Enlightenment is being really really awake

I realised today that it can be very painful to realise and fully accept some of your beliefs and behaviours about yourself. I have always understood that masks were a psychological device for presenting to others the image you prefer to give to them, but I realised that I have been presenting a mask to myself for a long time. Today, I took it off.

Ancient Sages tell us that, in an enlightened state, we are blissful and happy, with a deep inner peace. Today I felt much more awake to the reality of who I am. By taking the mask off I felt really really awake. But the feelings I experienced were the opposite of bliss, happiness and inner peace! There was a kind of inner peace, but quite different to the peaceful moments I have often experienced.

Hopefully, I am travelling somewhere?

Enlightenment is just the beginning

Much of life is about finding ways to lift the limiting beliefs that we have chosen to accept earlier on in life, in our culture, education and experience, and which prevent us from achieving our full potential, or at worst, may even destroy us.

Young children, without such beliefs formed, are happily enlightened without knowing it. That's why we can learn so much from the wisdom of children.

Whatever path we take, whatever spiritual disciplines we practice, the key is to remove negative and limiting beliefs and replace them with positive and creative beliefs. It is these positive and creative beliefs that are our natural innate state.

Eventually, we become more positive and creative than negative and limiting and, eventually, these better beliefs will be understood to be more than beliefs, but will be understood to be the reality of who and what we are. Enlightenment.

But the most important and enlightened realisation is that we are all naturally connected, at a higher level, as one, and one enlightened part of the whole is really enlightenment of the whole.

I like the notion that if there are a sufficient and a critical mass of people on the planet who are living in a more enlighted state most of the time, that this will trigger a more enlightened state naturally for others. So we work to help others and ourselves as one humanity.

Enlightenment is becoming the ocean

I like the idea that the universe is a great ocean of life.
A great ocean is continuously producing new waves that then grow, live for a while, and then merge back into the ocean again. Its a non-stop process.

An ocean of life is continuously producing new 'beings' that then grow, live for a while and then merge back into the ocean again.

The problem is that many of us believe that we are the finite waves, with a seperate birth, life and death, instead of knowing that we are all the vast infinite ocean itself that is continually creating and manifesting beings in so many different ways.

One big wave, perceiving itself to be seperate and rushing towards the see shore said to another big wave, 'we are going to crash and die'. The other wave said, 'just relax, flow and be, and you will see how we will all gently subside, pull back from the shore for a while, as part of our natural cycle, and then recreate again, as new waves, later'.

Enlightenment is a joke

In moments of laughter we go way beyond the rational mind.

For an instant, we seem to lose control. We freewheel. Fear and judgement simply disappear. We glow. We become our natural selves.

It's great to laugh, but too much laughing seems to then cause pain.

Yet the only thing to do in pain and suffering is to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

What's extraordinary is that life seems to be a dance between opposites, until we laugh. And then we remember, momentarily?

Enlightenment transcends duality

The dualistic notions of:

- inside and outside of 'us'
- spiritual and material
- past and future
- heaven and hell
- life and death etc

are, according to the ancient sages and an increasing number of modern philosophers, all wrong notions, that may well help us at some lower level of partial understanding of our reality, but need to be recognised for their limitations, and ultimate unreality.

Reality, expressed as the oneness of everything, suggests we are beyond this duality, at a higher level. So, perhaps we need to expand our perceived individual consciousness to an ultimate universal consciousness, so 'we' disappear and there is no individual self. Therefore, no

- inside and outside us but simply 'all-ness'
- spiritual and material but simply 'everything in nothingness'
- past and future but simply 'everything that ever was, is, and will be'
- heaven and hell but simply ' whatever is'
- life and death but simply 'one eternal consciousness'

I can cope with personal oneness and even community and global oneness, but I find difficulty contemplating the experience of universal oneness? Perhaps that is the privilege of the astronauts?

Enlightenment and the Wizard of Oz

I was intrigued and amused to read in the book 'The Buddha, Geoff and Me' by Edward Canfor-Dumas, the comparison between the three Buddhist virtues of Compassion, Courage and Wisdom and, from the Wizard of Oz, the tin man who needed a heart (Compassion); the scarecrow who needed a brain (Wisdom); and the cowardly lion who needed (Courage).

Of course, the Wizard taught them that they had all these qualities inside of themselves. Buddhism teaches that they can be cultivated through meditation and other spiritual practices.

I like it when ancient eastern and modern western thoughts say the same thing with profundity.

The truth is the truth - whatever label we care to put on it?

Enlightenment is Blissful Wisdom

We are told that there are at least three key phases to a successful and fulfilled spiritual life:

1. Blissful Ignorance - 2. Painful Knowledge - 3. Blissful Wisdom

1. Blissful Ignorance - a new born baby seems to be the nearest to this first phase of perfection, and connection with One and All.

