What is spiritual Enlightenment and is it worth the effort?

Due to some radical changes in my life, I've been doing yoga and meditation for a few months now. The reasons have never been to attain any form of spiritual enlightenment, but to use the methods to help me recover from illness. Helping me strengthen my core and help me relax. So far I am happy with the outcome.

I enjoy the practices, but don't seek enlightenment, because I don't know whether its worth spending your whole life, like Buddhist monks sitting there almost waiting for something they do not know how to recognise as anything different than their current state of being.

If enlightenment is not really different from reality what's the point in trying to attain it? Is the self flagellation neccassary? I mean if you believe your going to be reincarnated, why not just enjoy life and forget the pursuit of enlightenment?

Allot of folks don't agree with me on this but its simply a word thrown
around by many who wish to be different somehow from everyone
else, most don't even agree on a meaning, there are as many
definitions for enlightenment as there are religions on this earth,
so in my opinion at least its a waste of time, trying to define something
that cant even be proven to exist anywhere other than the imagination.

Reality is interesting enough really, there is plenty of crazy fun stuff
to learn that not only has evidence to back it up but many times
can be tested at home without the "hmmm i wonder if im there
yet" unreliability of something like enlightenment.

But if you do desire to pursue it then just claim to be there already,
no one can refute it and only you decide when you believe that it
is true. But as of yet i see no benefit to those who claim to have
achieved this state.

Depends on your definition of enlightment? If your definition is getting all your chakras to work and to have a moment of clarity maybe even from the amagydala fear overload direction then what I write below might be useful. If you are after something else that is called enlightment then I do not have anything to say about because I do not know anything about it.

For me. Enlightment is a physical change where you sense things on a scale that you have not had before. You are sensing with touch invisible things that you cannot see with you eyes. For instance you might feel a cap on the head that you cannot remove. You sense a push on the middle of the forehead. Sometimes there is a pinch above the nose that is so annoying . You can sense heat in the end of the spine. Your body become more calm and relaxed with the increased feeling and you can be happy just being and not doing anything if you do not want to do anything. You can notice changes in the reality around you that the scientific community do not believe in since they have not been able to examine it like synchronicity (for instance placebo effect and 11:11 phenomenon).

Those who do not have it puts it on a pedistal. Those that have it get used to it and it becomes the new normal after a while. If you should seek it or not and how active is up to you. Only the unconscious you know exactly what you need. Sometimes time is needed for it to appear. From my point of view need is the key and not the single souls need but the need of both the soul and the everything.

You can learn from being enlightened from my point of view but it is more a tool than the wisdom it can give.

Originally posted by bloodreviara
Allot of folks don't agree with me on this but its simply a word thrown
around by many who wish to be different somehow from everyone
else, most don't even agree on a meaning, there are as many
definitions for enlightenment as there are religions on this earth,
so in my opinion at least its a waste of time, trying to define something
that cant even be proven to exist anywhere other than the imagination.

Reality is interesting enough really, there is plenty of crazy fun stuff
to learn that not only has evidence to back it up but many times
can be tested at home without the "hmmm i wonder if im there
yet" unreliability of something like enlightenment.

But if you do desire to pursue it then just claim to be there already,
no one can refute it and only you decide when you believe that it
is true. But as of yet i see no benefit to those who claim to have
achieved this state.

It can be proven if you want to prove it (if we are defining enlightment as changed body perception at least close to the theory of chakra). But like humanity was not ready for Galileo Galilei I am not sure society is ready for it to be know as something real yet. People who achieve it normally become more or less disconnected from society due to their different perception and experiences, especially when they see the corruption for what it really is and can no longer be blind to it. Would you like to spend time around people who think you are insane when you tell them what you have experianced because it is so different from what they have experianced in Plato:s cave? It was not that long ago Christians burned withes and warlocks for limited changes in perception instead of listening to them or trying to learn from their viewpoint.

Thanks for the responses so far.very interesting. I guess the enlightenment I am referring to is that of the eastern philosophies. A state achieved through practices such as meditation and yoga etcetera.

Meditation is just deep relaxation, something most in the west are not that familiar with, so seems unusual when practiced.

Yoga is just breathing and stretching exercises.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Due to some radical changes in my life, I've been doing yoga and meditation for a few months now. The reasons have never been to attain any form of spiritual enlightenment, but to use the methods to help me recover from illness. Helping me strengthen my core and help me relax. So far I am happy with the outcome.

