Question:
Do you see enlightenment as a process, a condition, a path, a journey, or...?
anonymous
1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Do you see enlightenment as a process, a condition, a path, a journey, or...?
38 answers:
?
2008-09-26 18:02:45 UTC
It is a unlearning! A waking up. It is to see clearly. It is done many ways by many different systems. Some walk a path, some say they are in a process( My Teacher, "it's a process & you are in it!" ). Some even have events that forever change them. Sometimes I have to let go of the what it is which the mind seeks, & follow what it is with my heart. There lies Wisdom.

Many blessing my friend!
Thimmappa M.S.
2008-09-26 23:40:40 UTC
No, not a process or a condition or a path or a journey but a birthright as It is there since birth! Process, path and journey often may lead us astray; why all that when It is in your pocket, just reach/access it. Yet, it is not a condition either as that would mean a solidity, a fixed treasure. It is a ever vibrant, ever unpredictable, dynamic mingling with all that exist!
ACIMgal
2008-09-26 17:18:45 UTC
Helloooo Sirius!



Perhaps all.



As a process: Looking back, it's a process of sorts. It's a development of a course that one undertakes consciously. Keeping the "goal" in mind and heart, the processess unfold naturally in keeping with how much allowing one will let in.



As a condition: It is our Natural state that unfolds in just the right time and in just the right way for each individual expression.



As a path: A path can be seen as narrow or endlessly wide without end. In the beginning I aheared to a very narrow view and regimin, only studying certain books and authors. As I went along, I saw that this "path" I had undertaken could not be done with any rigidity. When I made the decision to be closed to nothing, that is when it all began to open. If I had stayed my former course, my life would be stalled and frustrating.



I had a dream about a path I was walking on. At first I could see myself walking on a dry and dusty path cut through a mostly dry field with a few patches of green here and there. This path could fit me and another person, but it would have been an uncomfortable walk. I would have been stepping on that person and constantly bumping into them. Then as I walked, things became very green and lush, the dirt path turned into long grass that I could tell had been walked on by others but the grass only bent gently and wasn't broken. Then I could see a wide view and my footprints went off the path joining other paths. I could tell that others had walked those paths too, but my footprints were on top and coming all together with all paths.



As a journey: This is an Eternal Journey. In the beginning I wanted to go from A - Z in a hot minute. I'll read all these books, meditate, do japa, chant, and I'll be "there". Please, laugh out loud here....



Then I heard someone say that "You'll NEVER be finished!" and all the wind went out of my sail. I thought, "Well, if I'm never finished getting to the point of enlightenment, what's the use???" But one day, after some contemplation, I understood. My creation is eternal, of course I'm never finished! "I" am eternal creation - how exciting is that!? I settled in to that understanding and every moment of creation is grand. My never-ending Journey.



All of those things are highly individual and may be perceived by indivudial Extensions as something different. In-joy your experience.



Namaste
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:24:19 UTC
It's in all these things. Epiphanies included. It is also getting past the prison matrix surrounding the earth. Making sure you are hearing from real enlightened beings and not the repti.
Seeker
2008-09-26 20:13:17 UTC
Wow......... 22 long answers and ALL so wise and each and every on made to measure, unique, by The Beloved.



Everyone's Path/Way is unique to that spirit's journey, and the Architect of the Universe, loves each and every one of us that much, that everyone Path/Way is made to measure, with the measure of His Unconditional Love and compassion. And the "piece de resistance" is that He alone is our guide who never leaves us.



At first I found this an invasion of my privacy and inhibiting. However, with the passage of time, we really got to know each other and now if He was to leave me, I would surely loose my closest and dearest friend, companion, mentor, guide, doctor, protector.... etc... We are truly, ONE. But, He was always there, it was just a matter of me accepting His presence, and to stop listening to the great religions seeking Him in the various Houses of God and started looking within MYSELF, that I truly got to know God, because He "IS" always with me.



