One person, in a country, in a world, in a galaxy, in a universe... It's so easy to feel minuscule and unimportant. When we compare ourselves with the vastness of the universe, we feel smaller than even a grain of sand, one grain among billions. This feeling arises from simple ignorance, for many of us do not know who or what we are.
"Ignorance is the most potent factor in setting limitations to the majority of mankind; and so the great majority of people continue to live their little, dwarfed, and stunted lives simply by virtue of the fact that they do not realize the larger life to which they are heirs. They have never as yet come into a knowledge of the real identity of their true selves." ~ _In Tune With the Infinite_, by Ralph Waldo Trine, 1910, chapter: The Supreme Fact of Human Life
Now, I cannot pretend to know just who I am or others are, or what larger life we're inheriting, but I will continue searching for the answer to this riddle. I can read about it in books, or parrot the saying that we are all One and God, sure, that's easy to do. I can intellectualize it and analyze it using my mind. I can believe it. But, someday I hope to feel it, or even better, to know it. Is final realization of this called enlightenment?
20 comments:
I was impressed too when I read In Tune with the Infinite, many years ago. It is one of those books which helps us wake up, although that waking up can take decades---well it did with me, thinking I was awake when I was actually in a new dream.
We mislead ourselves with our ideas and metaphors. Why should there be any final realization called enlightenment? Clearly, life can get "larger", for we see differences between others, and development in our own selves as we grow older.
Perhaps the highest thing is to enjoy life.
Hi Vincent,
So you have read a book that I know about! What I've read of it so far is impressive, although I am just jumping around reading bits and pieces. Some day I will probably read it from cover to cover.
Many of us, myself included, seek enlightenment because it seems to promise a more balanced life. I do not know what enlightenment is, although Jed McKenna says in one of his books that enlightenment is truth realization. Is Jed right? Is Jed's version of enlightenment different than the Buddha's?
Sometimes I think it would be easier to enjoy life if I was enlightened. I am willing to wait decades for this.
When I considered myself a Buddhist, my aim was to find someone who was enlightened because how could anyone else speak of enlightenment, if they weren't already there? I joined the Buddhist Society in London in 1963. It was full of middle-class elderly ladies who hero-worshipped the President, Mr Christmas Humphreys, a well-known barrister at that time. He told me a Zen Master was to come and speak. "This is it," I thought. He was actually the Abbot of a Zen monastery in Japan and I don't know really if he qualified to be a Zen Master in the sense I imagined: someone who was "there" all the time and could help me get "there" too. I imagined "satori" was Enlightenment, the end of suffering. When the man came he was very jolly, laughing at everything. But his regular translator, a Zen monk, had fallen ill with influenza so they hired a translator from the Japanese Embassy who knew nothing about Zen. The more the Master roared with laughter, the more the po-faced translator was unable to come up with any suitable words of enlightenment.
Please tell me, what is enlightenment?
Sophia,
You will feel it when you feel it. Don't have any expectations of what enlightenment is, just let it be. Chances are, the light is always shining in you, through you and from you. No need to look for it.
Keep evolving. All we have is time.
...when you don't waste your time and don't mind wasting it.
Vincent,
I liked your little anecdote. Yes, having a spiritual teacher who could be around all the time in order to help me achieve satori or enlightenment would make my dreams come true. I imagine this teacher would not only teach me spiritual things but would also help me get my own life in order. When I say that, though, I know everyone will tell me it's my own responsibility, and they would be right! Sometimes it just seems so easy to hand off the responsibility to someone else.
I know of several different versions of enlightenment. One is that which you have already mentioned: an end to suffering. The second is a cessation to the birth and rebirth cycle. The third is truth realization. The fourth is absolute union with the divine, and the fifth is complete relinquishment of the ego. These could all be separate versions of enlightenment or some or all of them could also be parts of enlightenment. But, these are just my ideas of what enlightenment is, based on reading throughout the past couple of years. My goal is to find out for myself what enlightenment is, through experience.
