What is spiritual Enlightenment and is it worth the effort?

reply to post by WhoKnows100


I heal myself, I heal my relationships, I pray for mother Gaia and father Sol, I meditate, I do yoga, I sing mantras all out of love...but you want me to denounce and reject all that out of fear. I fear not Satan, and I fear not darkness. Am I doing something wrong by not being afraid of the brother of light? I see the two as one, and one is all that is. I do not cast judgment within the one, for everything is alike. The creator created all things, in in all things are the creator. His spirit of life shines in all things, in all forms. All is god, as all is one.

You proclaim that the body is god's temple, but how do you see the consciousness that finds itself within the body? Have no fear my dear brother, fear will only keep you fettered to darkness, the darkness you try to fight. Fight nothing, and you will unravel and blossom with unconditional love, that of our father and that of ourselves.

Originally posted by dominicus

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.

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

Enlightenment is not a state. Its the end of all states. Its completely another way around: The condidition of a "common" everyday person is a state. Ego is trying to achieve "states" and invented spirituality to survive. Most of us live in complete illuusion. If "enlightenment" must be put to words, i would use the word coming home to your "true self". But offcourse we need words to talk about this, and words can never touch what is.
I had a radical kundalini awakening in 2011. The worst thing about it is that theres no one left to claim it it.

reply to post by iameternal

Enlightenment is not a state.

1st off arguing Enlightenment, is like arguing colors with a blind man. There's no point to it.
2nd, relative to the mind, Enlightenment is a state and is viewed to be that way to the ego/mind, and since that's what we are using here for the sake of conversation and mental notations, it is ok to use as a reference point.

The stateless state. The state prior to all others. It's all the same thing

Its the end of all states.

Cool!!! We're in agreement. Keep in mind I used the word "state" when referencing Enlightenment, as something relative to Ego Bias State.

Its completely another way around: The condidition of a "common" everyday person is a state. Ego is trying to achieve "states" and invented spirituality to survive. Most of us live in complete illuusion. If "enlightenment" must be put to words, i would use the word coming home to your "true self".

Yes but to many, he True Self at first comes in glimpses and it seems to be like the higher state than the normal waking one. It is later when the True Self is fully established that the equalibrium of it reveals that is indeed stateless.

ut offcourse we need words to talk about this, and words can never touch what is. I had a radical kundalini awakening in 2011. The worst thing about it is that theres no one left to claim it it.

HAha Nice ...so we are speaking the same language. There is still much to go and it never ends. The whole physical body changes, all sorts of channels open up, the mind and all subconscious tendencies go through cleansings to never come back again, and there is also talk of the Emptiness prior to No Self.

All words....... as you know

I think we will have consciousness downloading tech within the next 100 years and we'll be able to download Enlightenment and all the advanced stuff directly. Although it may come sooner or later. Either way we are heading towards and Enlightened Utopia with small fragmented Fundamentalist groups that will be completely against it and will be the last remaining people to cause chaos on our earth (many hardliner skeptic atheist groups included)

We're heading there one way or another

If you choose the path of Enlightenment, be warned. It is not a trandcending process or, even one of growth. Enlightenment is the annihilation of your ego, it isn't for the faint of heart. Your world will be completely shattered and replaced by blinding truth. You will escape the wheel of karma, nirvana isn't pleasent. It is absolution from all desire. The goal of enlightenment is absolution. If you feel you're done incarnating in this plane, then by all means.. Just saying though this isn't for everyone.... It's not marijuana it's L.S.D.

Originally posted by Mykey057420
If you choose the path of Enlightenment, be warned. It is not a trandcending process or, even one of growth. Enlightenment is the annihilation of your ego, it isn't for the faint of heart. Your world will be completely shattered and replaced by blinding truth. You will escape the wheel of karma, nirvana isn't pleasent. It is absolution from all desire. The goal of enlightenment is absolution. If you feel you're done incarnating in this plane, then by all means.. Just saying though this isn't for everyone.... It's not marijuana it's L.S.D.

edit on 20-3-2013 by Mykey057420 because: (no reason given)

greatly said .....had the feeling of being "done here" since 3-4.

although I wouldn't say Nirvana isn't pleasant, it's freeing, true, crystal clear, home, beyond all and yet inherent in all

