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enlightenment?
- Thread starter Eddi
- Start date
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Enlightenment is Buddha's little joke.
Alien826
No religious beliefs
I'll try to answer from a Buddhist perspective, and simplify a bit. The four Noble Truths of Buddhism are ...
1. Suffering. Our life on Earth consists of suffering.
2. The cause of suffering. Attachment to the things that make us miserable.
3. The cessation of suffering. There is a way out!
4. The way out. The eightfold path as set out by the Buddha.
I'll try to make it relate to our lives. We suffer because we react inappropriately to certain things. We want things we can't get, for example. Fear is also an attachment. The answer is to realize how transitory and unimportant these things are, and detach ourselves from them, or more precisely from our emotional attachment to them. What do we get from that? I have experienced a small taste of it, and I would say the most amazing sense of peace. Imagine a mental state where you never worried about anything for a partial example.
To add a religious element, we are (supposedly) stuck in a endless cycle of rebirth, where we get drawn back into the world over and over, because of our attachment to it. Ultimately, the goal is to end that cycle and not be reborn again.
1. Suffering. Our life on Earth consists of suffering.
2. The cause of suffering. Attachment to the things that make us miserable.
3. The cessation of suffering. There is a way out!
4. The way out. The eightfold path as set out by the Buddha.
I'll try to make it relate to our lives. We suffer because we react inappropriately to certain things. We want things we can't get, for example. Fear is also an attachment. The answer is to realize how transitory and unimportant these things are, and detach ourselves from them, or more precisely from our emotional attachment to them. What do we get from that? I have experienced a small taste of it, and I would say the most amazing sense of peace. Imagine a mental state where you never worried about anything for a partial example.
To add a religious element, we are (supposedly) stuck in a endless cycle of rebirth, where we get drawn back into the world over and over, because of our attachment to it. Ultimately, the goal is to end that cycle and not be reborn again.
I didn't read it as that either.But he cannot lie.
As a side note, this is why you can always trust someone who likes big butts.
In my opinion
Enlightenment is Knowledge of Truth.
An unbiased search for the truth to the knowledge you want to know.
No one needs to be enlightened. The only thing good about it, is the feeling of success. The journey is actually the most important part, all the knowledge you learn along the way and how it changes you. For me I feel I am better for doing it.
Acquiring knowledge (figuratively "seeing the light"), particularly about how the world works and what brings the most lasting satisfaction, the latter being the subset of knowledge called wisdom.
By learning.
To maximize his chances of finding lasting satisfaction.
Ignorance, but you might like this synonym for it: Benightment - "the state of being in physical, moral, or intellectual darkness."
The application of valid reason to the evidence of the senses and to the intuitions of the conscience. Over time, one tweaks his beliefs and methods according to how well they achieve their desired effect.
Spice
StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
Enlightenment, IMO, are those Ah-ha moments where a spiritual thought or question becomes clear. I don't believe it's a one-and-done phenomena, but as others have said, a journey of collecting, revising, and growing to final enlightenment as the Christ possessed for final resurrection.
A series of *doh* moments
By overcoming ignorance through soul-searching, becoming aware of what is actually in your unconscious mind.
You begin to think consciously instead of defaulting to unconscious habits, programming, and presuppositions, and this empowers you to change that programming.
What is enlightenment?
Process, not product. Put another way, it is when one understands the journey is the destination.
And how might a person become enlightened?
By not seeking it in the first place. Process, not product. That said, the remaining mystery schools/religions out there will have you on the path. And they may or may not use words like "enlightenment" at any point. You'll just be walking the path and then go "oh." It is an experience, a process, not a product or destination.
And why should a person want to become enlightened? What's so good about it?
Personally, I didn't; that wasn't why I joined the Order. I joined the Order because it felt like it was time. Sure, there were some more technical reasons, but fundamentally? It was just time. It was time to be a proper Druid and really commit to something. So I did, and I walked on a journey without really understanding where it was going or that it was a mystery school or what the Awen really was either. But that became apparent during the journey. And I started going "oh" a lot. When you're on the journey, the "oh" doesn't stop, in my experience. Sometimes it is an "Oh!" or an "oh?" or "oh..." but lots of "oh" on the path.
As for it being good? I dunno. I've been deeply religious for a very long time. Before walking that path. It's less that it's good than... just... who I am? Helps one be in keeping with who and what one is? But it is not the who and what one is for everyone, oh, no, no. Others have different callings. And they should follow those. Go with that flow. Be what you are. When you find that current? I suppose "good" is a word to put to it.
Process, not product. Put another way, it is when one understands the journey is the destination.
And how might a person become enlightened?
By not seeking it in the first place. Process, not product. That said, the remaining mystery schools/religions out there will have you on the path. And they may or may not use words like "enlightenment" at any point. You'll just be walking the path and then go "oh." It is an experience, a process, not a product or destination.
And why should a person want to become enlightened? What's so good about it?
Personally, I didn't; that wasn't why I joined the Order. I joined the Order because it felt like it was time. Sure, there were some more technical reasons, but fundamentally? It was just time. It was time to be a proper Druid and really commit to something. So I did, and I walked on a journey without really understanding where it was going or that it was a mystery school or what the Awen really was either. But that became apparent during the journey. And I started going "oh" a lot. When you're on the journey, the "oh" doesn't stop, in my experience. Sometimes it is an "Oh!" or an "oh?" or "oh..." but lots of "oh" on the path.
As for it being good? I dunno. I've been deeply religious for a very long time. Before walking that path. It's less that it's good than... just... who I am? Helps one be in keeping with who and what one is? But it is not the who and what one is for everyone, oh, no, no. Others have different callings. And they should follow those. Go with that flow. Be what you are. When you find that current? I suppose "good" is a word to put to it.
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
Nice questions, nice answers. Appreciate.
One learns, not just from the books.
Someone said 'Satisfaction', 'no more questions to be asked'. It is a big relief, sets one free.
You still are enlightened that this way was not correct.
Clear understanding.
One learns, not just from the books.
Someone said 'Satisfaction', 'no more questions to be asked'. It is a big relief, sets one free.
I do not think it is a long journey. It is one-and-done thing. It is our prejudices which stop us from being enlightened.
Heyo
Veteran Member
Has been answered by smarter people than I am: What Is Enlightenment? - Wikipedia
