I am often asked “What is Enlightenment” or could you define Enlightenment.
I think this is a very important question because there are many people searching for enlightenment and they often either don’t know what it is or they have common incorrect assumptions about it.
Once you have recognized your own enlightenment you will see that these pre-conceived notions, which have been popularized in the media, are far from accurate. And once you get enlightenment you will have ZERO doubt that you have reached it.
Enlightenment is often portrayed as a powerful surreal spiritual experience. You may have a powerful spiritual experience when you first recognize your enlightenment, but that is not the enlightenment.
Simply stated enlightenment is the awareness of self, absent the egoic self. That is, your ego and its experience are not enlightenment. That which has the awareness of the ego and its experience is your natural state, which is enlightenment.
It is the awareness, divorced from the egoic self that is the enlightenment. The experience of the egoic self is the altered state of consciousness that is separate from the awareness. To reach enlightenment is to have no altered state of consciousness or experience, but rather to observe or be aware of the altered states.
The altered states of consciousness include the every day awareness of organic reality and any spiritual experiences. They are all just part of the illusion or Maya. It is only the awareness of the manifestations in the illusion that is your natural or unaltered state of consciousness.
The idea that you, your ego is a separate and real thing is the ultimate state of altered consciousness. It is a very powerful illusion.
Imagine if you would that you have been on a drug induced state of consciousness your entire life and then one day the drugs left your system and you could experience organic reality without all the drug-induced effects. You would say, finally I am no longer in this fantasy of illusion.
Likewise when you can find awareness without the filters of the egoic self, which is the illusion of a separate self, then you will have awareness of your true self in you natural state, that is Enlightenment.
Another example is when you are having a lucid dream that is a dream where you find yourself aware that you are dreaming. You can watch yourself within the dream, knowing all along that it is a dream, that the person you are watching is not real and isn’t really you. Once you wake up from that altered state of consciousness called dreaming, you enter into the altered state of consciousness I like to call Organic Reality.
In order to find Enlightenment you must wake up from the illusion of Organic Reality and into the state of Oneness of pure Awareness that is Enlightenment. Don’t be fooled into looking for spiritual experiences as the path to Enlightenment, as it is just another part of the Illusion.
If you have followed this discussion so far you are probably saying to yourself, “This all make sense conceptually, but how do I get beyond these concepts to make it real in my Life?”
This is the more difficult part of the Journey. The concepts aren’t that difficult to understand. It is the implementation of them that makes them difficult. The Devil is in the details as they say. Once you understand the concepts you can either choose to believe them or not. In either event belief is an act of faith. Faith and Belief do not bring enlightenment.
It is the beliefs themselves that are the real obstacles to Enlightenment difficult to grasp. The belief that Enlightenment can only come about as a result of prolonged meditation and discipline or the belief that you are separate or real. None of these are true, but don’t believe me either, find out for you.
If you are willing to suspend or drop the beliefs that prevent you from realizing your enlightenment and know where and how to look, you can find enlightenment now. You don’t have to meditate or study for many years as many others and I have done. In fact the Buddha himself was not able to find enlightenment until he ceased his arduous search of depravation, starvation and endless meditation.
If your desire to find enlightenment is strong enough to allow you to drop your limiting beliefs and if you look in the right place you will find enlightenment. You do not have to believe anyone’s definition of enlightenment. You can know non-conceptually for yourself.
To learn more about enlightenment go to http://www.awakentothehereandnow.com
Kevin Duffy is a retired Naval Officer and currently a Financial Advisor in Louisville, KY. Kevin is married and has two grown children. He lives on a 23-acre farm in Greenville, IN where he spends his time communing with nature, meditating, reading and writing. He has spent thirty-five plus years studying nature and wilderness survival as well as writing about and teaching hundreds of classes. Kevin is the author of Harvesting Natures Bounty (http://www.harvestingnaturesbounty.com) and Awaken to the Here and Now (http://www.awakentothehereandnow.com). He is currently working on his first novel that will be in the genre of visionary fiction where he will incorporate both his love for nature and spiritual enlightenment.
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