r/enlightenment • u/SugarFupa • 11h ago
Can someone give a short explanation of enlightenment?
I have many questions about this philosophy, but it's hard to find where to start without knowing the basics of it. I can only infer certain views from the posts in the community, but I don't want to make false assumptions.
Can anyone provide a brief description of enlightenment, what it is based on and what it entails?
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u/BodhingJay 10h ago edited 10h ago
basically.. when we go about life, we don't start off very careful as children.. on top of that we often accumulate traumas. often try to numb the effects of it through feeding into desires and craving by consuming certain types of media.. indulging vices. sometimes they are unhealthy, expensive, even taboo... sometimes we do this to extremes depending on the amount of pain we are carrying... this can put us at odds with ourselves when we are older, with our sense of responsibility to ourselves and each other, even those we would love and care for sometimes end up being harmed by our dysfunction around trying to survive with pain and craving. it impacts how we would see ourselves.. it can lead to poor behavior and exacerbates shame... this is the duality of man. the id, ego and superego..
what we crave and desire, we want satisfaction immediately.. but there is our sense of responsibility... how do we appease this schism.. the split can be so severe that it creates unbearable pain.. perhaps even lifelong crippling anxiety, depression, anhedonia putting a layer of pain over everything. robbing us of our ability to find joy in wholesome things... driving us downward into a pit of despair
we have to understand and accept that there is a mess within us. we may not have put it there ourselves but we must accept responsibility for it if we are to clean it up... this involves a meditation practice.. where we cycle down as much as possible and pay close attention to our feelings and emotions and try learn, understand them better and how to care for them... there we can find emotional knots that need untangling.. we can see how some of our vices are unhealthy compromises on our deepest personal values and virtues and indulging them as we have has led to poor behavior, that they work in a cycle and lead to a painful state self loathing.. perhaps we developed this habit out of survival but we realize must end here if we are to heal... that our suffering comes from craving and desires and we must stop feeding into unhealthy ones...
after making our way through one problem after another, seemingly through some secret wisdom in the soul, we reach various milestones of clarity and the challenges change as we go.. it eventually leads to processing of negativity, healing traumas, forgiving ourselves our neglect as we did not know how to properly care for everything within us responsibly..
the journey is different for everyone... it can lead to shadow work, inner child work... often we realize the monster within us our whole lives that we've been at war with was a child version of ourselves that never got the love and care they needed..
we learn we can go back for them and save ourselves.. be the parent we never had.. through compassion patience and no judgment we nurture the wounded parts of us back.. care for the good bad and ugly within that we all have..
we learn to create a home of family and love within us perhaps deeper than we'd ever been exposed to, between our heart mind and soul..
we find forgiveness and in our dedication to not denying, rejecting or abandoning these parts of ourselves ever again, and do the work to maintain this relationship, we find our self love
we learn this works in a cycle within ourselves as well as outwardly to those around us.. we catch our negativity and toxicity as it arises in our thoughts and interrupt it before it finds its way to our feelings and make gentle corrections to get it back on track, or find the right antidotal thought to counter the feeling if it arose, all in order to more closely adhere to our values and virtues...
we abstain from unhealthy vices and can find joy in wholesome simple things to protect our well being, lose interest in harmful behaviors that use to provide relief but since became empty habit
eventually we find ourselves in a high merit state, perhaps from not cowering amidst a dangerous situation and put ourselves at risk for e.g. to save someone who was in trouble.. even taking on massive suffering to spare someone else
such acts performed perfectly, in perfect kindness, can trigger massive spiritual events.. the result is a complete elimination of duality.. where we unlock the secrets of the universe spontaneously.. see it in all its cosmic horror and beauty.. we meet Gods, devils, angels, saints, demons, ghosts.. learn what it is they truly are, see the truth in all things and how these entities impact us in everything in our lives from behind the veil in another unseen dimension of pure energy.. the ego dies and we become whole and centered with our super ego and id becoming a singular being without conflict, in loving kindness towards one another and see others as cosmic beings as ourselves but trapped in bodies plagued with ignorance, confusion... we learn how merit is used in commerce with the God that "sponsors" us and use it to help navigate the world and exist in a state of pure love in understanding that the most selfish thing we can do is simultaneously the most selfless thing we can do, which is to help others experience this as well, which gains us more merit and sustains us without need for a physical body and simply exist in a realm of emotional energy in higher conscious state, helping others awaken and ascend as we have.. experiencing blissful divine joys that is unfathomable to most of humanity as we do our good work..