Originally posted by Mykey057420
If you choose the path of Enlightenment, be warned. It is not a trandcending process or, even one of growth. Enlightenment is the annihilation of your ego, it isn't for the faint of heart. Your world will be completely shattered and replaced by blinding truth. You will escape the wheel of karma, nirvana isn't pleasent. It is absolution from all desire. The goal of enlightenment is absolution. If you feel you're done incarnating in this plane, then by all means.. Just saying though this isn't for everyone.... It's not marijuana it's L.S.D.

edit on 20-3-2013 by Mykey057420 because: (no reason given)

You are right. I had the most terryfying few days of my life, that i can ever imagine. Followed by the best moments of my life, with a totall bliss, grace and love. When you come home you know you never left in the first place. Why live in a dream of suffering and separation. I know, it would ruin the game.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I am not sure what is enlightenment, I will let you know if I ever get there . Is it worth it? My thoughts are, that those who seek it are driven to. I became interested in order to reconcile, what I felt, what I believed and what I experienced, which in my case were all different. I had to ask why, I had to understand. Has it made my life better to ask these questions, to go on this quest? For me, yes. I cannot imagine being anyone other than who I am, and I am a questioner.

reply to post by Iamschist


My interest has certainly been piqued by my recent experiences. I sometimes wonder if I'm looking for some form of comfort. However,I am finding the practices of meditation and mindfulness are helping me come to terms with my situation and accepting a "don't know" attitude towards life. As in I don't know what is going to happen in the future and not to dwell on the past, therefor "now" is the only time I can live and try to live it as mindfully as possible. Not easy, but better than the alternative

X

Another thought on enlightenment I have is this. It is something that happens. Noone knows when. I think that about this enlightenment was said, that it was worth the waiting. For this enlightenment to occur, doing things to cause it to happen is impossible. For sitting isn't going to make it manifest, nor does laying down, nor does standing, walking or running. But it will have been worth the waiting.

if you aim for enlightenment the chances are you won't become enlightened in this lifetime,but anyway it's a question of how far you will get on the path,the main thing is to stay in emptyness while practicing to detach from thoughts,this gives birth to prajna wisdom,a non intellectual knowing knowledge,which cultivates the mind,by doing this the body will be cultivated automatically,the zen method of no method is the best killing the 2 birds with the one stone,if you cultivate the body only and concintrate on chi channels and chakras your getting further away from enlightenment,but by letting go of everything you cultivate mind and body both,yoga cultivates the body,also you will get a yin style kundalini instead of a yang style kundalini by practicing kundalini yoga which is a artificial way of activating the kundalini and it's a forced way,that's why lot of people get crazy reactions from it when it's supposed to be a warm blissful state,

I suppose when one gets further into cultivation and starts experiencing emptyness and prajna wisdom,they will be more inclined to seek enlightenment as there understanding grows on the matter,the main thing is that we are not the body,we have the 5 skandas covering our enlightened state,we are already enlightened but it's obscured by the 5 skandas,form,sensation,conception,volition,consciousness,you won't be enlightened unless you pierce through these skandas ,so by practicing meditation your already working towards detaching from the skandas so in effect your already aiming for enlightenment without knowing it lol,so keep up the good work,one should always aim for enlightenment as its the end goal,it's the only thing that's not impermanent,our original nature

What is spiritual enlightenment and is it worth the effort?

Spiritual enlightenment:

Spiritual enlightenment is about how one is subjective with the world.

An "unenlightened one" is not objective when he is subjective to the world. An "enlightened one" is subjective to the world by being objective. He remains objective. In fact one might say he is not subjective.
In subjectivity one can know a lot about the world he is in yet objectivity transcends this knowing. It is a layer of knowing above the knowing of the 'unenlightened one'.

The difference between un- and enlightened ones is their personal experience. An unenlightened one is of the world, an enlightened one isn't. He is from another world. His experience lies not in the physical world while for the unenlightened one, one could say, he has no inner experience. He experiences the world. His sentences are ruling, while for an enlightened one the inner world is ruling. (inner world means the experience of the enlightened one. This inner world is as large as the universe, it is called inner world for it is not seen and experienced in mind and heart?

One could say an enlightened one doesn't experience a constant state of awareness. There is change within the experience of an enlightened one, it's called 'being human'. One would be soulless if it were a constant experience of something. Yet what makes a human able to experience is constantly there. That has a constant 'being there', just like the body is constantly existent. It IS the body.