Alexys, I think my fear is that I won't achieve enlightenment in this lifetime, and so I'd have to be reborn to do it all over again. I feel like I have to know what enlightenment is in order to properly look for it and work towards it.
Some might say that I should just enjoy life and not worry about it, but my search has given me something to focus on. It's like having something to do to pass the time, instead of being bored. I have a goal in this life, and it's nice to be working towards acheiving something.
Anonymous, that is like a koan. How can one not waste their time, yet at the same time not mind wasting it?
You got me thinking.
Virtual outliers, we. Perhaps enlightenment is simply joining the rest and knowing that we are all one?
Goatman, I know we are all one, yet I feel so unenlightened.
I wonder if enlightenment is just a joke that a select few have been playing on the rest of the world? "Let's pretend to be enlightened so that others can spend the rest of their lives trying to acheive the unacheivable!" I hope that's not the case, and I don't believe it is. It's just that it seems so out-of-reach, sometimes. If I was enlightened, wouldn't I know it?
you ask too many questions grasshopper. Ha
You do raise interesting points tho. Are priests enlightened? How about presidents? How about Ghandi and Dr. King, or Rob? How would we know, and why does it matter to us, except as a "verifiable" example. And how do we verify that example?
I am no philosopher king but I do feel that to be constantly seeking must be the journey. Everything constantly changes and if we find the answer then what is the point in continuing life?
I know this didn't help much.
...when you care and don't care.
...when you are nothing and everything.
Goatman,
I'm just full of questions! :) In school my hand was raised a lot!
I do not know how one would be able to verify that someone is enlightened. However, I have heard that certain people just emit good sensations. Like, being in the presence of someone who is enlightened can be ecstatic. I've never been in the physical presence of anyone enlightened... at least, not that I know of. Some teachers say they can pass on enlightenment by transmission, like Dave Oshana for instance. Check it out: http://enlightenment-now.com/transmission/what_is_transmission.html
I do think that the journey is quite an adventure. While I would like to reach the destination, I'm enjoying walking along the path. Hopefully I'll reach home before I die, though. And if I don't, I pray that when I die I'll automatically be sent home. Right now I don't know where home is.
Anonymous,
We are nothing and everything!
Sophia,
It is amazing how ignorant we are of what and who we are and the power which we possess.
I don't think there is ever really and end to our journey. I believe enlightenment is not an end, rather it is simply a part of our journey, an increased awarness if you will. The more aware you become, the more you will feel it.
Great post!
Hi Mark,
I agree with you, that enlightenment is not the end. There are still things to be done even after achieving it. For instance, sometimes the journey towards enlightenment can be selfish, or at least seem that way. But, after enlightenment many people turn outward to help others advance along the path. It's about turning from inward to outward.
I've had your enlightenment question roiling around in my head all morning (I may have a touch of the OCD myself?) and may have something for you to ponder. If nothing else works try the socratic method , I always say.
So there you are enlightened: do the flowers smell any sweeter? Can you hear the music any clearer? Do you suddenly have the empathy to rescue small dogs and give them the love they deserve? Would you quit your boring job and find a position where your skills and attention to detail will give you satisfaction and income? And why can't you do that now, anyway? Would making love feel any better? Would that lungful of fresh fall air in the morning as you stick your head out of the back door be any more satisfying? Would you be any more compassionate towards others and their feelings? How?
Many questions. But I feel better myself, now knowing that not much would change for me. Perhaps maybe only a small increase in quality of experience would result, but I can live without that---necessarily.
Mark, something else for you. I was just listening to Jed McKenna's book, and he said that enlightenment is just another piece of a larger picture. It is not the end.
I thought that fit in nicely with the comment you made today. It had good timing!
Goatman,
I do not think any of these things would be any better. Most experiences, I bet, would be the same. I do not know what enlightenment is, but I believe enlightened people know the truth about who they are, and have realized and experienced that truth. I know I would like to know the truth. And I wouldn't want someone to just tell me the truth, I'd want to experience it and realize it and feel it. I don't know what enlightenment feels like because I have never been enlightened. One of my major questions is, "What does enlightenment feel like? How does one know when they are enlightened?"
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