Can a mentally retarded person be enlighten ?

[joea]

This is something I've always thought about, when coming into contact with the mentally handicapped people....I've often feel for them in a sense, here they are, and because of their unfortunate situation, they are unable to help themselves and become enlighten.. but I may be wrong, your thoughts please.

 

[Jeremiah]

What's so great about enlightenment?

 

[joea]

What's so great about enlightenment?

Then why the word enlightenment?

 

[luvuyesua]

I think that many are already advanced in enlightenment, for love to the fellowman with no conditions, pure.

 

[joea]

I think that many are already advanced in enlightenment, for love to the fellowman with no conditions, pure.

yes I thought along those lines too, the fact that they are pure and innocence still..even though their minds are not functioning to the way we know, but not corrupted.

 

[mitchellmckain]

If enlightenment is something that one achieves by ones own power and intellegence, as in the Western intellectual tradition, then perhaps not. In the Buddhist traditions in general this is less clear, but in Zen Buddhism this is clearly not the case, for in that tradition thought itself is a trap that holds one in the delusions of samsara. But Zen Buddism does derive from the basic ideas of Buddhism in the Pali canon which sees the belief in an individual self as one of the fetters that must be escaped from to reach enlightenment.

If Christian thought were to find any common ground here it would be that salvation does not come by ones own effort but rather by a letting go found in delivering oneself into the hands of God. I think both Buddhist and Christian traditions will see human desires as a trap and delusion of sorts, and much of what the Bhuddist calls samara, Christianity would call fleshly -- an attachment to the physical aspects of life. So the Bible says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So I think that there is much reason in both traditions to suspect that both the handicapped and the child both would find it more easy to let go of the delusions of this world and to accept being embraced by the divine. Perhaps it is the insistence on achievement and being in control that that ties us to samsara and the flesh more than anything.

Yet I personally cannot embrace a philosophy that is antagonistic to creative achievement. As a scientist I see the nature of life itself as being all about creative achievement, and as a Christian I see in creative acheivement as part of the image of God within us. There is in the work of the artist (of every kind) an abandonment of self in a devotion to the creative act. So I guess that even for the artist, there is the question of whether it is about the art or about the artist. If the artist wields his talent as a means of self-aggrandizement then I suggest that he has become like the unconscious plasma of the sun and water vapor in atmosphere that helplessly creates visions of beauty that can transport others to an awareness of the divine even if it is not capable of doing so themselves. And some of those so transported, may be the child or the handicapped who in their inability is transported out of delusion by this art even as the ability of that sort of artist becomes just one of the bars of the prison that traps him within it, because of the way he uses it.

 

[Misty]

My adopted son has Down's Syndrome, he is quite severely mentally disabled (the term 'mentally handicapped/retarded' is non PC in the UK) He is as happy as the day is long, so why does he need enlightenment?

 

[joea]

My adopted son has Down's Syndrome, he is quite severely mentally disabled (the term 'mentally handicapped/retarded' is non PC in the UK) He is as happy as the day is long, so why does he need enlightenment?

Misty, I also have a partner who suffers from mental illness from time to time. Although out of love and compassion that has sustained our relationship for so long, there are times when I feel she's not experiencing the spiritual growth that I'm having due to her mental disability...it never makes me feel good because I want the same realization for us both. If enlightenment is accidental, then good, but don't get me wrong, I don't strive for enlightenment..

 

[Misty]

Misty, I also have a partner who suffers from mental illness from time to time. Although out of love and compassion that has sustained our relationship for so long, there are times when I feel she's not experiencing the spiritual growth that I'm having due to her mental disability...it never makes me feel good because I want the same realization for us both. If enlightenment is accidental, then good, but don't get me wrong, I don't strive for enlightenment..

Mental illness and mental disability are very different. My son was born with Down's Syndrome presumably your partner's mental illness didn't develop until later in life?

My son is severely disabled by his condition, but as I say he is very happy and it is a case of what he has never had where enlightenment is concerned he doesn't miss. I don't think I am enlightened either, but it doesn't bother me.

 

[joea]

Mental illness and mental disability are very different. My son was born with Down's Syndrome presumably your partner's mental illness didn't develop until later in life?

