Finally, to enlightenment. Thank you in advance for reading this essay, this one means a little more than the others because I want you to be enriched by what I have to say. So, hopefully, I can achieve that for your sake, because enlightenment is glorious.
This is not an academic analysis or a teaching of traditional or religious enlightenment. This is what I believe I understand about enlightenment after being enlightened. This essay is an explanation of my takeaways from seeing the truth and what I am able to bring back and explain. I will try my best to teach you, but there is nothing like experiencing enlightenment for yourself. So please, if this catches your interest, please start your own journey of enlightenment and practice until you achieve it - you won’t be sorry.
Now it first seems necessary that if I have claimed to be enlightened, but also not in the traditional or religious sense, I would have to define my terms of enlightenment so that one, whether they have a traditional understanding of enlightenment or not, can still understand what I'm getting at, and so I will do that.
Enlightenment - one’s consciousness opening and seeing the truths of the universe.
Now in a singular definition, I can summarize everything that enlightenment is, but that does not mean that one who is not yet enlightened can know what each word represents and can understand what it truly entails. So the rest of this opening section is me explaining that.
“One’s consciousness opening” - a singular human seeing the awareness that lies beneath themselves and their ego, and then allowing that awareness to come forth.
The singular human’s awareness is their consciousness - the awareness that lies beyond everything. As if one can pay close enough attention to their awareness they can see it is not a part of oneself, as there is no actual self, there is body and mind, and consciousness lies even beyond that. The “opening” of that consciousness is thus allowing it to lead as it connected to the deepest and most meaningful parts of the universe - as all consciousness is all connected and thus should be one’s north star if one wants to be good. For everything in this world beyond the human ego is good, and thus one should live beyond their ego.
Now “the truths of the universe” also needs defining and so I will do that too.
“The truths of the universe” - everything is one and everything is God.
When I say, everything is one, all I mean is that everything we know of is here in this universe - all the matter and forms are here with us and we can touch them and mold them ourselves. When I say, everything is God, I mean that beneath all forms and matter there is an energy giving rise to life. (If you’re uncomfortable with the word God just substitute it for life or consciousness or light.) For life and consciousness are the same, as consciousness gives rise to the formations we call life. It all starts with consciousness. It is also consciousness that we are aiming at enlightenment. But enlightenment does not come with force, it comes with letting go of force - the force created by the ego.
I hope if you are reading this you can remove your own ego and see the beauty that is the universe in and of itself. So, please read the rest of this carefully and hopefully it helps. Thank you.
So, what is enlightenment then?
Enlightenment is a process of removing the ego from oneself so one may see the deeper truths that lie underneath. Enlightenment is also remaining out of its way so the light may shine. Enlightenment is seeing and being the light of the universe.
Enlightenment is always right there waiting for one to see it. As it is the reality, not a belief. It is not necessary for one to believe in enlightenment, insofar as one needs to to start seeing it for themselves. One can in an instant see beneath the ego and see the gloriousness that is there. Enlightenment (my claim to enlightenment) claims nothing more than that. So, there is no believing or not believing, there is seeing or not seeing, and not seeing only comes without putting forth wise effort.
Enlightenment is seeing beyond this material world, and the internal world built by the ego.
The material world includes all perceptions of it - sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and the one the Western world forgets, thought. (As thoughts are in no more of one’s control than taste or touch, they are mere reaction to our world and how we gain a sense of it. So enlightenment also involves recognizing that thoughts are of the body, the material world, and “seeing” and living beyond them.)
And thus enlightenment is also seeing beyond one’s internal world, as the ego builds unnecessary formations within one’s mind that inhibit them from seeing the light that is beyond. Enlightenment thus involves seeing beyond one’s own mind as well as the material world, as the mind creates loops around the ego and thus itself and creates just as much potential for suffering as the physical world does.
Thus, to see beyond the ego one must separate from their mind and body alike and try to search and see what's beneath; because it is the light. Enlightenment is stripping away misconceptions you and the world at large have placed in your mind. Enlightenment is ultimately the process of removing the ego until God fills its place.
Enlightenment though is not one singular achievement or act, (though it is), enlightenment is every time a consciousness recognizes and experiences its own source - the foundation of life. So, so long as one sees the light they are enlightened. (The light being God, or whatever word you feel most comfortable.) For enlightenment is an experience as is any other and subject to just as much change as anything else.
So, enlightenment is not only seeing the universe as it is (as that is true) but it is also the process of becoming, and remaining, enlightened. As enlightenment is also then aligning oneself to the truth and ending the suffering caused by ignorance - for one must become the light and the truth themselves to have an effect on the world.