I enjoy the practices, but don't seek enlightenment, because I don't know whether its worth spending your whole life, like Buddhist monks sitting there almost waiting for something they do not know how to recognise as anything different than their current state of being.

If enlightenment is not really different from reality what's the point in trying to attain it? Is the self flagellation neccassary? I mean if you believe your going to be reincarnated, why not just enjoy life and forget the pursuit of enlightenment?

You cant seek enlightenment. No person ever gets enlightened. Its a word of the egoic mind trying to acchieve something to itself, to make itself somehow "better". The universal joke after the so called "enlightenment", is that the person seeking for it "the seeker" was the illuusion in the first place. Its the death of the seeker and better word for it would be awakening.

The egoic mind (you think its you) is doing meditation and doing this and that to get somewhere. True meditation is NOT DOING. Its accepting the moment and what is. After self realization you get the avious, that was allready the case all the time. There is no before and after. There is only now, and this. Everything else are the stories and concepts in your mind, but what is 100% here now. Ego doesnt want to find the answer. It wants to seek, finding the answer would mean the end of the seeker. So in away, its seeking the end of the seeking. Chacing its own tail. After awakening to your true self, and admitting that you dont know what you are, all is new, effortless.

Theres no more you AND life, its no more two things. So you can never "have" life or be afraid of it. You are it. Non duality is impossible to explain, but once experienced, it cannot be unexperienced. And nothing real really dies there with the ego, just the illuusion. This is a subject that cannot really be talked about but one can only give pointers to it. The joke is that im just telling you what you already are.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I often consider the Buddhist Monk who sits and meditates so constantly. Do you really think he is peacefully, blissfully meditating in complete comfort? How often have people tried to sit and meditate for prolonged time, it is actually quite difficult. To reach a stillness of mind is extremely difficult. The mind/psyche of a human is extremely complicated - and it's an abyss of demons/negativity that must be mastered. I feel the Buddhists both exoterically and esoterically illustrate their knowledge of the depths of the human psyche quite well. In this regard, you can see that the Buddhist Monk, though looking to be in some blissful "easy going" state while sitting constantly - he is actually maintaining a stillness of body and mind ALL while his mind is raging to not be still, while his body must be trained to also be able to prolong the conditions of sitting and not moving for so long while staying healthy. It's extreme to say the least but it's also something that looks totally easy until you begin to truely delve into the deepest parts of experiencing it.

In this way, spiritual enlightenment, though a vague definition, is probably one of the more incredible ways of describing this self mastery which would lead to the state of mind/body that could master any other thing in life. For response here, I would say that by reaching that ability - to be able to stand firm and face these deep parts of self mastery ( once you have mastered your demons, by comparison, "as within, so without", you will master the skills to apply to this world and it's demons ) - you can apply that to anything you want I suppose.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


@What is spiritual Enlightenment and is it worth the effort?,

[color=cyan]
To 1 it is RECOGNIZING that as you ASCEND during the Life and Death Phases (WITHIN) EXISTENCE, into a more Consciously AWARE Frequency or Environment/Prana suit 3d or other of Positive VIBRATION, that you must ACKNOWLEDGE your Causes and Effects on OBJECTIVE Reality you exist within and how they your Causes and Effects, affect others who are part of the OBJECTIVE Reality as well, in a positive or negative way.

This is why 1 views enlightenment not only as a Physical experience but Spiritual as well. For the enlightenment process to 1 INVOLVES LEARNING from EXPERIENCES during the Life AND Death Phases (WITHIN) EXISTENCE and those "encountered" during the learning (why in what is considered life and death mode) These Learning's and encounters relate to the Metaphysical-Paranormal AWARNESS level of what is considered an enlightened being to 1, who can somehow consciously or subconsciously register/remember PAST experiences during their Life & Death Phases (WITHIN) EXISTENCE that can then assist a CREATOR Creation to better RESONATE on a more cooperative/PEACEFUL level / Frequency when in contact with other CREATOR Creations in its future that in the past-present @ times it may have once looked down on or even ignored due to not being aware of the potentials or the presence of encountered CREATOR Creations.. Which like dominos allows for the Future encounters of the LEARNED or ENLIGHTENED to more less be Positive or more balanced etc. This to 1 can also help with the DEFENSE of a Soul/Spirit/Internal Energy if it can Consciously register/remember Negative PAST experiences & encounters during the Life & Death Phases (WITHIN) EXISTENCE of the said enlightened being. Which then can assist a CREATOR Creation with maneuvering around and away from the deceitful CREATOR Creation energies that may prey and lurk in order to teach as they REFLECT deeds back upon.