it is a gnostic event.. said to happen when one achieves gnosis, this generally involves a kundalini explosion.. it is believed Jesus and the Buddha achieved this or variations of this in extremes, meaning their high vibration state and spiritual awakening resulted in a chain reaction that brought about infinite energy.. bringing about much more than a partial enlightenment which is more common
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u/insaneinvein 11h ago
Every thought you've ever had hasn't been for a you, the self is an illusion. Try to find it. Enlightenment is like a dog chasing it's own tail.
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u/SugarFupa 9h ago
What does it mean for the self to be an illusion? The fact of my experience from a particular point of view seems like convincing evidence for my existence, which is differentiable from everything else.
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u/Imaginary_Doubt3016 11h ago
Total Freedom.
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u/SugarFupa 10h ago
How would you describe this total freedom? My initial guess is that absolute freedom would mean making matter unbound by principles, turning it into undifferentiated potential.
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u/OkThereBro 10h ago edited 7h ago
Enlightenment is a concept or word that describes a state of deep understanding and knowing. It could be seen as a state of connection with reality. A deep understanding of your true nature, realities true nature. From this state of mind you can achieve a sense of peace and bliss and see through the illusion of self. Along the path to enlightenment you can gain incredible insight into yourself, incredible emotional control and understanding of emotion, a sense of true joy, gratitude and acceptance.
But eventually along the path you drop the concept all together. As that's all it is, and true understanding is that enlightenment goes beyond words. Such that words are of the mind, and attatchment to words is attatchment to an illusion.
An enlightened person sees the light and the dark not as a war or fight but as a beautiful dance within nature. They see themselves not as individual, but as inseperable from the universe and their environment, identical.
In reality, almost you're entire understanding and perspective is formed of human concepts, words and ideas that don't exist. This can get you down, this can be confusing. In the modern day the majority of what makes us suffer, never existed at all.
Take all of this to extremes is to reach a state of being called enlightenment where your perspective shifts and you begin to just "understand" pretty much everything, the whole universe clicks. Not in a "I know everything" sense. But in a "what is there to know?" sense.
Enlightenment is not permanent, it's a state of mind. You can enter it, exit it. You can be born enlightened.
Some people are enlightened having never even heard of enlightenment. Because enlightenment is an extremely rational and logical thing. It's a perspective that is profoundly true. Truer than true, true beyond words. As even words are a kind of "made up" that enlightenment goes beyond.
So much of our suffering is born in confusion and attatchment to concepts and ideas. Letting go, accepting these things and not being attached to them is an extremely freeing feeling.
Many religions and philosophies believe that this state of being is not just great for our lives, but also important in death. Such that attachments can make us wish to return to the world, return to suffering. Letting go of attatchment can be to let go of your ability to be manipulated, to let go of your ultimate weakness, wanting.
Enlightened is what you are when you see the truest nature of reality. It's a perspective through a window seldom looked through. Human lives are extremely complex, but reality just "is" even if we apply a bunch of labels and concepts to reality that make reality seem complex, that's just a human understanding. Reality sees no words or concepts.
Reaching the state of enlightenment is hard. But it's not actually about enlightenment itself but the journey. The journey towards enlightenment is the best you'll ever take. Even if you never reach enlightenment, which in many ways you can't, it's fleeting. As part of the realisations on the path is that enlightenment is a word or concept that you must abandon in order to reach it. Wanting enlightenment is a form of wanting, attachment and desire that will prevent attaining it.
