Printed in the Spring 2024 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Nesky, Andrew "The Metaphysics of Cocreation" Quest 112:2, pg 2
By Andrew Nesky
Western consciousness has lived in generally prosperous circumstances for a very long time. In circumstances of general peace and plenty, greed and egoism have few barriers to their growth and ascension to authority. Saying no to egoism and pleasure-seeking is difficult under the direst circumstances but is much more difficult when times are good.
Egoism relies on the relative stability of the unearned resources it steals. Even though it can’t make more of the resource it plunders, it has no hesitancy about taking the last of it. When ego is in control of such resources, it isn’t long before they are undermined. We are in a time when personal, social, and even physical resources are in dire jeopardy of being pulled out from under our feet.
No one can embrace a paradigm that leads to personal and social destruction without being dangerously lost in an egotistic worldview—and yet, in our age, many would destroy what they cannot replace. This path requires ignorance of the deadly cost of the ego’s success.
In earlier ages, it was difficult for ego to gain the level of undue advantage it has now. Corrupt styles of egoism were not empowered and usually died on the vine. It was more challenging to harness the immediate, rapt attention of the masses and feed the throng ego-fortifying candy.
Never has there been a time when so many ego addicts can be cultivated. Unfortunately, our modern era has created a paradigm where we can instantly communicate with billions. We can cater to the most extreme and flawed perspectives by connecting and validating the minority that espouses them. At this moment, our collective disdain for egoism must be cultivated and advertised, or it will inevitably bring our destruction.
The ongoing work of adult consciousness is simple: it is ordained by the universe itself. It is the work that began at the creation of modern human consciousness as it was described in Genesis and must be continued for humanity to prosper.
The secret is that the universe runs not on simple creation, but on cocreation, a process by which the creation beyond our comprehension joins with our ability to create meaning in every moment. Rather than explain this mystery in technical concepts, it is better to express it allegorically.
The Cocreation
The Adena people, a native Indian tribe, were common to [the panhandle] of West Virginia . . . during the Woodland Period, an era lasting from about 1000 BC to 700 AD . . . A hunter-gatherer society, [the Adena] were referred to as the “mound builders.”
—Stephen and Stacy Soltis, West Virginia, Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places
Long ago, in the unspoiled wilderness of North America, humans and God lived together. In this time, there were many quiet places where they talked to each other; God gave direction, and his children listened and performed his tasks. As they progressed in their understanding, their Father gave them more important work, until finally they grew beyond childhood. Shedding the cloak of their childish identity, they found they had new ears for new sounds. For the first time, they heard the voice their Father used to describe the most crucial labor: the creation of the universe.
In the time before the world, God began the divine project. His children were seeds sown in his last solitary act. Having planted creation, the Creator retired, for to impress form any further would yield only soulless statuary. It was now time to wait, watch, and tend the Garden—for growth must originate from within.
Born from the flesh of Mother Earth and given life from the heart of their Father, the children grew. It was his wish that they grow straight and tall, and that one day they would bear the good fruit of the Garden’s renewal.
Now in its time, as the seeds of wisdom began to develop inside the people, they saw they were created by their Father’s will and that their hearts beat from his own. They learned that all they needed could be found in the song sung from their Father’s heart and that by following the music, they would find themselves in the places that were made for them before time began. The children learned beyond all doubt that their only duty was to continue their Father’s Way.
With the barest of tools, Native American villagers quarried bushel after bushel of earth from the body of the Great Mother, as their Father had done when he first made the Garden. Entire tribes moved like unending lines of ants, carrying their sacred treasure to the place God provided for his purpose. As each new generation consecrated their season by bringing their offerings to the sacred project, earth was piled upon generations of earth until mounds as high as seven men and so vast that an entire village could fit onto their hilltops grew to meet new horizons.
On the evening of the day the last earth was carried to the mound, the workers mounted the new land and began to consecrate their universe to their Father. The tribe sang, danced, and prayed throughout the time of darkness until it was time for the darkness to pass.
Hearing the footsteps of Light’s messenger at the eastern edge of the universe, the villagers turned toward the sound and began to make day. As the footsteps grew closer, the tribe sang praises to Sun, the great messenger of Light. With great zeal, they called out, promising their help with his journey. When at last the edges of Sun’s cargo painted the new world’s first misty horizon, the people of God took Sun’s hand. While their Father pushed, they pulled: from their lips came words of encouragement and welcome. As their Father lifted Sun from beneath the world, dedicated human minds, hearts, and bodies encouraged and steadied Sun’s journey through time to the place at the top of the sky.
By lending their hand to the labor of nature, the people’s added strength and attention caused pale existence to flush with the hearty, rosy-cheeked glow of renewed richness, vitality, and goodness. From this first successful dawn, the children inherited their birthright. Taking their place at their Father’s side, they grasped his yoke and with him turned forward the Wheel of Life.
Andrew Nesky is president of the Pittsburgh Lodge of the TSA. This article is adapted from his book Roots of Discord: The Metaphysics of Human Suffering; A Warning.
About the Author:
Andrew Nesky has diverse credentials in many areas. He is a 32nd Degree Freemason and has twice been elected to the position of Worshipful Master of a Masonic Lodge. As a spiritual leader and educator Andrew has held a long Presidency for the Theosophical Society in Pittsburgh. He is an actor with hundreds of stage and screen performances. Mr. Nesky has achieved awards in competitive public speaking and debate and has coached many high-level competitors in those events. He is a nationally recognized security and fire system expert and was awarded instructor of the year by the American security industry in 2021. You can view his pioneering webcasted talk show investigating science, philosophy, and spirituality “Outer Streams” on YouTube.