LOVE LIGHT ETERNIA*******
NAMASTE

edit on 3/18/13 by Ophiuchus 13 because: (no reason given)

Be Water My Friend! - Bruce Lee Remix | #eTHErSEC

This means to purify and remove the layers of grime on the soul, and become the Love you really are and reconnect to HS and Family. They use the Love channel, to strive to put your whole infinite whole, and connection to the Good and Love Family, into each moment of your life, see through the world and all the ISMS, the divisions and do not chase, greed, promotions, reputation, but to find what you are here for, your work. For some this means remembering who you are.

Originally posted by iameternal

You cant seek enlightenment. No person ever gets enlightened. Its a word of the egoic mind trying to acchieve something to itself, to make itself somehow "better". The universal joke after the so called "enlightenment", is that the person seeking for it "the seeker" was the illuusion in the first place. Its the death of the seeker and better word for it would be awakening.

The egoic mind (you think its you) is doing meditation and doing this and that to get somewhere. True meditation is NOT DOING. Its accepting the moment and what is. After self realization you get the avious, that was allready the case all the time. There is no before and after. There is only now, and this. Everything else are the stories and concepts in your mind, but what is 100% here now. Ego doesnt want to find the answer. It wants to seek, finding the answer would mean the end of the seeker. So in away, its seeking the end of the seeking. Chacing its own tail. After awakening to your true self, and admitting that you dont know what you are, all is new, effortless.

Theres no more you AND life, its no more two things. So you can never "have" life or be afraid of it. You are it. Non duality is impossible to explain, but once experienced, it cannot be unexperienced. And nothing real really dies there with the ego, just the illuusion. This is a subject that cannot really be talked about but one can only give pointers to it.

The joke is that im just telling you what you already are.

edit on 18-3-2013 by iameternal because: (no reason given)

It is the cosmic joke. Delightful and totally amazing. Who would have thought it?

What is spiritual enlightenment and is it worth the effort?


When one has chosen to make the effort to reach enlightenment, one realised it is the most worthy and the thing of most value to realise in ones life. Without knowing this there can be no effort for there will be no drive towards this enlightenment. Simple.

Spiritual enlightenment is about making choices in your life.

When you don't know what to choose, know what you don't want to choose.

There is the way.

How could something, that once realized, is completely effortless, not be worth the effort

reply to post by SpreadLoveNotHate


Thank you for asking SLNH.

Are you lazy?

Originally posted by Itisnowagain

Originally posted by iameternal

You cant seek enlightenment. No person ever gets enlightened. Its a word of the egoic mind trying to acchieve something to itself, to make itself somehow "better". The universal joke after the so called "enlightenment", is that the person seeking for it "the seeker" was the illuusion in the first place. Its the death of the seeker and better word for it would be awakening.

The egoic mind (you think its you) is doing meditation and doing this and that to get somewhere. True meditation is NOT DOING. Its accepting the moment and what is. After self realization you get the avious, that was allready the case all the time. There is no before and after. There is only now, and this. Everything else are the stories and concepts in your mind, but what is 100% here now. Ego doesnt want to find the answer. It wants to seek, finding the answer would mean the end of the seeker. So in away, its seeking the end of the seeking. Chacing its own tail. After awakening to your true self, and admitting that you dont know what you are, all is new, effortless.

Theres no more you AND life, its no more two things. So you can never "have" life or be afraid of it. You are it. Non duality is impossible to explain, but once experienced, it cannot be unexperienced. And nothing real really dies there with the ego, just the illuusion. This is a subject that cannot really be talked about but one can only give pointers to it.

