Is Enlightenment Fashionable

[Guest guest]

Would Saint Francis Of Assisi had been considered enlightened or

psychotic, today?

Would Sankara had given his blessing to Nisargadatta's enlightenment?

 

That the body and its desires were the enemy was a fashionable notion

in Europe and India before the sixteen century. Food and sleep

depravation were considered methods to obtain visions and divine

revelations. Visions and voices were considered

teaching tools and signs of divine approval. No Saint worth its salt

would have do

without them. But the mind can't choose its visions, so vision of

the Devil were not

uncommon, and this brought about more asceticism. Most of those

saints would have been considered suicidal today.

 

Supernatural powers and heroic virtues were expected as a result of

such practices. It's a sign of our times that expectations for

enlightenment are now more realistic. And yet, one of the main

obstacles remain the idea that enlightenment has a set of definite

qualities as immutable and verifiable as those of a good diamond. In

reality Enlightenment might be as fashionable a notion as adulthood.

In some countries and times a child of thirteen is considered mature

enough to marry, in another an eighteen year old is considered

mature enough to join the army and kill, but not mature enough to

drink a beer.

 

There is no universal standard. Delusion and enlightenment are only

opinions and subject to change. Do you suffer? Are you connected?

Does your mind feel like an old pair of sleepers? If the answer is

yes, who cares what others think? No matter what it is, it will

change.

 

Pete