Enlightenment

[Ant0nio]

I'm just curious. What is your opinion on enlightenment?

For me, enlightenment is literally being filled with the Light of God. This may include oneness with God as well, but there are many levels of enlightenment (IMHO). But I was looking for what YOU think enlightenment is.

Full enlightenment (IMHO) includes being One with God and realizing that you and God are one, and that you are one with everything and everyone else. This state (IMHO) is the state of an enlightened master.

Also, being fully enlightened means being completely full, of automatic unconditional love.

Here is (IMHO) a beautiful quote by a famous and enlightened Indian master of the past, Sri Ramakrishna:

"Love all creatures as our own selves. Love the enemies as friends. Love the neighbor. Love God above all, and surrender everything to God."

That is complete enlightenment. God is love, so therefore to experience oneness with God, is to experience oneness with Love.

To quote a master of our age on this level of love:

"Only enlightened people are capable of such a great love, and compassion and tolerance." ( and I'm not saying I'm anywhere near this level of enlightenment. I'm eons from it lol.)


What do you think of the idea that everyone is capable of experiencing onenesss with God?

Has anyone ever heard of the concept of having an enlightened master?

 

[Sunstone]

Is enlightenment as you use the term necessarily an experience of oneness with god?

 

[McBell]

I'm just curious. What is your opinion on enlightenment?

What do you think of the idea that everyone is capable of experiencing onenesss with God?

Has anyone ever heard of the concept of having an enlightened master?

More specifically, has anyone ever heard of initiation from an enlightened master?

Define "enlightenment."
And I do not mean a dictionary definition, I mean what do YOU mean when you use the word.

 

[Ant0nio]

Is enlightenment as you use the term necessarily an experience of oneness with god?

It can be, but not necessarily.

 

[Charity]

Enlightment to me means arriving at a new level of knowledge, or deeper understanding than previous knowledge, Discovery of new information.... Being in a higher realm in your walk with God. A new revelation, (If you want the Godly viewpoint) ..................I guess I could go on all day, I'm not quite sure what you are really wanting.

 

[McBell]

Enlightment to me means arriving at a new level of knowledge, or deeper understanding than previous knowledge, Discovery of new information.... Being in a higher realm in your walk with God. A new revelation, (If you want the Godly viewpoint) ..................I guess I could go on all day, I'm not quite sure what you are really wanting.

I agree.
Though I would be sure people understood that it is NOT limited to God or anything religious or spiritual.

And I also am not sure what he asking.

 

[TurkeyOnRye]

Enlightenment is experiencing the completeness and perfection of this moment all the time. It never leaves because he/she understands that this moment is all there is.

 

[arthra]

Enlightenment for me is not being one with God but maybe understanding the will of God for me...

There is also a excerpt from the Baha'i Writings that I think applies:

Likewise in the spiritual realm of intelligence and idealism there must be a center of illumination, and that center is the everlasting, ever-shining Sun, the Word of God. Its lights are the lights of reality which have shone upon humanity, illumining the realm of thought and morals, conferring the bounties of the divine world upon man. These lights are the cause of the education of souls and the source of the enlightenment of hearts, sending forth in effulgent radiance the message of the glad-tidings of the kingdom of God

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 254)

 

[Willamena]

For me, enlightenment is literally being filled with the Light of God. This may include oneness with God as well, but there are many levels of enlightenment (IMHO). But I was looking for what YOU think enlightenment is.

Full enlightenment (IMHO) includes being One with God and realizing that you and God are one, and that you are one with everything and everyone else. This state (IMHO) is the state of an enlightened master.

Also, being fully enlightened means being completely full, of automatic unconditional love.

Here is (IMHO) a beautiful quote by a famous and enlightened Indian master of the past, Sri Ramakrishna:

"Love all creatures as our own selves. Love the enemies as friends. Love the neighbor. Love God above all, and surrender everything to God."

That is complete enlightenment. God is love, so therefore to experience oneness with God, is to experience oneness with Love.

To quote a master of our age on this level of love:

"Only enlightened people are capable of such a great love, and compassion and tolerance." ( and I'm not saying I'm anywhere near this level of enlightenment. I'm eons from it lol.)


What do you think of the idea that everyone is capable of experiencing onenesss with God?

Has anyone ever heard of the concept of having an enlightened master?

I agree strongly with your interpretation, but to recognize that that is a "nonliteral" filling with light, not a literal one (though I have, on occasion lately, had opportunity to wonder which is the image and which is the meaning carried forward in metaphor).

There is no one that is not enlightened; they have but to realize it.

 

[Alceste]

Enlightenment is experiencing the completeness and perfection of this moment all the time. It never leaves because he/she understands that this moment is all there is.

Hi, TurkeyOnRye - I agree to some extent. The first experience of completeness and perfection does permanently alter perception, but the experience itself is not permanent. The return to "ordinary" perception is inevitable, and if psychological disaster (ie. depression, schizophrenia, narcissism, etc) is to be avoided an "enlightened" person must learn through hard work and diligent practice how to integrate the insights gained from their peak experience with the unavoidable business of daily life.

 

[Sunstone]

Hi, TurkeyOnRye - I agree to some extent. The first experience of completeness and perfection does permanently alter perception, but the experience itself is not permanent. The return to "ordinary" perception is inevitable, and if psychological disaster (ie. depression, schizophrenia, narcissism, etc) is to be avoided an "enlightened" person must learn through hard work and diligent practice how to integrate the insights gained from their peak experience with the unavoidable business of daily life.

This is my understanding of the matter, too.

 

[Ant0nio]

Enlightenment for me is not being one with God but maybe understanding the will of God for me...

I always believed God's will is for us to be closer to him, or to know him.

What do you think God's will is for you?

 

[gnomon]

Does enlightenment equal disillusionment.

Except one leaves you saying "Ahh" while the other leaves you saying "Ohh".

 

[Ant0nio]

I agree strongly with your interpretation, but to recognize that that is a "nonliteral" filling with light, not a literal one (though I have, on occasion lately, had opportunity to wonder which is the image and which is the meaning carried forward in metaphor).

There is no one that is not enlightened; they have but to realize it.

I also mean literally being filled with God's Light. I've read that enlightened masters, if you could look at them astrally, are like shining stars. This is something akin to the transfiguration of Jesus.

And your last statement I agree with , but how does one realize such a thing?

 

[Willamena]

but how does one realize such a thing?

According to some, zazen.

 

[Rolling_Stone]

Three words so overused and abused they have lost their meaning: love, spirit, and enlightenment.

 

[Ant0nio]

According to some, zazen.

And according to you?

 

[Willamena]

Does enlightenment equal disillusionment.

Except one leaves you saying "Ahh" while the other leaves you saying "Ohh".

Or "Ommm".

 

[Willamena]

And according to you?

I haven't yet tried zazen.

 

[Ant0nio]

Three words so overused and abused they have lost their meaning: love, spirit, and enlightenment.

You see the glass as half empty I take it? Just kidding

But love never loses it's meaning, neither does spirit or enlightenment. We just see it differently depending on what level of experience we are at.

That's like saying time goes too fast when you are having fun. Or time goes to slow when you are bored. Time always goes at the same speed, but our perception of it may change based on our condition.

Love will always be love, but how we percieve it is based on our level.

What do these things mean to you?