The joke is that im just telling you what you already are.

edit on 18-3-2013 by iameternal because: (no reason given)

It is the cosmic joke. Delightful and totally amazing. Who would have thought it?

edit on 18-3-2013 by Itisnowagain because: (no reason given)

It truly is delightful. Who would have thought that the only thing left is laughter?
All questions are just statements with questionmarks, to something we already are. The answer is in the question. Questions are egos game of seeking just for the sake of seeking so it woudnt need to face the void and face the true nature of being. There never was a question. Ego doesnt want to ruin the game, not just yet. It strives for drama. Ego happens just because it can. Just because everything is allowed in this. And then comes the grand joke of all: there never was an ego. Just the story of it.

Just the fact, that you are happening now, is true unconditional love. This is not separate from you. What we call love can never touch this. "Romantic love" is just egoic mind needing to be proven worthy. The story of a person, that was never there. Then who was the sufferer and the hero? Being doesnt know concepts of good or bad. Separation is the grand illuusion and suffering is a habit.

Namaste

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Thanks for the responses so far.very interesting. I guess the enlightenment I am referring to is that of the eastern philosophies. A state achieved through practices such as meditation and yoga etcetera.

Meditation is just deep relaxation, something most in the west are not that familiar with, so seems unusual when practiced.

Yoga is just breathing and stretching exercises.

The normal state of the mind is to have wondering thoughts whilst we are awake. How is one hypnotised? By silencing and stilling those thoughts. If such a behaviour was actually normal, none of us could function in this world - pilots could not drive, workers couldn't work and people couldn't drive automobiles because without these constant wonderings of our thoughts, we would all fall constantly into states of self hypnosis.

Can you see what eastern meditation, contemplative prayer, respective mantras, etc do to your mind? They hypnotise it into an abnormal state. Whilst it's pushers tell you that it's perfectly normal, common sense tells all of us that it is NOT the normal state of our minds. We have been created with a conscience that is to rule our will, our spirit...

How did the serpent in the garden of Eden parable get them to eat the forbidden "fruit"? It went straight to eve. It appealed to the desires. If you understand that the Hebrew word and its root related words for "tree " means "carpenter, gallows, helve, pine, plank, staff, stalk, stick, and
 # 6095. "Atsah" -  fasten (or make firm), i.e., to close: to shut (as in eyes)
 # 6096 atseh - the spine, (as giving firmness to the body):-backbone."

Perhaps you'll have another bit of information to consider. Buddhist, Hinduism and catholic contemplative praying are being pushed in our schools, medicine, psychiatry, corporate training departments....and on boards like these. All of them make the same sell as the serpent in the garden..all appeal to desires for hidden knowledge and to the desire to know your own divinity. And all the voices and visions only confirm the lies that you now already believe which we're subconsciously fed to you through satanic mouthpiece of the media. The voice and vision says "god is in all", yet you will conclude the truthfulness of that assertion by using what has already been implanted in your mind through things like the Kabalah Star Wars and countless other shows and films that constantly preach this idea.

But hidden within the Hebrew word for tree is the meaning "to shut". Man is separated from His Creator, man is barred from the Kingdom of God. Our God made the serpent. Those who meditate and hear voices and experience visions are receiving nothing from the Kingdom of God, but rather the lessor light that He created to govern the night. The occult and false religions have worshipped this false light ever since. But there is no truth in darkness, for Our Creator is light and in Him is no darkness. That false light which they call "enlightenment" is solely accessed through what they call raising the spinal serpent.

The simple fact is, the outcome of people who alter their consciousness come to the exact same conclusion: they reject the real Jesus Christ and His gospel as given to us, and believe that they themselves are gods.Thus, they reject salvation. This is why Buddhist meditation is being brought into every aspect of western culture, including our very own children in grade school through visualisation, learning the yoga poses, stilling the mind etc. They are simply being indoctrinated to think yoga and meditation is fine. The very practice by which they will choose the serpent over the very Saviour of the world.

Our Creator made that serpent for a very specific purpose. You will either believe the serpent or your Creator. The mystery of iniquity goes back to the garden and what it represents. It's not enlightenment from the Kingdom of God, but rather, the birthing of the sons of perdition as they come to sit in the temple of God (the body) declaring themselves to be God. We were all told, Satan was to be unbound at the end of the Millenium to do one thing - to deceive the nations. Revelation is about the Christian family. Most of us are descended from those very families (nations), and looking around, it's well underway. The children have crucified Jesust Christ in their minds and chosen the murderer, insurrectionist and robber instead. They'd rather call a psychic, consult the supposed dead, consult a ouija board, a palm reader or the serpent inside them - anything except praying to Our God. Every last thing Our Creator declared off limits. Wil they come to understand, or care, that they are placed off limits as they are the very practices by which the wicked destroy themselves? I pray that they do.

