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..:: Enlightenment
::..
By
Alan Schneider
In considering the subject of
Enlightenment we are dealing with the process that bonds our awareness
to the Soul and the Logos, themselves supreme expressions of Enlightened
consciousness. Enlightenment is more than a deep understanding
of the profound spiritual linkages that achieve Creation it is a
living organismic connection to them that pervades us throughout, and
sees external as well as internal expression everywhere consciousness
extends to. The achievement of Enlightenment is the highest goal to
which we can aspire in this life.
Enlightenment may be defined
as the attainment of the deepest level of spiritual comprehension
regarding a condition or process in life. This lies well beyond the
simple mechanical understanding of superficial causes and effects
demonstrated on the Physical Plane, and mediated by the ego. Although
this level of functioning can be quite useful, and certainly has
extended physical survival value, it usually conceals and obscures the
spiritual vectors that lie beyond the prevue of the ego. Enlightenment
frequently begins when we wonder about the meaning of the whole universe
and its processes, of life and its origins and end, and of our
consciousness itself, as we more thoroughly investigate our beliefs,
emotions, and thoughts.
The process of Enlightenment
necessarily involves spiritual practice and investigation customarily
beyond what is provided by the popularly available faiths of a given
culture or society, which are so often intended to produce bland
acceptance and social conformity to some generally accepted normative
system or other. Enlightenment is what happens when we begin to think
and search outside the box of the conventional, and possibly also
the acceptable. Enlightenment occurs when we question the basic
assumptions by which we have unconsciously been living our lives. When
the Buddha was asked how his awareness fundamentally differed from
ordinary consciousness, he simply replied I am awake
implying that he had become fully conscious in the here and now on the
most expanded level possible aware of himself, of others, of the
universe, and of the common bonds uniting all these expressed as the
Universal Self.
Enlightenment frequently
begins with the expression of one or more synchronicities
meaningful coincidences spontaneously occurring in the environment
with persistency across time. Eventually, the human observer will
notice these puzzling manifestations, which generally do not fit into
the routine of ones life, and begin to wonder about their meaning.
Enlightenment can also begin in trauma and psychological or
physical injury, additional events occurring outside the normal course
of existence that force us to stop and ponder on our
circumstances. In fact, any interruption of the somnambulistic trance
of habit that then switches on our attention again is potentially
Enlightening under the right conditions. So, Enlightenment is closely
associated with the unusual, extraordinary, and with novel experiences
in consciousness.
Synchronicities frequently
exist in lengthy chains of association and events that may span many
years of life, and many instances of manifestation within those years,
all of which will be meaningfully revealed to the investigator in
progressive stages of discovery, resulting in an ever increasing level
of Enlightened comprehension regarding the events involved. At some
point within this process, the matter of spiritual origin and
causality will invariably occur within the investigators
consciousness. This is the point where many cease investigation and
observation, preferring to return to their perhaps more comfortable
customs and circumstances that do not compel them to confront the
immanence of spirit in human affairs. The price paid by such
individuals for the renewal of their trance is that it is never quite so
easy again the lingering doubts raised by the investigation tend to
reside in the background of consciousness whispering to the ego, and, in
some cases, shouting for the investigation to resume. In order
for this to happen, we must squarely face the implication that our
awareness is the result of spiritual action manifesting on the Physical
Plane. Only then can we continue forward.
If we lived in Enlightened
social systems which is almost never the case the need for
Enlightenment would be far reduced, because it would occur
intrinsically in the fabric of our society. The fact of the matter
is that we have barely begun to emerge from the purely
instinctual animal condition, for all of our technology and apparent
sophistication. The pinnacle of the animal condition is the ego, and
even literal animals display evidence of this in the form of their
personal behavioral traits dogs, cats, horses, sheep, cattle, and even
wild animals, display some level of personal behavior beyond basic
instinct. In the case of the human animal, this mental/social structure
has become evolved to a much more considerable extent by virtue
of our enhanced cranial capacity and the associated ability to learn and
adapt. But the same primitive instincts still tend to determine our
consciousness and behavior that have existed since the dawn of life
the drives to feed, excrete, breed, seek safety, and seek territory have
not changed and if we remain in our unconscious trance, we are
completely at their mercy. Such is the outcome of biology in the
flesh...
When not subject to
Enlightenment and this is the baseline human conscious state we are
necessarily involved in the obverse condition of ignorance. As
the root meaning of this term to ignore implies, ignorant
individuals choose (admittedly often completely unconsciously) to ignore
the synchronicities that may manifest around them in the world. The
external panoply of events and involvements constitute a powerful
distractive force in consciousness, and it is the natural result of ego
based information processing to simply attend to these distractions, and
very little else. But, who looks without, sleeps, and who looks
within awakens it is within that the synchronicity
directs our awareness, even if it is initially manifest externally, and
it is within that the spiritual meaning the ultimately
real and absolute meaning of both internal and external events is to
be found. This is what the Buddha meant when he said I am
awake I am ignoring nothing!