2. Painful Knowledge - when a child learns, for the first time, about life and death and develops an incorrect belief in a 'seperate' self. Then, as a result, we develop our egos and our sense of fear, scarcity and need for competitiveness.

3. Blissful Wisdom - when we realise who we truly are. When we realise that we are part of a highly interconnected One and All. We are not seperated at this higher level. We are not ego's. This Oneness of life, the essence of which is eternal, continues beyond the mere birth and death of the physical body. There is no death only continual life and transformation! This Oneness of life is abundant and full. There is no need to compete - only to openly communicate, collaborate, learn, share, serve, create, and, most importantly, enjoy! .

Enlightenment is discarding the raft

The Ancient Sages talk of many different paths, but that they all ultimately lead to the same one Truth. It's impossible to do otherwise. The Truth is the Truth.

Each path can be likened to a raft to help us cross a river to the other side.

Once we have crossed, we are then supposed to leave the raft and continue on our way. It has done its job.

The trouble is, we can become too attached to our raft and want to keep carrying it on our back, as a burden. Even worst is when we never start our crossing at all but build a beautiful dwelling on our raft to stay. Some even measure the raft and know exactly all its dimensions and like to spend all their time painting it pretty colours and going nowhere.

I like the other analogy of 'pointing a finger to the moon'. Here the problem is getting too distracted and fixed on the finger, and not even seeing the moon.

But it is not that easy, as it can be very comforting to have a good raft sometimes, and letting go can sometimes be scary?

Enlightenment is instant creativity

I have always been interested in the notion that our dominating thoughts create our reality.
It works for me - think a loving world - see a loving world - think an evil world - see an evil world. So we need a collective world dominated by positive thinkers, not the other way round.

I really like the idea that we can truly 'create' our own reality from the unlimited, invisible, formless abundance and so there is no need to 'compete' for what is already formed. Instead, create something new and add this to the world.

I have learned that humans create most new things from the already formed, which is good, but I am told that we should spend far more creative thinking time to bring about new forms from the formless. I agree.

But the world wide web is now enabling much more of formless creativity around the world, much faster than before. I think thoughts, create a blog, share it, and hope for feedback, to help me better shape my thoughts, to then create more :-)

Amazing!

Enlightenment is seeking not to seek?

The mystic seeks the experience of unity with a Higher Self.

The sage seeks understanding of the Higher Self

The saint seeks to work through the Higher Self for the good of others

The non-seeker probably seeks something else.

The Highers Self seeks mystics, sages, saints and non-seekers?

Why seek?

Enlightenment is instant but can take a long time to realise

The Ancient Hindu sages in their 'forest academies' in India would claim that a student who is ready would take 12 years to achieve the enlightened state of Samadhi.

The Zen Buddhists teach that we can shake off the errors of wrong learning and realise the 'Buddha within', our natural state of enlightenment, instantly.

The first method is concerned with 'one to one' teaching and demonstration from a guru with plenty of time for the student to reflect, contemplate, meditate, assimilate and realise the Truth.

The second method is concerned with shaking us out of our incorrect beliefs into the natural state of Truth.

If we are all each others students and teachers, in all that we do, maybe we can, both, shake each other into glimpses of Truth moments, when we can, and, also gradually help each other realise the underlying Truth at the same time?

Enlightenment from the East and the West

The Ancient Sages from the East ask us to simplify our lives and not become attached to material wealth and, also, to become detached from the results of our work, good or bad.

The Modern Guru's from the West ask us to better manage our complex lives, focus on goals and their results, and create wealth, so that we may then be in a better position to help ourselves and others.

Diametrically opposed views from opposite hemispheres of the planet, ancient and modern!

Rather like the brain, two hemispheres. One hemisphere concerned with detailed logical 'bottom line results in time' and the other hemisphere concerned with a holistic view, feelings 'beyond the bottom line' in the here and now.

The Ancient Greeks taught 'as above so below'. Maybe the two hemispheres of Planet Earth are a reflection of the two hemispheres of our brain?

Enlightenment from within

When we are most strongly influenced by what we see, hear, feel touch and taste from external sources - we shape our inner thoughts and feelings in the same way. We may then develop more fearful inner beliefs based on the lack and scarcity that we so often see.

When we are most strongly directed by inner certain knowings of wholeness, abundance, unconditional love, peace and wisdom - regardless of what we see externally, undisturbed, - we have become masters of our mind . We know that the inner Truth will manifest externally in time.

It's when we gain the certain knowledge that the stronger flow can be developed to come from within us that we start to awaken to becoming even more enlightened creators?

