I want to begin this article by challenging myself to see where I go with this question, to work with this question with my intellectual mind first, then allow a process to unfold and myself to go with this process.
I have come back to the beginning of this article to add this paragraph, now that I have come to an end point with it at this time. In giving myself the time to question my perceptions and belief systems to this point in my life, it took me on another step of my journey towards enlightenment. I have been on a questing! It allowed me to see my understandings, uncover assumptions i had, and really challenge myself to let go of old ideas I had about enlightenment, to make way to what was emerging in the process!
I began by asking myself the following questions
1. Is enlightenment the removal of ingrained beliefs and perceptions which have been created by the will and belief structures of another individuals or 'groups' will and manipulations?
2. An instantaneous breakthrough to levels of perception previously veiled from ‘view’?
3. A process of unfolding information, experiences & the integration of these enabling a new level of awareness, understanding & actions through the development of personal will with emotional intelligence? The hero’s journey! This process looks like this:
a) A sense of uneasiness & confusion – finding oneself lost in belief systems that until that moment had sustained our interactions with the world
b) Questioning, (questing) - where these ingrained ‘tribal’ systems have come from, separating from the ‘tribal systems’ that have been taken on as our own values to see if they fit or no longer fit.
c) Exploring and experiencing new information/skills, developing ones own belief system with limited emotional security, and courageously trusting in ones own values, ethics and morals.
d) Application of these new skills and information, the experience of alternative outcomes.
Lets see where trying to explore these questions will take me!
Enlightenment from my limited experience and understanding contains the whole of who we are, it is an experience that includes the intellectual mind, the emotional aspect of our being and the spiritual nature of the who we are and the physical body. A process of refinement of who we are through a journey, from a follower without question to way shower (wise person/sage archetype) with integrity, compassion and fearlessness!
As a subject that has been studied, pondered, debated and explored from many angles for thousands of years I here, am going to try to keep it as simple, yet as expansive as my experience will allow me. My personal experience of my ‘hero’s journey’ of enlightenment began the moment I began to re-awaken! This moment was my journey of a thousand miles beginning with the first step, I questioned! Enlightenment can only BE once the questioning begins.
Enlightenment is a life long process that yanks us from the deep sleep of ignorance into the waking state of allowing our true state of Oneness to be present, this can happen in a leap or may take the form of crossing the chasm between the points of ego experience and Wholeness. It is the paradoxical journey of refinement, a process of alchemy, transforming the mind, the body, the spirit from lead to gold, whilst also not being a journey because this is our true nature that has become hidden through our attachments to our personal self!
We are collectively living through an historical time when this awakening process can be seen all around us, the cracking through the darkness into the light can be felt psychically all around us, the earth is screaming with the pains of this birthing process, as are we, humanity is crying in pain as we transcend from the womb of gestation! The birthing contractions are strong, and we are still pretty much in the darkness of the uterus, but many can see the point of light. At this time it may look dark and bleak, but before the breaking of a new dawn a destruction of the old is a necessary step and this step is where individually the fear can halt us. Fear of change, resistance, avoidance are all relevant and necessary aspects of unfolding, without these stages we wouldnt know things are transforming into new states of being.
The process of enlightenment can be seen symbolically in the cycles of nature. The period of darkness –winter, of questioning – spring, the time to see the seeds planted from our autumn time to emerge, burst through, at this time we can see the product of our choices from who and where we were previously, do we like what we see emerging, do we even notice what it is?
Maybe these are the ‘flowers’ of our choices made through the will of others? Here if we are questioning these, we have the choice to pull these up and prepare the soil for planting what we wish to see grow! On the other hand if we have already had a season of pulling up the weeds and preparing the soil then maybe what we are seeing now push through the earth are the shoots of the choices we made in our previous Autumn. Then comes Summer – now this is the time for fullness of these choices for them to grow into all they can become, in this season. They reach their zenith, become their fullest possibility of evolution at this moment. The next phase is the phase that we as unfolding beings find the hardest – the time to let the nature of that self quieten, to die back and return to the earth. Mother nature does not fear this dying off, she trusts without question the return of this aspect of herself, the return next season, fuller, stronger & more of its fullest potential!
So I feel enlightenment is being in awareness of the nature of transformation from one state of being to another with a trust so unquestionable, the existence of question is no longer perceived. If anyone has anything they would like to explore, discuss contribute to any of the subject on this site I would love to hear from you. Email me through 'Contacts'. Do you have any articles you think need a forum? Would you like to put something relevant on this site?