Caution:
For Serious Students of Spiritual Truth Only
The
trational
orthodox christian reading this, or the atheists out there, or those
with strong unrelenting opinions and perceptions, or those with strong
likes and dislikes, or those who automatically think society is based
on truth, or those who think their current thought processes are
already the highest level of truth, may not be ready for this article.
If you're not ready, or not interested, that's solely
your choice and there's nothing wrong with that. Just a friendly
warning.
"The
readiness to initiate the journey cannot be forced nor can people be
faulted if it has not occurred in them as yet. The level of
consciousness has to have advanced to the stage where such an intention
would be meaningful and attractive."
- David Hawkins
Eventually,
Enlightenment is the goal that replaces all other goals, and in
actuality, there is nothing else worth pursuing.
Ignorance
is Everywhere
The average
person doesn't have a clue as to
what Enlightenment is, many spiritual seekers have misguided ideas
about what it is, and many spiritual teachers also don't have the
correct understanding of what it is. But because "I" personally have
stood on the brink of Enlightenment (but feared to follow through) "I"
have a much greater understanding of what it is, and how to get there,
than most others. So no, I'm not Enlightened, and even if I was, I
couldn't say that I was because there would no longer be an individual
ego/mind, and if there is no ego/mind, there is no individual "I" to
claim anything. If this is completely beyond your current level of
understanding, keep reading and it should become clear what is meant.
Enlightenment
Is...
So
to clear matters
up, we're just going to spell it out
in a very simple, clear, and lucid manner. Enlightenment is.. the
PERMANENT dissolvement/cessation of ALL thoughts, thinking, concepts,
and emotions of the ego/mind. In case you missed it, the key words
there are "permanent" and "all". Enlightenment is the ceasing of all
concepts, all notions, all ideas, all symbols, all words, all
intellectualizing, all emotions, all thoughts, and all thinking. In
order to let all of them go, one must be fully aware of them, and one
must be watching them rather than being identified with them. When you
watch them non-judgementally and without words or emotions, they
dissipate into nothingness. When you watch them, you are Awareness, not
the mind, and when you are wholly and completely Awareness, the very
energy behind thinking is let go of.
Enlightenment
is Not…
Enlightenment
is NOT the development of
psychic abilities, is not astral travelling, is not channeling
entities, is not a temporary trance state, is not an artificially
induced altered state of consciousness, it has nothing to do with "new
age" anything, it doesn't involve the past or the future, it doesn't
belong to any one specific religion, it doesn't involve rituals, it
doesn't involve conspiracy theories, it has nothing to do with UFO's or
aliens, it doesn't involve so-called "ascended masters", it doesn't
involve playing with the law of attraction (karma), it doesn't involve
visualization, it has nothing to do with vibrations or energy, it has
nothing to do with science, it doesn't involve sex (tantra), it has
nothing to do with crystals, colors, or vortexes, and it certainly
doesn't involve codes, mysteries, or "secrets" of ANY kind. The surreal
is not real. There's a reason that Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Ghandi,
Mother Teresa, Plotinus, Lao Tzu, Muhammad, Ramana Maharshi,
Nisargardatta Maharaj, Meister Eckhart, and many Zen Masters never
taught any of these things. Some of these things are outright false and
harmful, others are just simply irrelevant to personal growth, and some
of these are quite beneficial to the average person, but when it comes
down to Enlightenment, every last bit of everything needs to be
un-learned and let go of.
Reality (Awareness) with a
captial "R" has no shape or form whatsoever, and is beyond ALL
intellectual concepts. The real Truth is eternal and changeless. It has
always been relevant, and it always will be. Real spirituality involves
bettering ONSESELF by ways of selflessness/Love and higher levels of
awareness/truth that help us LET GO of concepts and thoughts because
it's concepts and thoughts that obstruct peace (of mind). Spirituality
is not the introduction of even more concepts, unless those concepts
help us let go of concepts. Peace of mind is silence of mind. Which
means that thoughts, thinking, perceptions, views, attitudes, emotions,
concepts, opinions, beliefs, and attachments are the source of
suffering. Many people say "I wouldn't want to live life without my
emotions or thinking" (and that's okay if it's okay with them), but
they don't realize that's the ego/mind talking, and if one were even
for a brief moment to personally experience exquisite, ineffable, and
profound Peace/Silence, one would certainly no longer hold that point
of view.
"The less one thinks the more delightful
life becomes." - David Hawkins
Awareness
is the Only
Reality
Essentially, you
are not the mind and body of change
(relative truth). You are the still, silent, unchanging Absolute; the
Awareness that is aware of the mind and it's comings and goings, when a
deliberate point of being aware of it is made. Watch the mind. That
Awareness is changeless, timeless, shapeless, formless, and infinitely
eternal. It has no beginning or end.
