Enlightenment is Not Just for Monks and Yogis!

When we think about enlightenment, we often associate it with some sort of super human or other worldly achievement. While this is understandable, it is also misleading and hides from us its practical relevance and fundamental importance in our lives. Awakening is in fact a universal experience that can be found in all of the great religious and spiritual traditions and is not restricted to monks or yogis meditating in a remote forest sanctuary or mountain temple.

Because elements of enlightenment can be found in many traditions, there are likewise many names out there that can be used in its place. These include the following:

• Buddha nature

• Finding or seeing God

• Illumination

• See into our true nature

• Opening our mind’s eye or third eye

• Mysticism

• Awakening

Insight vs. Enlightenment

Experiences of sudden insight can happen outside of spiritual or religious training, but true enlightenment almost always requires ongoing and purposeful practice and discipline. Sudden insights can come to people totally unintentionally and when they least expect it. Sometimes this is due to severe disruptions in life or to one’s sense of your sense of who he or she is. For example, both positive and negative life experiences such as the following have the potential to inspire varying degrees of insight in us:

• The death of a loved one

• The onset of a life-threatening disease

• A sudden feeling of deep mystery and awe with the universe

• Contemplation of suicide or sever depression

• Thinking about one’s death or mortality

• The birth of a child

• Seeing into the impermanence and beauty of the natural world

A more intense and fundamental kind of experience can happen when one’s desire to experience enlightenment and solve unanswered questions leads to a dedicated meditation practice. Often people will describe a “dropping away” of some aspect of who they thought they were and are left with a feeling of oneness or unity with all things.

In many cases, these types of experiences will lead to an intense questioning and desire to further explore what they have experienced, as well as great sense of gratitude at having achieved some level of understanding.

Enlightenment and Religion

If we look at the very roots of religious and spiritual practices we can see that in essence they are structured in some way around the awakening experience. Many religious traditions provide practitioners with methods to enlarge or expandupon their awareness of themselves, and to celebrate and express gratitude for there. Sitting meditation is arguably the most direct, common and widely accepted among methods that also include chanting, studying, singing, contemplating, and many, many others.

The problem at this time is that the awakening experience is not the primary focus of many religious practices, which seem to be narrowly focused on dogma, ceremonies, services, and narrow interpretations of texts and scriptures.

This helps explain the decline of religion in today’s world and the many common misperceptions that surround it. People just don’t see how it applies to their lives anymore, and strictly saying that one belief is the only true belief simply doesn’t wash in a modern, multicultural global village.

A New Consciousness

We should be excited about the opportunities that arise in modern society! It is true that many spiritual traditions from the past are misunderstood and that consumerism and the quest for material wealth have replaced many meaningful pursuits in life. But this is also true that this is a time of great openness to new ideas, interpretations and practices that can bring about positive and fundamental change!

In the pages that follow, we will further explore the idea of awakening as it has been reflected in ancient teachings as well as modern enlightenment accounts.

…Until that time, meditation practice requires faith in ourselves and in the fact that there are higher states of consciousness to which we can all aspire. One of the ways to learn more about these higher states of consciousness might be to have a look at The Many Faces of God.

The You-Can-Meditate.com Store is a great source for books on Zen, Insight, Tibetan and other forms of meditation, as well as meditation supplies such as cushions, MP3 downloads, audiobooks and much more. Click here to explore these resources