Enlightenment is realising everything is everywhere

A Sage taught me that everything is everywhere, if we choose to see.

If we choose to see nothing, we will see nothing.
If we choose to see everything, we will see everything.

In Reality, the Universe is full of everything but in our own reality our mind is full of whatever we want to think about. Then we see, hear, feel, touch and taste our own thoughts in manifestation?

If we relax our bodies and minds, and quieten our thoughts and feelings, we realise, in a sort of peaceful nothingness, a sort of peaceful everythingness.

But in peace, I do not choose anything. Yet in peace we are everything?

Why choose?

Enlightenment is simply being what you really are

We try too hard to become someone or something else.
If we set a goal, it is normally because we are not happy
with the present state and we want to be in a better state.

Sometimes that is very good. But not all the time!

Why not set a goal to have no goals for a while and imagine instant success instead?

Imagine being totally happy and content with who you are and what you are!
Imagine simply being, in the flow, and becoming whatever you always were!
Imagine unconditional love and compassion, peace and wisdom as simply being!

Kofi Annan says "We will have time to reach the Millenium Development Goals (which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015) - worldwide and in the most, or even all, individual countries - but only if we break with business as usual."

Is 'breaking with business as usual', simply thinking differently. Is it thinking and deciding to be and to do something here and now instead of setting a goal for the future?

I wonder if simply being what we all really are, right here, right now, would eradicate world poverty any sooner?

I wonder if simply being what we all really are, right here, right now, would eradicate our perceived lack for our selves too?

Imagine! Let it be! Where have I heard those words of wisdom before :-)

Enlightenment comes with Inner Peace

The Ancient Sages wisely taught us that you cannot see the true and clear reflection of the moon at night in a lake which has ripples caused by the wind.

You cannot see reality as it is unless there is perfect stillness and clarity.

So it is with the Mind. A clear (ripple free ) Mind that is not troubled by negative thoughts and delusions (winds) will become more enlightened and, ultimately, it will awaken to a picture and an experience of reality as it really is. No delusions, just as it truly is.

But the difference between the lake and the Mind is that we can train the Mind! We can discipline it, increasingly, to quieten and give rise to deeper peaceful states of stillness. With practice and diligence, our meditations will guarantee deeper and longer states of peaceful inner bliss. And this still inner bliss is within us all, all the time, awaiting our own personal discovery, awaiting our own personal experience of reality!

It's totally within. It's totally within our control. It's our choice.
And once we experience this peaceful bliss internally, we start to see and feel it in everything externally. Effortlessly. How wonderful.

Enlightenment is going far beyond knowledge

We create conventional knowledge though learnings and experiences, and that certainly helps us to manage our way through life. Yet why is it that the most carefully constructed plans, based on the best knowledge are never the case, in reality?

Our mistake is to believe that what we know is greater than what we do not know!

We need to constantly remind ourselves that our knowledge of the Universe we live in, and our knowledge of the Universe within each of us is so infinitesimal. Then we can remember to experience the naturalness of spontaneity and creativity. Then we can forget the ego for a while. Then, even miracles naturally occur.

Miracles are a part of every moment. We just don't see them enough?

Enlightenment is a moment of smiling!

Imagine you are smiling. Note how it looks and feels.

Spontaneous and natural.
A higher sense of certainty.
A connection with the Truth.
Love in action. Peace as purpose. Wisdom confirmed.

Humanity re-created in every smile!

We can all touch smiles and join the oneness of laughter .... I think?

Enlightenment is being anywhere, anytime

Enlightenment is of the Mind.

In its natural state the Mind can be anywhere, anytime.

It always was and always will be.

In an instant, the Mind can travel to the Moon.

In an instant the Mind can create. The Mind has created all that we think we are.

In an instant the Mind can make us happy or sad. It depends on what we choose.

We can choose our limiting beliefs or we can accept unlimited reality?

Enlightenment requires personal effort

The intellectual debates will always be there.

One view is that knowledge and wisdom can only be acquired through learning, experiencing and time. This is based on our senses absorbing what we see, hear, feel, touch, taste and think about the external world.

Another view is that knowledge and wisdom are within us all, or can be revealed directly, or is accessible to us all, perhaps in some universal knowledge base.

Another view is that it is not 'either/or' views at all but 'both' this and that.

My view is that we should not take other views at face value, as beliefs that we may or may not agree with, but we should make the personal effort to experience for ourselves.

Only through personal effort and personal experience can we get the 'aha' factor.

Only through personal effort and experience can we 'know' what is right, as opposed to having learned something which could be right or wrong.

You might call these 'aha's' instants of enlightenment?

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