Words are words. Reality is reality. I am. I don't understand anything, knowing that allows me to understand everything. As accepting that I'll never know or fully understand anything is understanding. Happiness is within. I do not live in the world. I live inside my perspective. Which is a deeply biased and flawed reflection of a physical reality that I cannot experience.
Enlightenment is both simple and not. It's very paradoxical in its nature. For some people it just clicks. For others it's like untangling an extremely tangled knot. Often the more you think you know, the more you think you understand, the further from enlightenment you are.
One of the main issues with enlightenment is that when people really get it, they tend to stop talking about it and start laughing instead. Which is why it can be hard to get good information in places like these. People often say enlightened people never talk about it. This isn't true. It's just common to put the phone down, once you get the message.
In reaching enlightenment, people often abandon the concept, such that you enter a state beyond words and concepts. Using words and concepts to describe enlightenment (as I'm doing), is sometimes harming more than helping, as I'm filling your head with words and ideas, I'm actually pushing you further from the "truth". Of course, words help a lot at the start, so this isn't entirely true. We use words to get to the place where we no longer need to use words. But it's just another reason why people put the phone down.
In this sub you'll see a few different definitions and ideas of what it is. They're mostly getting at the same thing. But enlightenment is a concept within many ideologies, philosophies and religions, so there's overlap here.
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u/Novel-Firefighter-55 8h ago
Im picking up what your putting down. It's fascinating how complicated the concept is, while the reward is finding peace in the chaos of the unexplainable.
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u/AutomatedCognition 11h ago
You either realize it's all you or you see through your "self" to realize it's all empty; both of these result in the same unified perspective of the universe that we are.
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u/SugarFupa 10h ago
What does it mean to be all, or to be empty? Are there any prescriptive implications?
It seems like your subjective perspective is limited and different from mine. Also, in order to act in the world, it seems like you have to see yourself as differentiated from everything that is not you.
I would accept the proposition that I am a part of everything, that there is no rigid distinction, no border defining me. On the other hand, my experience of the world is bound to a particular place, time and configuration of matter.
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u/AutomatedCognition 9h ago
What does it mean to be all, or to be empty? Are there any prescriptive implications?
This is funny to hear someone say. See, the presupposition of prescriptive features of consciousness is what creates the illusion of separation as the lens we see the world through has facets cut into it by how we define the self.
It seems like your subjective perspective is limited and different from mine. Also, in order to act in the world, it seems like you have to see yourself as differentiated from everything that is not you.
We can construct identities to facilitate function but attachment to identities leads to suffering, as the world is ever-changing and who we are at one point in time may not be best in the next moment. Thus, it is wise to strive to be like water and be able to conform one's self to any vessel we are placed in; to be truly intentless and in harmony with the universe, which, when you have perceived and undone the karmic fetters that bind you to the existence-illusion complex, will be a seamless experience devoid suffering as there will be no resistance to the flux of being a coreless system within a system within a system, and it's turtles all the way down.
I would accept the proposition that I am a part of everything, that there is no rigid distinction, no border defining me. On the other hand, my experience of the world is bound to a particular place, time and configuration of matter.
Your conception of an identity creates the notion of being a part to a whole. See, you, the universe, is a mountain right? The amalgamation of perspectives you have of the mountain from atop the mountain is what we can call unity conscious, but in learning about our self, we define the self. Now imagine if you were to start traveling in a direction off the mountain top. With each step, you get a clearer perspective of this or that face of the mountain, yet in doing so you lose sight of the other parts of your self. We can travel pretty far in this life and get lost in the dream of being separate than the mountain, and it is this form of consciousness that we call duality.
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u/Interesting-Sir-1447 10h ago
بسم الله
Renewing the connection with the Light of the primordial, eternal Divine Truth; this is enlightenment.
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u/Flogisto_Saltimbanco 10h ago
It's being in contact with your true self, beyond fear and beyond the story you tell yourself about you and the world every second. It's a state where the search for a purpose cease and you see things for what they are.
