What does Enlightenment feel like?

[Alceste]

"One day my mind stuttered and then froze. And suddenly the reality it had created completely shattered. I no longer knew anything, but now everything made sense."


Carla Ansantina


"I didn’t know at the time that I was “meditating”. I thought I was just sitting on the beach – alone, in silence, thoughtlessly, sometimes long enough for the tide to come in and go back out again, a few times a week for several months. Eventually, I experienced a sudden, massive reorganisation of my psychology that has endured to this day.


In the weeks that followed I was in a state of epiphany, stamping out fallacy after fallacy as my altered psychology showed me submerged darkness underlying of everything I believed to be bright. I saw that I could not chase beauty without running from ugliness; that pain is the cost of pleasure; that I could not elevate people I admire without lowering people I find distasteful. I found I could only eliminate “evil” in myself by giving up my attachment to “good” – and everything became infused with goodness. I stamped out the “ugliness” in myself by letting go of “beauty” – and everything became infused with beauty. The icing on the cake was that these were new forms of beauty and goodness, and they came packaged with their own dark opposites. After a few cycles, I began to suspect the process of releasing attachments and revealing ever more expansive forms of beauty and goodness was likely to be continuous.


At the time I was busking for a living on the streets of Vancouver. I left in the morning and stayed out all day, hammering away on my guitar and chatting with the sorts of people one meets while loitering on urban street corners. This era of listening to the stories of mad vagrants and the intoxicated graduates of Canada’s residential schools (while piqued professionals scurried by in wide semi-circles) is the first I time I experienced life with my eyes, heart and mind wide open. I had become the embodiment of divine love, truth and beauty: I felt a love which does not judge; I knew a truth which makes no claims; I found beauty in the ugliest of places."


Excerpt from a blog post .

[Morse]

Originally Posted by Nowhere Man

What does it feel like to be unenlightened? From the smallest to the greatest. Unenlighten us.

I enjoy people who ask questions as a response to questions. I like people who pose a semi-valid question while still being snide even more.

So what does it feel like to be unenlightened? My first thought would be a state of ignorance. But this means enlightenment is a state of non-ignorance. Which is impossible because ignorance will always occur in a person, as omniscience is pretty much impossible. So by this definition, enlightenment is impossible.

Of course, we could always just fly with a more Buddhist definition of enlightenment. Or a Christian (But that doesn't seem right to me, no offense) definition. I suppose before we answer either my question about enlightenment or NM's acerbic response about unenlightenment (ignorance) I suppose we should define one or the other.

[Morse]

Originally Posted by Alceste

"One day my mind stuttered and then froze. And suddenly the reality it had created completely shattered. I no longer knew anything, but now everything made sense."


Carla Ansantina


"I didn’t know at the time that I was “meditating”. I thought I was just sitting on the beach – alone, in silence, thoughtlessly, sometimes long enough for the tide to come in and go back out again, a few times a week for several months. Eventually, I experienced a sudden, massive reorganisation of my psychology that has endured to this day.


In the weeks that followed I was in a state of epiphany, stamping out fallacy after fallacy as my altered psychology showed me submerged darkness underlying of everything I believed to be bright. I saw that I could not chase beauty without running from ugliness; that pain is the cost of pleasure; that I could not elevate people I admire without lowering people I find distasteful. I found I could only eliminate “evil” in myself by giving up my attachment to “good” – and everything became infused with goodness. I stamped out the “ugliness” in myself by letting go of “beauty” – and everything became infused with beauty. The icing on the cake was that these were new forms of beauty and goodness, and they came packaged with their own dark opposites. After a few cycles, I began to suspect the process of releasing attachments and revealing ever more expansive forms of beauty and goodness was likely to be continuous.


At the time I was busking for a living on the streets of Vancouver. I left in the morning and stayed out all day, hammering away on my guitar and chatting with the sorts of people one meets while loitering on urban street corners. This era of listening to the stories of mad vagrants and the intoxicated graduates of Canada’s residential schools (while piqued professionals scurried by in wide semi-circles) is the first I time I experienced life with my eyes, heart and mind wide open. I had become the embodiment of divine love, truth and beauty: I felt a love which does not judge; I knew a truth which makes no claims; I found beauty in the ugliest of places."


Excerpt from a blog post .

Good response Alceste. Has your "enlightenment" as we'll put it persisted? If you wouldn't mind giving us a bit more than the quote, as I'm sure there is more to say

Thanks
Regards,
Morse

[zenzero]

Friend Morse,

I suppose we should define one or the other.

that surely would enlighten everyone!

Love & rgds

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by Morse

From the smallest to the greatest. Enlighten us.

Snort life.

[Alceste]

Originally Posted by Morse

Good response Alceste. Has your "enlightenment" as we'll put it persisted? If you wouldn't mind giving us a bit more than the quote, as I'm sure there is more to say

Thanks
Regards,
Morse

Actually, part of the whole shebang (mine, anyway) is that the more you say about it, the further you depart from what it is actually like. I think "enlightened" people often strive to say as much as possible in as few words as they can. (Yes, I know how badly I fail ).

A friend of mine wrote a book which should be coming out soon. I've seen a few chapters and I'd say that as far as going on and on about it is concerned, he's doing a great job. There are some excerpts here.

BTW, I should point out that I don't generally use the word "enlightened", since it opens a can of worms: there is nobody in the world who will not think your head is up your *** if you say you're "enlightened". "Peak experiences" is a less loaded term.

Edit: oh, and the psychological changes resulting from my peak experiences have all lasted. There's no turning back.

Double edit: But you do learn to fake being normal eventually.

[Sunstone]

Enlightenment feels like a champain bubble bath. Or so they say.

[stephenw]

Originally Posted by Morse

From the smallest to the greatest. Enlighten us.

I imagine it feels like this

[zenzero]

Friends,

What does Enlightenment feel like?

It is not a *FEELING*.
Yes, one can approach it by negating whatever one can *think* of; when all *thinking* STOPS. IT IS.

Love & rgds

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Morse

LSD will do that to you.

Interesting, I wasn't aware of that.