There is a characteristic that distinguishes human beings from the rest of life on the planet. All other life-forms around us have a very specific mission that repeats itself over time; in other words, there is a limit to the expansion of consciousness. Take Jonathan Livingston Seagull as an example: when he urged the seagulls to fly higher, the response was, "We were not created for that."
We humans, however, were created for the constant expansion of our consciousness, our being, and our abilities. Yet, being created for constant exploration and expansion does not mean we actually pursue it. Often, like the seagulls, we are content to fly low.
This capacity to work against our own interests, something that does not happen with other forms of life arises because, alongside the potential for constant expansion, we are born with another gift: free will. This gives us the freedom to choose what to do with our lives—in other words, to choose whether to fly low or high. The choice is ours alone.