I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was human,
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die human,
To soar with angels blessed above.
And when I sacrifice my angel soul
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.
Have you ever dreamed of graduating from college, and THEN you would be happy? Perhaps from there you dreamed of landing your first professional job, and you found another goal more compelling. Perhaps you dreamed that IF ONLY you found the perfect spouse, you would be happy, and then found you had yet a more compelling goal?
Is there ever an end, a final progression? In our lives, do we ever reach a state where we have finally arrived? Or are we forever moving forward, to new possibility after new possibility after new possibility?
What Is Enlightenment?
Enlightenment is awakening to who you really are and what this is all about.
It is also called realization and being born again. These are all metaphors for becoming a new person. What was relevant to you as a child is completely irrelevant to you as an adult. You now have new values, sensibilities and priorities. You have awakened to a whole new world.
Transformation is another way of looking at it. In transformation, you go from foreground to background. You move from being in front of the painting to the back of the painting, merging with the scenery. You move from part to whole.
You are the context or space in which everything is. You are the movie screen or matrix in which the pageantry of life plays out.
Enlightenment has different levels. We all have peak experiences of profound wellbeing. There are no mistakes. Everything is perfect just as it is. At some point, your peak experiences shift to a new focus on identity.
No longer your body or your mind, you are pure being, itself.
Individual Enlightenment
We start with the question, “Who am I?” in anticipation of the larger question of “Who are we?”. Answers to the question of “Who am I?” can emerge spontaneously, revealing that you are totally different than you thought you were.
Some people, like Ramana Maharshi, seem to luck out. Ramana realized his ultimate identity as a teenager when confronted with the demise of a close relative.
In Buddhism, we find two distinct traditions: Sudden enlightenment and Gradual enlightenment. South Asian and Tibetan Buddhism favor gradual enlightenment, which can take lifetimes to achieve.
East Asia, especially Japan in its Zen tradition, favors sudden enlightenment. You experience a flash of satori, and suddenly find yourself one with the whole universe. You gaze at a lotus blossom, and you ARE that lotus blossom.
As Buddhism matured through the centuries, the whole emphasis moved from escaping delusion to freeing others from bondage. You wake up only to wake up others. The initial emphasis on wisdom moves to a greater emphasis on compassion. The person you are helping is just another version of YOU.
Collective Enlightenment
Every tradition anticipates collective enlightenment.
In Judaism, the vision was of Israel being the light of the nations until the knowledge of God shall cover the earth as the waters of the sea.
In Christianity, all creation is eagerly awaiting the redemption of our planet as the new humanity emerges. In Islam, the vision is to create a global divine society where God is all in all.
In the East, there was a concerted effort over centuries through Vajrayana and the Tantric tradition to create tools and technologies such that entire societies and nations might be transformed into “buddhaverses.” A truly enlightened civilization finally emerges.
In Hinduism, we come back to the golden age of the Satya Yuga, when virtue and dignity are the rule, not the exception. People consistently only want to do what is right.
In contemporary times, we have seen the impact of social evolution, as in Marxism, where we might all reach a classless society. Liberal democracy has dedicated itself to universal literacy, free enterprise and citizen participation in government.
While these visions may seem utopian, humanity has progressed immensely since ancient times in ethical norms, scientific understanding and technological development.
This, despite the horror of recent lapses into militant fundamentalism and ever new forms of fascism. The dreams of people all over the world have irreversibly awoken.
Ultimate Enlightenment
Yet there is a larger vision emerging which is profoundly inspiring, pioneered by the likes of Sri Aurobindo in India and Teilhard de Chardin in France. It has been referred to as evolutionary enlightenment, where the entire cosmos, itself, is creating ever greater possibilities and awaken to itself in us, through us and as us.
Andrew Cohen, in tandem with Ken Wilber, envision individuals awakening to a collective responsibility to consciously participate in a new order of being by the realization of a “Higher We.”
I exist as a collective as much as an individual. I, as collective, can do an order of magnitude more things than I, as individual.
Implicit in the ancient traditions is the realization that we can co-create a whole new universe. This may seem wildly absurd and totally impossible.
However, through quantum physics, we are beginning to recognize the universe is a collective construct in consciousness, and doesn’t really exist “out there” in quite the way we see it. One need only think of the Christian prophecy that God shall create “a new heaven and a new earth.”
Thus, enlightenment can be as every bit as big and last as long as you want it to.
What is important to always remember is that you, me, we, all of us, are already THAT, the Totality. Our only ultimate identity is Who and What we call “God.”
How to Get Started and Never Stop
What if just getting enlightenment yourself seems like an impossible task. You may find it is a lot simpler (though challenging) than you imagined:
- Look at everyone you see as your mirror.
- Remember that everything you think, feel and see, YOU think, feel and see.
- You can have direct access to the Sacred by simply asking for It to reveal Itself to you.
- Remember that YOU ARE LOVE. Love is the innermost core of your being. Just open up to it.
- Be willing to keep looking at your life from the point of view that somehow you set it all up.
- Look at each day… as if for the first time…
- Fall in love with every experience… emotion, circumstance or obstacle that comes your way.
- Don’t run form “it.” Flow with it.
Is There An End To Enlightenment? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.
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