I feel so stupid...... only for the fact that I was helped by a Spiritual Master by direct transmission, telepathy, over a long time, I would NEVER found Him.



To be truthful, He found me and just would not leave me, I was so pathetic!



So, let us share our Path/Way with our kindred spirits and let us love and enjoy each othere, for indeed life here, as we know it, is but a twinkle of our eyes, and then it is gone.... and all that is left "IS"......



Love you all, and thank you all for sharing your precious souls with mine+
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:49:35 UTC
Our natural condition..
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:44:55 UTC
When you can shut off the part of yourself that poses such a question you will have enlightenment. I know this: enlightenment comes when you stop trying so hard.
anonymous
2008-09-26 18:08:26 UTC
I see it as a unique experiential type among very many equivalently unique experiential types. Nothing special in itself.



Our craving for it, and putting those who have it on a pedestal is what makes it special.



Truth is, very few if any, of those who follow the enlightened, successfully manage to become enlightened themselves. It would appear that one is either the type or one isn't. Those who are may show some behavioural similarities, but, it is conjecture to presume that the behaviour led to the experience and not that the behaviour and the experience are simply features common to the type.



Since many get the experience without following any path or behaviour, it seems the type will get the experience whatever anyway.



So the question is, should we be following the mystics? Might even, following mystics be what keeps us from such experiences ourselves? Perhaps the mystics found the method suitable for themselves but the method is different for everyone. Perhaps in following the mystics methods we are distracted from our own paths.



Time to bring the mystics down from their pedestals and see them as just another human being, not as Gods or humanity's shepards. As unique and equivalently valid human beings ourselves with our own perfectly unique and fantastic experiences of life, the mystics have nothing to teach us. We can only teach ourselves.
Zsolt H
2008-09-26 16:22:36 UTC
First of all I had to laugh at The Golden Buffalo's answer.

But seriously, I am not 100% sure what enlightenment means.

Spirituality is basically revealing the direct connection between us and the Creator.

And it is happening by changing ourselves, so we become more and more similar to Him, thus revealing Him within ourselves according to the law of equivalence of form.

Here is a video about this law:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgdTONPRduk

So most probably the answer is that it is a process, as it is like climbing a ladder, achieving more and more equivalence with Him, until we reach perfection.

All the best with your enlightenment!
Krsnaknows
2008-09-27 01:37:09 UTC
In the initial stages the seeker will consider it as a path, a journey, a process, a task, a condition, a destination and so on but when you are enlightened, you just know. There is nowhere to go, no place to seek, no task to complete, no process to undergo and so on.You are it!

It is like pure water covered by scum. Remove the scum and see the pure water!
barbw141fl
2008-09-26 16:52:37 UTC
I see enlightenment as a lifetime process and a journey. As a condition would be as if to say OK

I am 'there' now, I am 'enlightened' now. I don't

think we ever reach total enlightenment here even

though that is our goal. Use of the word journey is an excellent word because it is exactly that

too. We really ARE traveling somewhere in this lifetime process/journey. Anyone who has

experienced a small degree of spiritual growth can tell very soon that he/she has traveled more than a million miles in that one second, whether realized or not. Opportunities for spiritual growth are always there - the question is whether or not we are willing to risk being in the experience. For example, I recently have parted company with a long time partner, I was horrified when I found she sued me over my home. I had put her name on my home in the spirit of trust since we lived together so many years. She "said" that she wanted to be sure she could still be able to live here if I died before her but she was not being true with me or with herself. She has harmed her own self much more than she has harmed me.

At first this was very painful - then I remembered All pain comes from some form of attachment to the things of this world. These are impermanent, unimportant things. What is a house compared to the peace of my mind & my soul? It is a pebble in the ocean. Will I choose to be upset by one pebble in the ocean today? I think not.The peace I would be giving up is worth far more than is any house I have ever seen.
tlworkroom
2008-09-26 16:08:48 UTC
Enlightenment is each one, and all, at the same time.