For enlightenment is seeing and experiencing the truth of the universe and is thus also seeing the peace and divinity of consciousness - the calming and loving spirit beneath everything. As when one releases themselves from themselves and sees the real consciousness, it becomes only love - as it is only and always love. For the truth is that nothing needs to cause suffering - there is love abound, outside and inside oneself, one just needs to be wise to it.
So, enlightenment is also thus ending craving and aversion, as enlightenment is seeing the suffering it causes and eliminating it. For enlightenment is seeing and feeling the weight of attachment and the burden of receiving. As gaining material possessions or social statuses only causes more suffering in their possession and maintenance. Enlightenment is thus seeing the suffering caused by attachments and ending them.
Enlightenment is living the middle way; not becoming overly attached to anything and accepting that everything changes. For attaching to any particular form that the universe has made is futile, as the forms of life are in continual change and thus there is suffering in one wanting a form to remain whereas it can't actually. Enlightenment is thus seeing that the universe is perfect just as it is, and only thus acting in the guidance of the universe.
Enlightenment is thus a relief for nihilism. Not for suffering, but one can ease their suffering if they stay on the right path. As seeing the light doesn’t magically make one realize the light within themselves, but it does give them the option to as it provides all the knowledge necessary.
For the enlightened being can see the unequivocal perfect way. Thus one can become perfect themselves, but it is not a given that they are then. For it is still a process of change one must endure, it is not instantaneous. The knowledge and wisdom arrive instantly but the change does not. And the knowledge and wisdom are losable if one does not remain in an enlightened state, as the ego will still take over if given the chance.
For enlightenment is more than just minimizing our senses and recognizing a divinity within, it is also seeing the love of the universe that remains and stays steady there. It is not only a recognition of one’s own fallibility, enlightenment requires one to then look around to see what is left behind and stay with that which is left behind - as without ego and perception there is only light, and the light is ultimately what we are searching for.
Enlightenment is seeing that everything is God, and thus enlightenment is also seeing the perfection and the plan of God. Not to say that everything life does is good or even acceptable but seeing and understanding the process beneath it all.
For everything in this universe is one and thus is subject to the same chaos and entropy, and thus one cannot either remain static in their thoughts or enlightenment, as to remain enlightened also requires work.
Enlightenment is but a singular moment where one sees more than they ever thought possible, but inevitably, one will not remain in that state for the rest of their lives. So how does one then bring their enlightenment into the world? What does one do with their newfound understanding? They should, if they understand the profundity of what they witnessed and if they then want to pursue it more, become enlightenment itself and stay awoke.
Traditional enlightenment is but a moment of seeing God or the true nature and thus becoming one with it, but I say it is yes a moment and then a process of becoming more at one and at peace with the universe itself. Being enlightened is becoming wiser in one's actions and remaining and committing to the light of life.
Enlightenment once achieved is a process of lightening the world - in oneself and in others. As, when one sees the light one can know the goodness that lies beyond and one is given the truth that it is an absolute good for the world to see, and thus one has a moral obligation to remain enlightened themselves and then enlighten others.
Enlightenment is also having the burden of being lightened - bucking the ego off your back and the responsibility that remains. For it is everyone’s responsibility who has become enlightened to shine the light to ignorance and end as much suffering as they can. Thus, one must pay attention to themselves and care for themselves and bring as much wisdom as they can to themselves so they can then help others.
Thus, enlightenment as an individual pursuit is letting go of oneself and the world, but as an enlightened one who loves their community, it becomes a pursuit of enlightening others. The process thus is stratified into pre and post, and requires different thoughts and actions depending.
Thus, one must find it for themself, though others may help along the way, one must understand and feel the truth, not just believe or worse yet claim to believe. Enlightenment is no such thing - enlightenment is only seeing the light and bringing it into life. Enlightenment is not an achievement for the ego to boast of, it is in fact the opposite, extinguishing the ego so it does no more harm and then the soul bringing the light.
I think I have explained enough about what enlightenment is and what it can do. Now I am going to explain the “how” of it all.
So, how to achieve enlightenment?
Learn about it and want to do it and then do it
Sit in solitude
Meditate on the awareness within
Remove the ego
See what remains
That is god/the universe/the light
Let that then lead you
It is as easy as following these steps. It is actually easier as all one has to do is let go of themselves and remain in what remains, but for the ego’s sake, I have written it out in steps. And if you understand what I’m showing in these steps just follow the steps, but if you need some explanation please read the following section as it is that explanation.
To begin, it is obvious that without any knowledge of enlightenment or what it is or what it does, it becomes near impossible for one to then find enlightenment for themselves. It is still possible as it truly only involves letting go, but that becomes increasingly difficult with less and less wisdom abound. But luckily the wisdom exists and you are reading it, not that I am the only wisdom or all-knowing, but there are many more enlightened beings you can learn from.
