Guest guest Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 ENLIGHTENMENT IN A NUTSHELL If it isn’t obvious by now, the ‘thing’ that has most interested me, and that has been at the heart of my work for the past twenty years, is enlightenment, or the awakening to inner freedom. Many people mistakenly think of enlightenment as some idealized, saint-like state where the enlightened one is always smiling, lives in perpetual bliss, and beams radiant, compassionate energy to all who come into his or her energy field. Enlightenment, or awakening, simply means the end of suffering. That is, no more personal angst, worry, conflict, or inner struggle. That’s how the Buddha defined it, that is how Jean Klein, my teacher defined it. He also made it clear that once the suffering goes, clarity reigns supreme, and you always feel deeply at peace within, regardless of what is going on around you. I can testify to that. How, then, do we awaken? By seeing that the ‘person’ we have taken ourselves to be isn’t real. In the seeing--and enlightenment is above all a shift in perception--the attachment to, or identification with, thoughts centered around ‘I,’ ‘me,’ and ‘mine’ falls away, Our head clears, our body relaxes, our heart opens. Thinking then becomes available as the extraordinary creative tool that it is. Those who are awake do not suffer because they do not take themselves to be anybody. They do not hold onto any ideas or images or ‘self,’ and so there is no resistance to what is happening. When there is no resistance to what is, there is no suffering. How can there be. So, you can be awake and free and, if you are living in the world as a householder, you will still have problems to deal with around children, work, money, duties, responsibilities, and time management. However, none of it is a big deal anymore. There is no longer any ‘you’ making a big deal about anything. You--not the ‘ego’ you, but you as consciousness, as an expression of universal awareness--just take care of business as it arises So, if you are still experiencing suffering, I have two questions for you. 1) What beliefs, images, expectations, judgments are you holding onto inside? 2) If you let go of your story, of all beliefs and concepts about who you are, then who or what are you? Once you intuit the answers to those questions, you will be free. © J. Dreaver, April, 2002 -- Happy Days, Judi http://www.users.uniserve.com/~samuel/judi-1.htm TheEndOfTheRopeRanch http://www.livingston.net/allison/sacred01.htm Rev. Helen Hiwater, D.D. ... " Straighten up and bow down! There's nooooo way around it! " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 30, 2002 Report Share Posted April 30, 2002 > So, if you are still experiencing suffering, I have two questions for > you. > > 1) What beliefs, images, expectations, judgments are you holding onto > inside? There is no inside. > 2) If you let go of your story, of all beliefs and concepts about who > you > are, then who or what are you? Not my story, beliefs, or concepts. > Once you intuit the answers to those questions, you will be free. There is no answer. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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