life

is Onethat the whole universe and everything that exists within it,

seen and unseen, known and unknown, is one conscious, glorious,

intelligent Being that is self-aware. Its nature is Love but it is a

love that is so overwhelming in its intensity that even to experience

the faintest hint of it is almost unbearable for the human body. I

saw in that moment that there is no such thing as death, that life

has no beginning and no end. I was awestruck and overwhelmed. Tears

were rolling down my cheeks and yet I wasn't crying and, strangely,

my throat was opening and closing by itself. I was just sitting there

but I felt like I was on my knees. I was in a state of wonder. And

then something curious happenedI don't exactly know how to explain

it. There was a message for me that said: "If you give your life to

me and me alone, you'll have nothing to fear." And the implication

was that if I didn't, then I would suffer terribly.

--- End forwarded message ---

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