Then of course one has to want to walk the path and do the work necessary, as it doesn’t happen without. One must want themselves to be enlightened - but one can never be enlightened so long as they want to be. So, this seems like an impossible paradox but the simple solution is to catch the desire, start walking, and then give up the desire along the way.
Then one must do the work of stripping away their ego and living in their soul. As generally the ego is so wrapped up in everything we do it takes a mighty effort to rid it from ourselves. So one must be diligent in their practice until they see the light, and then they can follow that light instead of themself.
And it does sound and seem easy, but it is only in one starting for themselves and seeing for themselves where they can improve that one can then start taking action. For it is only oneself that can truly understand what one needs, as “removing the ego” is too vague of a statement to understand all that it encompasses. For one must observe their ego interfering with their awakening, because it is always the individual ego that interferes, and enlightenment is always lying just beneath.
So, one must take the responsibility of enlightenment upon themselves, as they are the only ones who can achieve it. Thus, enlightenment is ultimately an individual pursuit and thus one must go at it alone. One must go on an inner journey and discover for themselves all the intricacies of their ego keeping them from God.
One must sit alone, without perception attacking them, and look and find their ego and extinguish it. For to truly understand all that the ego is attached to, one must spend time alone examining it. So, one must then meditate and focus solely on it and on changing it, as that is the only way one may see it fully - be fully attentive to it.
As, one only knows for themselves the true nature of their ego and thus it is their burden and responsibility to remove it for themselves. For enlightenment is not an attainment, as most assume, it is the letting go of everything. So then, the only one who can let go of the ego is themselves. For the ego only exists insofar as one attaches to it - it is nothing but illusion.
One must remove their ego to realize enlightenment, as it is always the ego holding one back. It is the ego that separates from the soul, attaching to the world, causing suffering and holding one back from the glorious truth of the universe. One must not allow their ego to taint their soul, and thus the ego must die. Thus, one must come to recognize this within themselves and how it manifests to them and stop it.
This can be done by meditating and remaining present, focusing on the perception of mind and body, and then repeating a mantra, something like “I am not this body or mind, and I am not attached to anything,” and then feeling that wholly.
It really is that simple. Not easy, but simple. The ease is in the understanding, not in the execution of the understanding - for in the execution one understands it is not so easy. The mind and the ego race constantly, so one must learn to seperate from them and quiet them, and that is not an easy process.
What’s left after one extinguishes their ego is what I call the light, or God. It is simply consciousness and the universe itself. It is the purest form of being - without forms or conceptions. No words, no forms, no separation - ideas left perfect and whole.
And one can clearly see then the peace and love therein. As, all that remains is God and God is love. For the only other force in consciousness is the human ego, and the human ego fights and opposes love. Without the ego, there is only love because the connecting force of all life is love - as life needs love to survive.
To all those who clamor for God or the universal truth or the meaning of life, this is it, so follow it intimately and bring into being. As it is the grand force, the life of the universe, love in and of itself. It will not lead you astray. (There is a chance that you don’t see it correctly or follow it correctly but that is not God’s fault.)
One must humble themsleves to it and always remain with that as their foremost aim - for it is the perfect and wise, it is not oneself. The light is greater than anything the human ego can conjure. One should then, after seeing the truth and understanding its glory, submit themselves to the process of aligning themselves to it and becoming it - for the light is the righteous, not you.
Being enlightened is thus seeing and understanding this fundamental truth - everything is one and everything is god. Thus, God is within everything - within you - but you are not the totality of it and thus cannot control it beyond what it gives to you.
So, see what it gives, take what it gives, be grateful for what it gives, do not be opposed and stay with the light as best you can.
How to remain enlightened?
I use the word must alot in this next section, but it is not a must in a universal moral sense, it is only a must if one wants to live in enlightenment. It is no moral judgement to not want to, so it is not a universal must.
One must first commit themselves to making it their central aim. As one must desire it before they cease desiring. For one must want the light to have it. But desiring enlightenment for the soul or for one’s status does not attain enlightenment. So, one must give up their ego and and give up their desire to be enlightened, and then solely follow the light and what it shows them.
The light - the consciousness of the universe - God - that is the basis of not only one’s own life, but Life on Earth and in the universe. The consciousness itself gives birth to form, and thus the limited experience we feel in our form. So, that consciousness is necessarily wiser than one in their limitations.
So, one should, so long as they understand and correctly discern what is themselves and what is God, and see it fit to follow God, then completely trust in and follow God - the light - the consciousness of the universe. For the light is all-knowing and all-loving, and if you have not seen it yet you will have to trust that it is, or at the very least understand that all the suffering attributed to God is actually caused by men and their egos.
