Achieving Our Innate Potential
Why the Independent Investigation of Truth is a Primary Principle of Our Time
Consciousness is an innate potentiality that unfolds dynamically as we are called to make sense of ourselves in relation to others, the world, and the universe around us. The consciousness we strive for is all the time embedded in our unconscious mind, as archetypes, waiting to be called forth, to light our way, and to guide us toward the truth we seek.
This awakening is the adventure of a lifetime that may also be the greatest challenge we face as humans. The evolution of consciousness is an ongoing process, the fulfillment of which is not guaranteed. A conscious effort is required to expand our consciousness. When we become aware of the possibility of something greater than ourselves, we “seek” something that explains how we fit into society, something that offers answers to the mysteries of life and creation.
The world’s sacred traditions assure us of this: “Seek and ye shall find…” (Christian tradition). “If thou shalt seek the Lord, thou shalt find him...” (Jewish tradition). “The nature of the one Reality must be known by one’s own clear spiritual perception; it cannot be known through a pundit…” (Shankara, Hindu Vedanta).
In the Islamic tradition: “He who approaches near to Me one span, I will approach near to him one cubit...” And from the Bahá’í tradition, we get an answer to what the seeking will reveal to us: “If we investigate the religions to discover the principles underlying their foundations, we will find they agree, for the fundamental reality of them is one and not multiple.”
In our time, the search for truth, the investigation of reality, or the expansion of consciousness has been made a primary spiritual principle. In this quest, we find that the goal of our search is the boundless consciousness that unites us with all of creation, and with divinity itself.
Yet, the degree to which we achieve our innate potential depends entirely upon the individual initiative we take to actively investigate reality. While myriad distractions capture our attention and pull us in other directions, mysterious forces are always operating to liberate our consciousness from previously restricted stages and propel it onward in its evolution.
Whether we attribute this experience to a divine Source, natural forces, or supernatural phenomena, nothing expands our consciousness more than the proactive, intentional, open-hearted search for truth. Now, more than ever, with so much disinformation everywhere we turn, it is the independent investigation of reality that will unleash our fullest potential.
When this single-minded quest is followed, nothing can deter us from its destination: inner peace, serenity, and a quiet mind.
Without seeking this deeper, universal truth, we fall prey to its opposite, what the Vedanta and Buddhist teachings call maya, our tendency to be swayed by what turns out to be an illusion or a deception. This is what still prevents most of humanity from recognizing reality in its true form. Because we can easily get distracted, we must search for this truth. To seek truth is to connect with what is beyond ourselves.
Achieving our innate potential is living into our true nature, what Jung says in hidden within the archetypes of the “collective unconscious,” as these “contain the whole spiritual heritage of humanity’s evolution, born anew in the brain structure of every individual.”
To experience this in our own lives, we only need to follow the archetype of the Call. This takes us on a quest that separates us from the familiar and signals that our destiny is unfolding. Its purpose is to expand our consciousness, by guiding us along a path leading to transformation and renewal. There may be no more important need of our time than the call to an awakened consciousness. As consciousness evolves, it changes the way we see everything, helping us to grasp the sacred nature of reality.
Guiding our search for truth, as we seek integration, communion, and wholeness, is the most powerful force in the Universe – love. Once the quest of the soul, or life of the spirit, begins, through our discernment of everything we encounter, we come closer to the Creator.
The natural outcome of fulfilling our individual and collective potential is a unitive consciousness that is embedded within all of us. As we grow and mature, we move away from a divided consciousness and toward our innate wholeness. Carl Jung explained this process: “The personality desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions and to experience itself as a whole.”
Consciousness is an innate potentiality guiding us toward an awareness of the unitive nature of all things. The power of our own consciousness, reflecting upon itself, reveals how connected we all are.