A lot of seekers have many ideas about what enlightenment, or self-realization, is. Many envision it as some kind of blessed state where there are no more problems, and you experience a constant state of inner bliss, joy, and a profound compassion for all humankind. Others think only saints can be self-realized, and for it to happen you have to have transcended the desire realm, and be beyond sex and any personal wants or preferences.
This is why I don’t really like using the term ‘enlightenment.’ It is such a loaded word, weighed down by many far-fetched stories. I prefer to speak in terms of freedom, or self-realization. And what I teach is that the freer you are, the more you are simply present wherever you, present without any story. The freer you are, the more you know yourself as pure consciousness, expressing in this unique body, mind, and personality known as ‘you.’
You still have a story, but now you know you are not your story. You still have an ego, an ‘I,’ a ‘me,’ but now you know you are not your ego. You honor the past, keep an eye on the future, but live right here, now. You feel a tremendous gratitude for the gift of being alive, you’re always, essentially,* at peace, one with the flow of life.
Above all, you feel moved to share your good fortune with others. You see that the world needs this, before anything else.
Love and blessings,
Jim
*I say ‘essentially’ because no matter how free we are, we are still human, and subject to human flaws and foibles, like illness, mistakes, errors in judgment, and even occasional residues of old egoic patterns. Part of being free, or self-realized, is accepting and being at peace with our imperfect humanity!
I think this is a very succinct and clear description of self-realization. Basically, it is coming to the Place of Non-judgment, of a smiling Awareness of one's Uniqueness as a point of focus of Consciousness. Enlightenment I like to look at it as a feeling or state of Consciousness embued with Light. As judgment disappears, one walks much lighter on this Earth; in fact, it is a floating. Enlightenment may come and go or may become permament. It really does not matter what it does in Truth, for this enlightenment does not affect the Infinite Self.
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