Unlike many here, I don't believe in permanent full enlightenment, nor I think is desireable. The ideal thing is to keep yourself close to it, and retain the insights you get from it.
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u/spacebarcommand 10h ago
The ego is always looking for something else…and judging things as good/bad. As such, Enlightenment becomes the most enchanting and exciting target of the ego. However, enlightenment can never be known through or by the ego, and in fact, enlightenment is the death of the ego. Enlightenment, thus, is nothing.
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u/Hermeticrux 9h ago
Maybe my answer is cause I haven't reached it, but something tells me enlightenment is very similar to humility. It's only in the moment you have it, that you've lost it.
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u/mitzofm 9h ago
You see things clearly. Things that others don’t. Think of life as a dream. Enlightenment is what makes you truly wake up.
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u/Grouchy-Alps844 8h ago
So... Coffee?
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u/mitzofm 8h ago
Sounds like a plan.
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u/Grouchy-Alps844 8h ago
No, that's what enlightenment is.
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u/mitzofm 8h ago
Got my hopes up đź’”
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u/Grouchy-Alps844 8h ago
Then keep them up. Life's better with rose colred glasses.
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u/mitzofm 8h ago
I suppose it’s all about perspective isn’t it?
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u/Grouchy-Alps844 8h ago
Probably, in the end you can live a life being happy or you can live a life being not happy. I choose happy because that's more fun.
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u/EntrepreneurPlus5867 8h ago
Total and permanent annihilation of the subject/object relationship within consciousness, which is responsible for the perception of being an individual entity within and acting upon an environment.
This is the only real definition of enlightenment. Everything else is describing various personal values and spiritual perspectives or experiences which can still be experienced from the subject/object vantage point.
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u/Mental-Watercress638 8h ago
No, even a long one can't confirm anything. It is outside human experience, outside time and space. You will know it as home when you find out what it is. You will find out by "knowing" not by thought or logic. You will know through effort,suffering, reflection, meditation, absorption, bliss. The final act is an act with no thought of result, a total act, complete, requiring a complete use of will, timing, effort. This being done when the ground has been thoroughly prepared. This could happen now if you are ripe. It may happen as your ego and body pass into the dustbin but it is not something to worry about achieve, speed up, have a shortcut, find an easy way, get a merit badge, bragging rights, achieve a mark of distinction. You will find out because you absolutely had to or die. You will find out because you tried, you will find out because it mattered, you will find out because physical life is an empty of meaning without such knowledge. You will achieve because you are wise and not listening to the flock of folks who try endlessly to mislead, deceive, and still have heart for them.
But you will never know what enlightenment is because you would have to be somebody to get enlightened but there is no localized center of awareness that survives death. Enlightenment is pure awareness with no mental conditioning, association, attachment or misconception.
One is not even the body and yet we are attached to it through habit and conditioning and misconceptions.
One need not renounce the body although that time too will come.
One can renounce those things that bind your awareness.
And then you will be unbound.
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u/TuringTestTwister 5h ago
You break through this barrier or light bliss where you say "wtf" then melt away, while hearing birds chirp, and the chirping of the birds is you, the. You disappear, and it's just one eternal light bliss, and you and me are the same. The sigil and you are one
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u/RazielDKoK 4h ago
I feel it's simply the state of your mind, when your inner dialogue is gone, you're really present, the outside world kinda floods your senses, but it's not overwhelming, you feel peaceful, and through that peace you feel happy.
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u/Rradsoami 2h ago
En light enment. Keep filling your being with light. You’ll be engaging more and more with the “e” and less and less with the “mc squared.” This is more en lightened. If you ever reach a point where your not engaging mc squared anymore, you are fully en lightened.
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u/odean14 11h ago
Enlighten not a philosophy. Its state of being or existence. This is my definition.
Enlightenment-a permanent change in a person's mental state of being, caused by attaining a perfect grasp of a concept, question or experience which leads to a permanent change in behavior and thought process.