Loving Awareness

What is enlightenment?

Posted by matthew on January 16, 2008  |  7016 Commentshttp://www.loving-awareness.org/2008/01/16/what-is-enlightenment/What+is+enlightenment%3F2008-01-17+03%3A28%3A18matthew

The following was a question received from Mary which is wonderful and brings a lot of common ideas out into the open:

Question: I’ve come across the topic of enlightenment so often lately that I’d like a clear perspective on it. I find the idea confusing because it seems to be a worthy aim for the spiritually focused, yet it is said that those who say they are enlightened are not, and others say that it is better to work for personal maturity rather than enlightenment. Others say that it’s no fun being enlightened, while others say it’s pure bliss. So what is it really? How to get there, what does an enlightened life look like in our here and now life?

The concept of enlightenment, I find with some humor, is one which is filled with much non-enlightened thought: that is, thought based in separation and “ego”. Firstly, the concept is a label for an experience decidedly without labels. It is an experience of utter freedom – but whatever thought you have of what enlightenment is will always be accumulated from others. It is again, something someone else tells you is a better way.