• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Poll: Are you enlightened?

Are you enlightened?


  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .

Heyo

Veteran Member
Okay, but that is hard, because in effect only a few humans will be able to do that. But what is the point of that other than some had an original idea.
The point is to be free, a free thinker. Not in a self imposed dependency on the ideas of others.
That idea was revolutionary at the time. All education, all philosophy rested on the learning of what was already there. Right was the one who could best cite previous sources.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
The point is to be free, a free thinker. Not in a self imposed dependency on the ideas of others.
That idea was revolutionary at the time. All education, all philosophy rested on the learning of what was already there. Right was the one who could best cite previous sources.

Okay, you made the claim. So you have to show that all knowledge, education and so on had remained the same until Kant.
I understand it differently as I recall the history of how ideas came about.

But anyway, you are now a free thinker. So what?
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
I answered "yes", but it seems the semantics are important to the question. If you view enlightenment as a binary, yes/no, then no way do I think I'm in Buddha's category :)

OTOH, if you view enlightenment as being true to varying degrees on the journey, then I'd say "yes".

For me, years of meditation practice and the study and reflection on some philosophical ideas have helped me make progress towards enlightenment. :)
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I consider myself fairly enlightened, in a social and political sense. But no doubt it also has a more technical religious meaning, on which I'm not qualified to comment.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Okay, you made the claim. So you have to show that all knowledge, education and so on had remained the same until Kant.
That is obviously false. Someone must have had those ideas originally. What was new, was that people now were encouraged to think for themselves instead of relying on previous thinkers.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
That is obviously false. Someone must have had those ideas originally. What was new, was that people now were encouraged to think for themselves instead of relying on previous thinkers.

Oh, academic freedom and all that. Okay, that makes sense.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't typically use the term "enlightened" and have at times recoiled at the phrase. But, having gone through a mystery tradition, I have a better understanding of it than I once did. In accordance with that tradition, yeah, I've walked the path to what could be called "enlightenment."

However, reaching this destination is only another beginning. It is not some final stop on the roadway, it is not a you beat the game ending screen, it is not the credit reel at the end of a movie or the curtain call following a theatrical play. It's more of a gateway or a door to something else.

The real work continues.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
1463386511-quote-enlightenment-is-man-s-emergence-from-his-self-imposed-nonage-nonage-is-the-inability-to-use-one-s-immanuel-kant-345626.jpg

It seems we have two definitions. The Buddhist/Eastern one and the European Age of Enlightenment which was something different.
 

Exaltist Ethan

Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
The epiphany I had at age 14 that completely changed the way I saw and understood God, effectively developing my initial conversion to syntheism, is how I as an individual became enlightened. I'm now 33 and have been enlightened for 19 years. And I've developed an even keener sense of that faith since.

The only way that could change is if I had a major crisis of faith moment which I decided to believe in a different concept of God, and I would be forced to study what is currently an alien religion or theology to myself. So, @Eddi , if I were a Christian I would be in a very similar situation as yourself, but I have decided to embrace my ideas and not abandon my identity because I was friends with a pastor. No offense.

I hope that pastor can help you become the enlightened individual you wish to become. :)
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Yeah, that is one version.
Yes, it's the one related to the European movement and period. It's the one I have a clear definition for and understanding of. Unfortunately English is lacking a word here also so that "enlightenment" is doubly used. In German "Aufklärung" is exactly that what Kant defined. "Erleuchtung" is the word for the religious meaning. The English speaking world is clearly handicapped by it's language to do philosophy.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
Yes, it's the one related to the European movement and period. It's the one I have a clear definition for and understanding of. Unfortunately English is lacking a word here also so that "enlightenment" is doubly used. In German "Aufklärung" is exactly that what Kant defined. "Erleuchtung" is the word for the religious meaning. The English speaking world is clearly handicapped by it's language to do philosophy.

Well, there is also authentic in existentialism and you could also debate wise.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
It seems we have two definitions. The Buddhist/Eastern one and the European Age of Enlightenment which was something different.
I don't think it is a Buddhist/Eastern one. That what we call "Erleuchtung" is a religious term that was also used in Western religions. Prophets, saints and religion founders were said to have been "erleuchtet".
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
I don't think it is a Buddhist/Eastern one. That what we call "Erleuchtung" is a religious term that was also used in Western religions. Prophets, saints and religion founders were said to have been "erleuchtet".

I still think there is a difference, but I hope one of our Buddhist/Eastern ones can enlighten us. :D
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
No, that is why we have replication in science and why you always check the books for further insight.
To do what Kant suggest is to run wild in one's own thoughts. Always check your thinking against other people's thinking and understanding.

I think it is more like if you are a Buddhist, getting to the point were you no longer need Buddhism or Buddha to formulate your thinking.
Freeing yourself from an attachment to Buddhism, or an attachment to philosophy or science.
Freeing your mind from the ideology of others.
Freeing yourself from the artificial boundary imposed by a philosophy or ideology.
You ought to like this, "Letting go of the reliance on science".

There maybe other ways to go about thinking.
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
I have my own definition of enlightenment because I didn't find other definitions worth pursuing.

It's one thing to know enlightenment and another to achieve enlightenment.

Enlightenment to me is love of virtues and love of others according to what they deserve in reference to who they are in virtues. Enlightenment is relationships in virtues at a high level. Since giving as deserved according to love is my highest virtue that would be the highest level of enlightenment.

I know it, but I don't consider myself to have attained it yet.

Obstacles to enlightenment are the animal nature, the natural world, death, arrogance, lack of love, hatred, etc.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
I think it is more like if you are a Buddhist, getting to the point were you no longer need Buddhism or Buddha to formulate your thinking.
Freeing yourself from an attachment to Buddhism, or an attachment to philosophy or science.
Freeing your mind from the ideology of others.
Freeing yourself from the artificial boundary imposed by a philosophy or ideology.
You ought to like this, "Letting go of the reliance on science".

There maybe other ways to go about thinking.

Well, that is not the same but it reminds me of authentic in existentialism.
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
Btw.: there is a Latin word that is also used in English which describes "Erleuchtung": epiphany.

Well, for the latin one, I know that one for struggling to understand something and then it is all of sudden clear.

For example for the problem of over-reduction, the 3 classical laws of logic and how they relate, it took me some time.
 
Top