Enlightenment allows God - the light - the consciousness of the universe - to reveal itself. As it seems obvious that Man without God will necessarily be self-involved and plunder the Earth with its fellow humans as casualties - as that is all the evidnece we have seen in the past. But with enlightenment, and with God, Man can then see the truth - that all life is God, all the Earth is God, and thus as one feeds their ego and it grows inside them, when one becomes hungry of soul, they have no choice but to become self-centered and that only hurts themselves.
It is not so easy though. Even if one may know and want to follow God, one must still commit it to memory and make it a practice in their routine. As then it can become instinctual instead of conceptual. For yes, it is great to have the conception and to try to follow such conception, but it is better still to live as a follower of God, instead of mere attempting.
It is not easy at all to be an enlightened being so it takes diligent practice and effort. As without a practice, the body and the mind and ego creep back. For the entropy of not placing effort always rears back and the ego then takes back over, as that is the natural state - one assuming themselves to be almighty.
One must repeat as much as necessary and be open to the learning process in order to make it rote. For remaining enlightenment is not as easy as achieving enlightenment, however hard enlightenment is in the first place. One must practice to remain enlightened - one must morph themselves into the form capable of bringing light to life. As naturally one is habituated to not and habituated in living fot one’s ego.
So, one must be willing to change and take the steps necessary to change to no longer live fo the ego and to live for God. There will be missteps and failures as the process unfolds, but one must be willing to let the ego step aside and let the light guide them.
One must forgive themselves for their moral and judgmental miscues, and love themselves in order to grow beyond. As love is the most effective way to teach and so one should start by loving themselves so they can learn what God is teaching them.
One must act righteously and stick with God and its morals. The missteps of the ego provide many points of failure. The ego will provide excuses and chances to step off the righteous path, so one must always remember why they are doing what they're doing, and remain with God even when one’s vision of it is cloudy, because the enlightened one knows how good God is.
One must remain committed to enlightenment to remain in enlightenment, it seems like an obvious statement but it takes energy to maintain and thus if one wants to remain in the light they must place their energy in doing so. But it does become easier the further along one goes, as the effort then comes from God itself and thus takes less energy from ones form.
One must forgive and accept and love their true self, and remove and continue to remove all taints of the ego. For the true self is God - not the body, not the mind, and certainly not the ego. It is not that God is not in one’s body or mind, for that is exactly what enlightenment is trying to abstract, it is that God is not your mind or body, God is within all of us and all around us.
God is the light, is the consciousness of the universe, is love, is peace, is goodness itself, and God is worthy of being humble to and following, and thus should stop with their ego and begin trying to follow God in all things.
How to enlighten others?
Want better for them
Teach them
Help them
This may seem simple, but the universe is often simple in its necessities, it is the human ego that complicates everything. It is really just as easy as doing these three, not that they are easy to do or achieve, but the conception of how to help others is quite easy.
One must first obviously see the suffering in others and then want better for them, as without one or the other nothing will happen. So, one must first see the suffering around them, and then want better for life around them, and then understand the source of the suffering so they can then begin helping.
Then one must of course teach others about suffering and the nature of suffering, and enlightenment and the nature of enlightenment, that way more of life may know about it. For it is near impossible for life to achieve enlightenment on their own completely separate from any source of knowledge about the subject - it is technically possible, but practically it is impossible.
So, all the enlightened beings (so long as they feel it necessary) should help as many other beings as they can become enlightened - as that is how they can ease more suffering than just their own. For while it is a good to ease one’s own suffering, it is an even greater good to ease the sufferings of many.
So, then one should thus bring about as much light as they can and then give that light to others. As that is the ultimate good one can bring from being enlightened, as light is the greatest gift and the enlightened ones can help bring light to life. So, please try for yourself and bring about more light to this darkened world we live in - we need it.
In Conclusion/ A Summary
Enlightenment is being awoken to the deeper truth that everything is one and everything is God/ the light.
Enlightenment can be achieved by removing one’s ego - and thus, one can see the light beneath themselves and beneath everything.
There are two stages of enlightenment - achieving and remaining. And thus, both require different actions in their achievement.
Achieving enlightenment is but a moment of completely letting go of the ego and seeing the Truth.
Remaining enlightened involves setting up processes in one’s life so they keep the light shining through them.
One should then, if they can keep the light shining through them, focus their attention on enlightening others - for that is the best way then to ease more suffering.
Enlightenment is not only for oneself, enlightenment is for all conscious life, and all life could and should be enlightened.
One should always, to the best of their abilities, let the light shine through them and love the world and ease their suffering.
The world needs more light, so you (if you can) should bring it to them.
Devin- The bravery in not just observing, but deducting, and then acting upon this: "Enlightenment is seeing beyond this material world, and the internal world built by the ego," is really remarkable. I really appreciate throughout this piece. A great read. Hope you're well this week? Cheers, -Thalia