Unlike animals, human beings seek the meaning of existence. We want to know why we are here, whether life has a purpose, and if so, what it is. Such questions emanate from consciousness — The Tenant in the Mind — an invisible principle of order and coherence present not only in individuals but also in societies andultimately in the universe. Universal consciousness fosters the mind’s growth and evolution just as it impels the cosmos toward higher levels of organization from atoms to stars to galaxies. Its aim is to realize its full potential by increasing its presence in our mind so that we discover our true relationship to others and our place in the universe as part of a living whole.

Yet the process is attended by mistake and error, for the mind tends naturally not only toward order but toward disorder, incoherence, self-involvement, and inertia, and these obstacles make life a challenging journey of self-discovery. The book focuses on life’s meaning as the struggle to attain ever higher levels of consciousness and ethical behavior. It differs from other consciousness studies by representing the mind as a limitless reservoir of possibility, freedom, and creativity, and by drawing its insights from a wide spectrum of disciplines in the belief that all testify to the aim of universal consciousness to actualize its presence through human thought and action.