It can be an individual moment, and it can also be a long term endeavor or trip.



Enlightenment means improvement, and yet improvement can indeed be made when mistakes are made or you regress in life. Many alcoholics learn a part of enlightenment when they realize that their addiction is bad and they try to overcome it. They went bad, and learned. Learned from the mistake.



Mystical eastern Asian religions look at enlightenment as a process and a journey. As you progress, you attain more in this life and mostly for the next life (heaven?). Even Christianity can be looked at and considered a way of enlightenment. It's the same thing, just different words, different procedures. The end product is to better yourself thru your life and thru your actions.



Now some might consider that stealing from others is bettering yourself, because you're getting more for yourself, whether cash or items. However, nearly all religions or philosophies would say that you cannot better yourself by hurting others. In fact, one of the most common traits or beliefs among all the world's beliefs and religions is that you get what you give, or the "reap what ye shall sow". Whatever you give, you get back. So if you do wrong, you'll get wrong back.

It's called karma.



So enlightenment comes by helping others, helping yourself---socially, educationally, thru family, thru friendships, thru work.



Oh, wait,.....reading THIS can be enlightening to you!!!
andreaqi
2008-09-26 22:52:16 UTC
Enlightenment itself is often a condition (a new perception ability) after a sudden epiphany.



Epiphanies, like sudden turns in life should be unexpected by definition and makes life and the knowledge of the self two dynamic processes.



It is possible that epiphanies happens underlining the different stages of a journey (a physical one, like a travel or life itself, or a mental one, mushrooms of the first answer included) meanwhile they are just part of any path, the "what there is around the corner".



Epiphany triggers a wider understanding ability thus liberating enlightenment
Radhakrishna( prrkrishna)
2008-09-26 17:29:51 UTC
Friend,



ENLIGHTENMENT is is not a process and it involves a process of elimination of all NEGATIVITY from the layers of mind.



It IS NOT A CONDITION BUT IT IS A SITUATION, it is a STATE OF BEING.



It Is a JOURNEY IN A PATH LEAD BYA SADGURU.



So IT CAN BE A PROCESS


Some times it is not all these.



It happens spontaneously like a lightning SPARK.



A person who is mentally on spiritual line and also a fully occupied Social Bird , can get Enlightened Suddenly .



It is the result of Saadhanaas he/she has done in this birth aswell as previous births .



So one can not isolate and say THIS IS IS ENLIGHTENMENT.