Beyond the ego are many
additional levels of knowing, experiencing, and being that are radiating
forth from the Soul and the Logos, initially as synchronicities of
whatever character, and with the possibility of full Enlightenment at
the destination of the spiritual process. Even if we do not choose to
acknowledge these as the independent states of higher conscious
manifestation just noted, we must admit to their existence as
discreet elements of a much more expanded state of awareness than simple
thought and sensory experience, and also admit to the possibility
that they extend and exist beyond the boundaries of the physical
organism. This is the first step outside the box of the ego, and it
is necessarily where synchronicity will lead us.
Apart from any considerations
of immortality, extra-personal awareness, and Ascension, the fact
remains that conditioning is the prison of consciousness, and the
ego is the jailer, however comfortable and convenient our
personal cages may be. Enlightenment is, above all else, the
recognition of the Truth of Consciousness while still encased in the
material form of the body, releasing a Divine Light that dispels all
ignorance, and a Divine Love that heals all wounds. It is
therefore incumbent on everyone who wishes to know true freedom of Self
to pursue The process of Enlightenment and courageously follow the trail
of synchronicities laid out for them, without regard for the
perilousness of the journey that may follow. There is, after all, no
safe, easy way to be free...
The process of Enlightenment,
as has been previously noted here, tends to unfold in stages that have
the effect of making the whole development significantly less stressful
for the investigator. The legitimate spiritual systems of history and
the world those that are originating from Love and Light, as opposed
to Fear and Ignorance frequently label these stages in some fashion
that involves an ascending order of spiritual potency, originating in
the fundamentally ignorant condition of Physical Plane, and
progressively climbing to higher and higher states of Illuminated
perception, personal peace, and spiritual Grace. Yoga has the Chakra
System as its preferred model of this mode of development, Cabala has
the Tree of Life, Buddhism has the Noble Eight Fold Path, the Tao has
the Water Course Way, and Christianity has the Holy Communion with the
Logos through Christ, to name a few popular interpretations of
Enlightenment, and there are many more evident in history. But, the
essential mechanism is perhaps most effectively described by the well
known Hindu concept of Karma, something that, for this reason,
deserves special attention here. Karma is the spiritual framework given
to the Soul by the Logos at incarnation that determines all of the
possibilities of experience, including Enlightenment, which can
manifest in this existence, including the system or systems that we
select to represent that process, when, and if, we begin to experience
it.
It is quite probable, based
on the obvious physical evidence abounding everywhere, that the majority
of human beings have basal Karma consisting of suffering to one
extent or another this is why the Buddha said that the Greatest Noble
Truth is that all of life is suffering in one form or another. The more
fortunate among us have Karma that permits the awakening i.e.
Enlightenment process to manifest at some point in physical existence,
and this awakening will follow some course that is also Karmically
predetermined by the Logos for the JivaAtman the individual,
personal Soul. This is as opposed to the MahaAtman, or Great
Soul, of the entire human race, or of the Earth as a whole sometimes
referred to as the World Soul or Over Soul. Even with all of the
associated difficulties involved, the possibility of Enlightenment is
the greatest of all gifts given to human beings, otherwise, we remain
asleep and unborn, no matter how superficially pleasant our lives may
seem to be. Such is the ego trance a thin mask of gratification over
our deep suffering, one that is fated to fall off eventually.
As the Enlightenment process
advances, the Karma that we have come into the world with is converted
to Dharma spiritual awareness through Ascension in the
Spirit. Every time we are able to step out of the ego, our spiritual
perception increases a little, and with it, our understanding of life,
other people, and consciousness, permanently elevating and expanding our
perspective on existence. Eventually, we are able to understand with
finality that the Logos is the Source of all Manifestation, Light, and
Love, and that the indwelling Soul is the ultimate Divine Gift of that
Source, manifest in the Heart as Grace and Compassion. We have become
One with The One in the experience of Samadhi, and have reached
the end of all suffering.
The Enlightenment process
involves constant striving and discipline as the price of
participation this is the Buddhist conception of Dharma, which
differs somewhat from the Hindu. For the Buddhist, Dharma is the Wheel
of the Eight Fold Path, and requires constant devotion to the
disciplinary goals of that Path to offset the continuous human tendency
to backslide into the trance of ego gratification there is no
permanent emergence into Samadhi, only the temporary excursion into the
comparable state of Satori the non-dual experience objectless
perception of the One Self. But, regardless of the spiritual valence
involved, if we can embrace the possibility of Enlightenment, and follow
our spiritual intuition, we have begun lifes most important journey
along the Souls path of Self Realization and Salvation!
- With Love, Alan -
(Copyright 2009, by Alan Schneider)
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