She is diagnosed as intellectually handicapped.. I'm the 'husband and wife all in one..you name it, I get pretty tired at times taking care for the both of us...but I do it because I like it.

 

[Misty]

She is diagnosed as intellectually handicapped.. I'm the 'husband and wife all in one..you name it, I get pretty tired at times taking care for the both of us...but I do it because I like it.

I know how you feel. My husband is brain damaged after an aneurysm burst in his brain in 2006. He was hyper-intelligent but now I have to do some of his thinking for him, which he really hates as I was far from his intellectual equal! I am finding it hard to cope with both my husband and son, so my son will have to be placed in a caring community soon.

 

[it's_sam]

This is something I've always thought about, when coming into contact with the mentally handicapped people....I've often feel for them in a sense, here they are, and because of their unfortunate situation, they are unable to help themselves and become enlighten.. but I may be wrong, your thoughts please.

I have actualy spent alot of time with people of many various handi-caps. For instance someone with downs syndrome can develop a full personality but in the realm of not being able to outgrow their mental limits. Downs syndrome attacks the body in a way it will not mature past a certain point while other parts continue. The majority I have spent time with were more often then not nothing but jokesters and hillarious at that. I see in them an eternal child they will never outgrow, I almost envy that. We are forced to challenge our thoughts, the people around us, our stance in life. They may be missing alot but they have gained MUCH. I have ADHD and dyslexia and both were excrutiating to get through my childhood with. I never took medication for the ADHD and I constantly would read to help my dyslexia. The problem with ADHD is your mind is trying to process everything at once rather then just a few things you are focusing on. Getting rid of the distraction part of this would leave concentration but only in a single focus. The mind is perty much trying to multitask everything and all at once wich will leave you with a bunch of unfinished projects. Gaining control of this without medication has left my brain able to have a few focuses running at a time with little to no physical handi-cap. Gaining control of my dyslexia has allowed me to teach my brain to not trust what it first see's and I can look at things from more then one perspective easily. Saying people have a handi-cap is an attempt at producing normality but nothing in this life is normal or balanced, you don't however have to walk in that line if you have a real shot at control.

 

[Cypress]

Yes, I think that's possible.
Bhakti is the solution.
Bhakti is devotion to God, you need no intelectual capacity for devotion.

 

[logician]

This is something I've always thought about, when coming into contact with the mentally handicapped people....I've often feel for them in a sense, here they are, and because of their unfortunate situation, they are unable to help themselves and become enlighten.. but I may be wrong, your thoughts please.

Just for your own enlightenment, "retarded" is not PC when dealing with the mentally challenged. My wife teaches special ed.

 

[joea]

Just for your own enlightenment, "retarded" is not PC when dealing with the mentally challenged. My wife teaches special ed.

Great..no problem.

 

[Jeremiah]

Then why the word enlightenment?

What?

 

[waitasec]

This is something I've always thought about, when coming into contact with the mentally handicapped people....I've often feel for them in a sense, here they are, and because of their unfortunate situation, they are unable to help themselves and become enlighten.. but I may be wrong, your thoughts please.

who says they are not enlightened
they are pure...wonderful people
they have an extra chromosome and can see things in a way i can only hope to...

 

[Misty]

My son finds joy and happiness in the smallest pleasures. He doesn't appear to have any angst or worries. Some days I would swap places with him.

 

[joea]

who says they are not enlightened
they are pure...wonderful people
they have an extra chromosome and can see things in a way i can only hope to...

Yes I agree..

 

[URAVIP2ME]

This is something I've always thought about, when coming into contact with the mentally handicapped people....I've often feel for them in a sense, here they are, and because of their unfortunate situation, they are unable to help themselves and become enlighten.. but I may be wrong, your thoughts please.

In a group home setting I have observed different degrees of spirituality.
Some want nothing to do with the hearing of Scripture, while others very much want to be read Scripture. I recall one person out of the group daily wanted to copy Bible words even though other things could be copied.

One friend with a grown DS daughter not only loves the sound of Scriptures since childhood, she, of her own free will, still shows other DS friends the joy she derives from Scriptures.