IT IS A STATE OF PERFECT PEACE AND HAPPINESS WHICH KNOWS NO END.
anonymous
2008-09-27 16:06:50 UTC
Enlightenment is a condition, a state, an experience of all life as one, as energy, as consciousness. Because it is one, and the all, the individual is that one, the all. We live in appearance, in what our senses tell us. Our senses give the surface of things, not their real nature. And because enlightenment is one, there is no change, it is timeless, eternal, absolutely constant. And because it is consciousness, it is intelligent, wise, clarity. The enlightened person lives in a pleasant rhythmic oscillation between reality and appearance. Both have good and bad in them. Complete non-change forever would be dead, maddening, impossible to bear, like watching 'snow' on tv forever. One goes there for healing, to have our thoughts sorted, for clarity, comfort, like hospital. And then it is back in the fun of coloured, dangerous, exciting living. Like a tough game of football, tough but satisfying. To get to the enlightened state, all one need do is totally switch off to the senses and their products, memory and imagination, be totally passive, totally inactive, like a cup. We are actually god, the totality, the all, infinite energy and consciousness, immortal. And to get away from the constancy and boredom of absolutely perfect heaven, we created the world, and appeared in it. With enlightenment, we have the best of both worlds. With heaven, there is no story, drama, action, movement, challenge, journey. It is like getting to the top of a mountain, there is nothing to do except come down again, and climb another mountain. Thus world and heaven work in a perfect team to give us everything. We take heaven like water, just when we are thirsty. We don't drink water all the time. Enlightenment is a daily assurance that there is always a perfectly safe place, an absolute home to go to, to go out from. It is hard to break the habit of perceiving forms, and experience the formless. It is hard to break the habit of experiencing in a subject-object way, and experience the self, the subject. We have to stop looking outward, we have to stop looking for it, and just bathe in it. Whatever is formed is deformed. Energy forms and deforms everything. The formless cannot be deformed, changed. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. And matter is energy 'hidden' by appearance. Matter (atoms) show their energy origin and real nature by jigging about at fantastic speeds, even in solids, and by the eternal spinning of electrons. One feels energy in true meditation. All the action, drama, movement, change, processes, creation and destruction in the world is the work of energy. Energy doesn't have to obey the laws of space and time. There is not a bit of energy in each place, there is all the energy in each and every point of space and time. Each atom can spin forever, ie, each atom has infinite energy. And so it is with us. Each of us is the whole of life, of energy. When you judge a teacher, also judge your own judgement. Maturity of mind is shown by slowness of belief. All questions are open. Be modest in opinion. We don't know everything. Truth can be outside our assumptions. Our assumptions are only working hypotheses. And look for experience, not belief. Belief is nothing, even if it is a true belief. Experience is what you want. Experience is the only full evidence, and experience is the goal. The experience is not overwhelming, cosmic, immense, like being in the middle of a sun. It is maximally gentle, subtle - like a room neither too hot nor too cold. It is the experience underneath your sensory experience that you have been feeling unawares all your life. You will note that your consciousness, which is you, has no shape, colour, characteristics, position. It is immaterial. You have been you all your life, and yet your body and your bodily personality have changed. This proves you are not your body, your apparent self, because the same thing cannot in the same time period both completely not change and change. Our very experience of change requires a not-changing self to experience it, because if the self changed, there would not be one self to compare the various states in the change, to compare the before and after, and thus know change had occured. So our very experience of change proves our constancy, our immateriality.
Apollo
2008-09-28 15:04:50 UTC
It's whatever you believe it to be, if you believe that you have found enlightenment in the Holy Scriptures, then it is a personal thing to you, everyone chooses their own road through life, I choose the path of an atheist as I can find no truth in these pages, but I do not judge those who do, I think I may have a little envy but that is all.



May I wish you good luck with your belief.
anonymous
2016-04-06 10:53:34 UTC
'Self Thought' can be an absolute name for 'god almighty'. If alone...The word in essence is 'ALL ONE'. What is ever really 'absent'? Balance, truth, reality, all that is and love can also all be used to refer to a concept of 'god'. Where does unity stop? Where does individuality begin? There is the same value of the 'word' in many as well as one because infinity is constantly equal. There is a place in high thoughts that exposes you to all that there is and not necessarily in a crowd. My value is sufficient to all things and I am all that exists - including the 'others'. However, I only have this one perspective with a free will to choose and experience. We are our own deliverers and depend on no 'others'...Peace
You Are Enlightened
2008-09-26 17:37:27 UTC
Enlightenment is the end which is also the path. It is called The Way not just that the path is the way but the End also. Enlightenment itself is The Way. It is the Kingdom of God as Jesus called it. I have seen and all that i can say now is that Death is not Death it is called Death. The life people are living now is the real death.



Not that i have been told, because no one could have told me what i have seen, it is that i have seen it to tell you that it is true.