If you're able
to watch the mind, then you are not the mind. How many minds do you
have? Are you the mind, or are you the observer watching the mind? Only
one of them is real. Just like the heart or lungs, the ego/mind is
going and going all by itself. In other words, you are not the thinker
of thoughts. Take 5 minutes to watch the mind and see for yourself. You
can't control it. You can't stop it by controlling it, but you can stop
it by watching it and losing interest in it. You are not the body and
it's senses. You are not the mind and it's thoughts. You are the
infintely silent Awareness that is aware of them. One is not subject to
the countless faulty workings of the ego/mind when one stops
identifying the automatic random repetitive thoughts of the mind as
being "me". The very nature of the ego/mind can be summed up in one
word... DRAMA. And what is drama? It's the absence of peace (of mind).
"Every
phenomena that exists is a creation of thought; therefore I need but
empty my mind to discover that all of them are void." - Huang Po, Zen
Master
How
does Enlightenment Happen?
First
off, you (the mind) doesn't ever make it happen. It happens by ITSELF
when all concepts of the mind are let go of, when the very energy
behind thinking is let go of, when all wantingness and neediness is let
go of, and when not even Enlightenment is sought after.
1.
This can be done by the completely unconditional and radical
forgiveness and acceptance of absolutely EVERYTHING, as it is right now
in this very moment, always. This is the path of nonjudgemental
acceptance, forgiveness, Love, compassion, and selflessness. If there's
full blown acceptance of absolutely everything as it is, then there's
nothing to judge, nothing to describe, nothing to define, nothing to
talk about, nothing to express an opinion about, no thing to make into
something, nothing to express a belief about, nothing to search for,
nothing to manipulate, nothing to change, nothing to force, and there's
nothing to think about at all. Everything just IS, nothing more, and
one sees the absolute perfection and beauty in everything because
everything and everyone is currently operating at it's own level of
awareness and/or evolution. Everyone and everything is what it is right
now because that's what it needs to learn, or un-learn. They REALLY
DON"T know otherwise, or they don't want to know otherwise. If they
REALLY knew otherwise, they would be otherwise.
2.
Enlightenment can also happen by way of
wisdom/Truth/mindfulness/Awareness, which involves non-effort, loss of
interest in all thinking and thoughts, and letting go constantly and
continuously. Watching the mind does not mean concentration or effort
because concentrating is something that the ego/mind does. Nothing can
be forced to happen, as force is the nature of the ego/mind. As soon as
you watch thoughts, they dissapear. If you try to fight thoughts, you
give them more strength because focus and energy is being put into
fighting and conflict, which is again, a thing of the mind.
Nobody
Becomes Enlightened
There
is no conflict. You are ALREADY that
Awareness, you always have been, and you always will be, even when
you're identified with thoughts and thinking. Just like the sun is
ALWAYS there even when clouds are covering it. If you are ALREADY
formless unmanifested all-encompassing all-knowing Awareness beyond
words and concepts, then there is absolutely NOTHING to get, grasp,
gain, or obtain. You are ALREADY utterly whole, complete, and perfect,
and there is nothing to search for, not even
Enlightenment. You are already That. There is only Self-Awareness, the
awareness of oneself as Infinitely Everything beyond physicality. But
don't try to imagine this with the mind because it can't be done. Just
get out of the way and lose "yourself". Get out of the way. Let go.
Give up. Surrender.
In fact, this whole writing
process is the consequence of silence, surrendering, allowing, waiting,
listening, "receiving", intuition, epiphanies, being, and knowing. It
has nothing to do with the intellect/ego/mind, and if on occasion it
does, then something has gone wrong.
The
End is Not
an End
At the moment of
Enlightenment the individual "you"
(ego/mind) dissapears completely and literally dies. The me, myself,
and I ceases to be. At that final moment there is a feeling of "I'm
going to die", and this doesn't mean bodily death, it means the very
essence of what you individually think you are (thoughts and thinking).
The ego/mind fears it's own death, but all fear is an illusion because
fear is an emotion, and all emotions (physical chemical reactions) are
the result of being identified with the ego/mind and body
(physicality). When the mind goes silent it's replaced by void, by
nothingness, but that "nothingness" is only "nothing" because it's
formless, non-physical, and unmanifested. In actuality, that
"nothingness" is an all-encompassing Infinitely Everything, which is a
profound ineffable Peace/Love/Wholeness/Completion way beyond
description, which just simply IS. It's No-Thing, yet Infinitely
Everything, yet beyond both because both are mere concepts. All words
and concepts are meaningless because they are born from the ego/mind.
"The
ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They're not the
Way. The Way is wordless. Words are Illusions." - Bodhidharma, founder
of Zen
So you see, it's all really quite simple once
it's spelled out.
Recommended
reading: I Am That
by Nisargadatta Maharaj
Articles
> The Truth About Enlightenment