The abcense of the seeker creates a seeker, looking for the abcense of the seeker. The illuusion is there, yet its the shortest journey you will ever make when stepping out of it. Everything you think you are seeking, exists only in your mind and concepts. When ego is exposed, and mind is seen as what it is, everything that remains is real. No judgements or stories. What is real, has no questions or answers. What IS, doesnt require answers. Your true nature doensnt require anything. It knows what it is.

"Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God"

No amount of effort will get you to here and now - presence.
The present is present always.
But the mind is always next and before.

How can there be peace when the mind is somewhere else, some when else? You are here and now but the mind is living elsewhere. The mind is dividing you in two - it pulls you off into an imaginary world of 'what is not happening'. Stay where you are and see and hear what is really happening.
See what the mind does.

I saw this title this morning, and it provoked thought in my head for the last few hours, as I went about my morning work.

I asked myself -what is enlightenment?
I have a conception of something I might call enlightenment, or at least a process which I remember struck me as an opening of doors to an added angle of perception and experience... a lot of it seemed to be started during my meditation and self hypnosis sessions I have been doign most of my life.

But it seems there is another definition others use that word for, which has something to do with eing morally or spiritually "superior" to the normal human- I don't think I believe such a state exists. I guess one could experience themselves as such if they believe it though- it just doesn't seem that woudl make it an objective truth, or something anyone else would necessarily recognize.

In my case, that door opened because I needed it. I needed help, and could not get any from other human sources. I was abandoned by both of my parents at age 8, and had to keep my little brother and sister alive, safe and going to school, eating correctly.... my sister is retarded, so just protecting her from predator people was necessary too. Later, my mother came back when I was a teenager, and took us in to live with her and her new husband, but at that point, I think damage was doen to my personality that I could not overcome- I couldn't trust anyone, I did not know how to socialize, I did not know how to "have fun", nor to stop being stressed about survival.

As my husband says now, when he found me, I was already old and been killed a thousand times, it seemed.
So I had an inner sorrow and need that caused me to be searching inside and beyond this world for help- for guidance, for information, to help me make choices, to know right from wrong and what others needs were so i could fuflil my responsibilities to them.

I was answered, I foudn wells of information and vision that aided me. That continues to be the case.

But if someone elses asked me if they should do the same, if they should try to find those doors, I would say "Do you NEED them? If you don't... if you have aid, guidance...security, happiness, comfort, an exterior structure to contain you, why bother? Just go ahead and LIVE!!!

If you call upon that door, without truly wanting or needing it, but for superficial reasons, I am guessing you'll just end up feeling let down eventually.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


From what I've heard enlightenment is pretty epic.

After these past few days,
I realize that any spiritual practice won't get me enlightenment.
But they are useful in helping me to detach myself from material world.
They help me to realize that I've been faking myself for almost 15 years.
They help me to realize that I've been greedy all my life, always want better friends, when I already have great friends.
They help me to keep Ego in check (not all the time, I've been a victim to it lately)
And so on.

Like everyone always say, it is always Now.
IMHO, IT has to be REALIZED.
And it's almost impossible to get that eureka or aha moment.

Sometimes during my time in bus,
I can feel that present moment that I can hook myself into it forever. Unfortunately I can't. I dunno how.
Sometimes I feel like there are no thoughts.
Sometimes I feel like I'm not this body but I dunno where am I

reply to post by dodol


Seeking enlightenment is 'seeking'. It is the 'seeking' that stops one from realizing that this is already whole.
To look for more than there is - is seeking. Can anything outside of presence (now) be seen or heard? Even if there is a thought arising that speaks of tomorrow, it is arising presently. Nothing can arise outside of this nowness but the individual wants to know 'what is next' because it is 'seeking' something better. But there is nothing more than what is actually happening presently.

The energy that this is made of is contracted in the 'divided one' - so feels uncomfortable. This discomfort wants comfort and all it needs is to relax. When the energy relaxes it will melt back into wholeness.
The relaxation will not happen if there is a idea that there is relief elsewhere because it will strive to get to this non existent 'elsewhere'. The striving or seeking is what prevents oneness being realized.

In my opinion Tony Parsons is the most straight talking at explaining the apparent situation:
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