I am in the presence of God but in the presence of God i cease to be.
Waiata
2008-09-26 16:02:01 UTC
I see Enlightenment as part of all of those - a process of spiritual growth, an end to the path on this plane, a condition of the journey to a greater spiritual life...
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:04:46 UTC
A destination, an epiphany, a state of being. It can be gradual like a journey, like someone slowly regaining eyesight, but fully realized enlightenment is the end of the process.
ROCK
2008-09-29 07:27:59 UTC
Enlightenment is the unlearning of erroneous thinking, to revert to your knowledge prior to deciding to separate from God (the "Original Sin"). And to reach the goal, you need to recognise the illusion of the world / universe which we have made, and let go of desire for illusions. Forgiveness is the key, as is letting go of the ego through formation of good relationships.
Rev. Dr.Mysticfogg
2008-09-30 08:27:29 UTC
Enlightenment is a process, path, journey that one follows {FAITH} to reach their own potential in THIS illusion we call life.

Condition(s) are Hu-Man kind creations, like Limits, Judgment and bigotry, class and religion.



It is the individual(s) Spiritual path that when followed without the above mentioned creations, gives Faith, Strength, Courage to continue and learn about themselves and see the difference in other individuals.



Remember "Difference is just that, Different! NOT right and NOT wrong, just DIFFERENT!"



"Choice is THE greatest bestown upon us, Choose YOUR FAITH without fear!"



~BLESSINGS~DIVINE LOVE~HEALING LIGHT TO ALL~
crewsaid
2008-10-03 02:17:30 UTC
Enlightenment is the ultimate goal of each individual, but most of us forget this basic fact and run after other trivial things and remain trapped in the endless cycle of birth-life-death-rebirth. Enlightenment is liberation from this miserable cycle.
?
2008-09-26 17:23:52 UTC
Enlightenment comes after a lot of life's struggle with self-discipline, austerity and virtues. An enlightened person is considered to have reached the ultimate stage in life. He has got inspirational achievements. One who has brightened his wisdom.



Once a person has reached that enlightened state, he is said to be in enlightened condition. Such an enlightened person should show us the path. We should follow the path or trend set by an enlightened person and set our journey by emulating him in every way.
ns
2008-09-27 02:00:11 UTC
A temporary condtion (state of mind), reached through Spiritual effort such as self enquiry and self realisation. It is a journey until you reach Samadhi / Nirvana.
the traveler
2008-09-26 19:52:24 UTC
enlightenment in and of itself is unattainable.

it is however all of the things you mention and more.

it is the journey down the path; rather than the destination, that is important.

to seek enlightenment is the meaning of life. or at least it is the meaning to my life. my purpose for being.
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:01:25 UTC
It's a process of becoming aware but it's also a path in that you have to actually practice what you've learned.



The last thing it is is a "belief" about something. That's a path to nowhere IMO.
Power
2008-09-26 16:03:40 UTC
I think it can be one or all or some. I have seen people who live an enlightened life. I was an enlightened child who chose to get into the human drama then went back to enlightened living & wanted to go back to drama again.
?
2008-09-26 18:50:59 UTC
Enlightenment is a journey. Every answer leads to another question. Every question leads to dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction leads to searching. Searching leads to answers.



It's a never-ending journey that continues into infinity.
naughty
2008-09-26 19:39:41 UTC
To go beyond the hurdles which makes us feel that we are

already enlightened is a process.
dartagnon p
2008-09-27 03:56:26 UTC
YES! It's just like getting physically older and more mature, but on a spiritual level. Yes?



:-)

Peace, Love, Light
?
2008-09-27 09:57:51 UTC
The end of the path of spirituality
Froggels
2008-09-26 16:02:43 UTC
It's a Linux desktop environment



http://www.enlightenment.org/p.php?p=about&l=en
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:01:25 UTC
A journey and a path.
Cameron C.
2008-09-26 16:03:47 UTC
It's a journey to the light switch and a process to turn it on.
anonymous
2008-09-27 07:08:21 UTC
the natural state of all being.
anonymous
2008-09-26 16:05:08 UTC
Sounds to me like an eastern religion that I want no part

of.not scriptural!
The Golden Buffalo
2008-09-26 16:01:21 UTC
a condition brought on by too many mushrooms


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