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So you have been on a spiritual journey for a while and have had all these beautiful spiritual experiences?
Great!
But if you’re after spiritual enlightenment, they are worth nothing.
Most would agree that the goal of the spiritual journey is spiritual enlightenment, but it seems that not many know what this entails.
What is Spiritual Enlightenment?
When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace.
Nothing real, nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
not getting stuck in the void,
You are neither holy nor wise,
just an ordinary fellow who has completed his work.
– Layman P’ang
Most of us have the idea that enlightenment is some of kind heaven-on-earth fairy tale state.
It is not.
Also, I would say that most of us do not want it, which is not bad. Most of us want the unitive experience – oneness – and live a happy life as a human, which again, is perfectly fine.
Actually, it is impossible to want enlightenment. It’s like saying you want complete annihilation in the form of a slow and painful suicide.
Spiritual enlightenment is not a pleasant walk in the park.
It’s a dirty business, a kind of self-mutilation. You step into the fire and burn everything that is non-truth. What remains is Truth.
What most of us are being sold is a light version of enlightenment – something the ego can achieve. You can see how badly the ego wants to survive. So much so that it wants to be part of this whole enlightenment thing.
But the fact is the ego cannot come. It must be discarded.
Many spiritual seekers are yearning for unity consciousness, being one with the universe, the direct experience of the infinite, bliss, ecstasy, a taste of heaven, the peace that passeth all understanding.
This is all legitimate but you have to understand that that’s not enlightenment.
What we want is to merge with the true Self. Enlightenment is no self.
The funny thing is, it’s not some higher awareness.
Spiritual enlightenment is ordinary awareness. Meaning, you are already enlightened, but just don’t know it.
Enlightenment is not a temporary state of consciousness.
It’s not a glimpse of the truth, it’s when the truth awakens in you. It’s permanent truth-realization, abiding in non-dual awareness. It’s absolute, there are no degrees to it.
You see, you can have an experience of being one with all there is but not be enlightened.
A high dose of psychedelics, for instance, can give you the most beautiful oneness experience, but you won’t be enlightened.
“Suffering just means you’re having a bad dream. Happiness means you’re having a good dream. Enlightenment means getting out of the dream altogether.” – Jed McKenna
And here is the point:
You cannot wake up without quitting the dream.
The price for Truth is everything. And when I say everything, I mean absolutely everything. Or perhaps it’s nothing? Same thing, I guess.
Of course, no one can tell you what spiritual enlightenment is.
Even the best teachers are confined to saying what it’s not. To know, you must see for yourself and this requires hurling yourself off the cliff into the abyss.
No thinking about it, no studying the cliff, no asking others if they would like to come. You just jump. That’s it.
Most of us are not ready to wake up and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
This is another thing that we have been sold. That we should want enlightenment.
If our desire for Truth is not stronger than everything else, that is okay. We can live our lives, create a wonderful dream, fulfill all our desires, and play the human game to our hearts’ content.
There will come a time when our desire for Truth will be stronger than anything else and we are willing to sacrifice it all for the Truth.
All that we then need to do is sit down and find out what is true.
How to Reach Enlightenment
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand,
nor look through the eyes of the dead,
nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
– Walt Whitman
Here is another illusion we have been fed. Play the spiritual game long enough and you’ll be enlightened.
But here is the thing, 99% of spirituality is not about enlightenment. In fact, enlightenment can be absolutely free from spirituality whatsoever.
Most spirituality is about altered states of consciousness, meditation, mindfulness, metaphysics, mystical experiences, and so on. Again, there is nothing wrong with it and some of it might be valuable for your life. But most of it has nothing to do with spiritual enlightenment.
The spirituality most of us practice is to get better at dreaming the dream.
And what a beautiful dream it is. So why shouldn’t you want to make the best of it?
Here is something that might surprise you. You don’t have to meditate to reach enlightenment. You really don’t.
I mean think about it. How many people in the world meditate? Probably Millions. And how many of those are truly enlightened? Not many, I assume.
Does that mean you shouldn’t meditate? No, that’s not what it means.
Meditate as much as you want, but don’t force yourself because you think it’s necessary for enlightenment. It might be a valuable tool for the job, who really knows?
But what meditation is useful for, is the experience of oneness – unity consciousness (this is what you want).
The borderline is that many people are “on the spiritual path” for years without having taken even the first step in the right direction, that is if their goal is enlightenment.
It sounds harsh, but you can observe this for yourself.
“The chances that you wake will wake up are in direct proportion to the amount of truth you can take without running away.” – Anthony De Mello, Awareness
Most of us are busy with what Chögyam Trungpa called Spiritual Materialism.
We are collecting spiritual trophies in the forms of knowledge, teachers, experiences. We are proud of all the inner work we have done and the path we have trodded so far.
This is what is in the way to spiritual enlightenment.
It’s not about learning more, it’s about un-learning everything.
You have to know that you are on your own in this one.
The ego loves clinging to a teacher, but if you genuinely want to wake up, you don’t need to concern yourself with the scholastic study of any religion or teacher. After the teacher has served his purpose, you must walk over him.
Thus the saying: “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”
When your intention is pure, the universe will provide you with everything you need when you need it. It might be a book, a movie, the song of a bird, a slap in the face by a stranger. The key can come in any form.
Now as soon as you take that first step the rest will most definitely follow.
The first step is the great disillusionment.
You’ll realize that everything is bullshit, every belief is false, and that there is no meaning in anything. At this point, you could feel like you’re losing your mind. So you better do not act crazy otherwise someone might commit you to a psychiatric institution.
After that, you just go further and further and further until the job is done.
So basically, to be enlightened, you just have to discover the Truth.
“What about techniques or processes?” you might wonder.
Well, there is no single technique or teaching that can show you the way, you always need to think for yourself.
Jed McKenna has suggested, what he calls, spiritual autolysis.
A good way to start is to write down a statement you’re sure is true, and then try to figure out exactly why it is false, which, unless you have stated a negative (no belief is true), made a subjective observation (my back hurts), or wrote the only true thing you know (I am), it is.
Another way suggested by the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi is self-inquiry, which is simply asking yourself “Who am I?” until you have the answer. Because “who” implies that you are a person, the better way to ask might be “What am I?”
Find out what’s true. That’s really all there is to it.
△△△
In all ten directions of the universe,
there is only one truth.
When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.
What can ever be lost? What can be attained?
If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.
If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us.
Look; This ball in my pocket;
can you see how priceless it is?
– Ryokan
Luka
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You are right, since experience = knowledge, it is error (babbling act of the ego) to speak on a subject of which you have no knowledge.