Jesus Christ heals your vision and hearing. He alone is the gate. Believe Him, the Tree of Life. The Truth. The Life. True wisdom and understanding.

As a Man Thinketh (Law of attraction) by James Allen - Full AudioBook

Originally posted by iameternal
It truly is delightful. Who would have thought that the only thing left is laughter?
All questions are just statements with questionmarks, to something we already are. The answer is in the question. Questions are egos game of seeking just for the sake of seeking so it woudnt need to face the void and face the true nature of being. There never was a question. Ego doesnt want to ruin the game, not just yet. It strives for drama. Ego happens just because it can. Just because everything is allowed in this. And then comes the grand joke of all: there never was an ego. Just the story of it.

Just the fact, that you are happening now, is true unconditional love. This is not separate from you. What we call love can never touch this. "Romantic love" is just egoic mind needing to be proven worthy. The story of a person, that was never there. Then who was the sufferer and the hero? Being doesnt know concepts of good or bad. Separation is the grand illuusion and suffering is a habit.

Namaste

edit on 19-3-2013 by iameternal because: (no reason given)

Namaste

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Due to some radical changes in my life, I've been doing yoga and meditation for a few months now. The reasons have never been to attain any form of spiritual enlightenment, but to use the methods to help me recover from illness. Helping me strengthen my core and help me relax. So far I am happy with the outcome.

Yes it is worth it. I've done it all in life, tons of women, 6 figure accounts, made my dreams come true, traveled, seen the world, have met and worked with celebrities, all types of success, finest foods, drinks, etc etc etc ....but nothing even comes close or touches the Enlightenment states and everything that comes with it (and there is alot that comes with it, timelessness, transcendence, bliss, Love, Expansion, etc.

Not only that, it is a rare occurrence to exist as a human, on this planet, at this time, when the whole world's knowledge database is available at your fingertips and you easily weed out who has enlightenment and who doesn't.

The flip side is you waste your life on trivial pursuits and do what everyone else does, job, kids, wife, house, grow old, retire, die

I enjoy the practices, but don't seek enlightenment, because I don't know whether its worth spending your whole life, like Buddhist monks sitting there almost waiting for something they do not know how to recognise as anything different than their current state of being.

It doesn't have to be "whole life" It can happen in a second with the right teachings. The reason many monks spend the rest of their lives in meditation, is they are simply deepening the various states and the changes that the physical body eventually goes through. There is Enlightenment that is accessible to the average householder. Plus they do recognize the State of Enlightenment

If enlightenment is not really different from reality what's the point in trying to attain it? Is the self flagellation neccassary? I mean if you believe your going to be reincarnated, why not just enjoy life and forget the pursuit of enlightenment?

Because without Enlightenment, one lives in a Subjective Bias Bubble the creates illusions, problems, the whole "I won't be happy until I get _______ (fill in the blank) Insatiability syndrome, a slave to lust/the passions, to the whims of the ego and how it is scatter brained, and so forth.

On top of that various Spiritual Paths believe Enlightenment is the only ticket to never have to reincarnate again. I personally since I was 3 years old, was questioning this reality, my parents, why I am who I am, how all this got here, and have never ever been comfortable with existing on earth, until Enlightenment started creeping in, in various forms. This also uncovered a memory of pre-existing, so I don't even fear physical death anymore either. Also many times, I as Soul, pop out of the body and get pre-views of the afterlife and whats really going on. There are many things that come with all this

I already did all the research for you on this thread:
The Ultimate Enlightenment How To Thread

Edit***
Also wanted to add, there are many skeptics and their skepticism has imprisoned them from further digging into all this. I've been at this for 10+ years now and have found there is a definition for Enlightenment.

It has to do with Ego Death and the resulting Experience of the Unfiltered Absolute Unity State. It is found in all traditions. It is the same goal in Buddhism, Eastern/Esoteric Christianity, Sufism, Judaism, Hinduism, and even many of the Natives around the world. If you read their descriptions of this STate, it's all the same, just wrapped in different languages, cultures, definitions.