Enlightenment a.k.a. Being
There is no path to Being,
there is only clear presence.
No matter what you hope "It" is,
no matter what you imagine "It" is,
"It" is different from that.
Maybe you will see that this being is not a personal thing but that it's borderless. Where does being stop? Nobody can tell you where it ends. If it has no borders, if it's limitless, there can't be two of them; it is all-encompassing. Although it is indescribable, you can give it any name you wish, like Awareness, Is-ness, Consciousness, the Unknown, the Source, Light or Presence. This is the witness of Advaita, the Original face according to Zen, the Father of Christianity, the Buddha-mind of the Chinese Ch'an. Some call it Shiva, Brahman, Nirvana, God or Spirit. Other terms are Oneness, Life, Unicity, Silence, Space and It. In the end, the names or descriptions you use don't matter that much.
Maybe you recognize the impersonal aspect of Beingness while you are outside in a natural environment, seeing that all boundaries are gone and that there is no separate you to recognize it. Everything is just as it is. The natural elements are good examples of Beingness that don't pretend to have the ability to be other than what they are. Your mind can't grasp it and uses words like emptiness or wholeness; this is simply infinity seeing infinity.
Some people report opening to this wholeness while being with their spiritual master. Or maybe there is a recognition that the seeker is a concept without ever having had a mystical experience at all. However, if there is still in the back of your mind a gentle whisper that it is you who will be awakened, you will only be disappointed. There is simply nothing to chase, no hero to be imitated, nowhere to go. And why is that? Because the 'separate you' who does the chasing or imitating is conceptual. One of the tricks of the mind is to suggest that there is a separate you who can prepare for enlightenment, that you can actually attain enlightenment while other are still unenlightened.
Your mind imagines that there is a border between you and the sage, but Beingness has no borders because there is only one of it.
So you will never experience Oneness - there is only Oneness. You will never attain enlightenment, there is only Light. All 'your' experiences - from sitting in a bus to the highest state of consciousness - are the content of Awareness, not Awareness itself.
The teacher you are attracted to is just a reflection of what you are looking for. If you had a major transcendental experience while being with a particular guru, you are likely to get hooked on that teacher, or hooked on such an experience. And if that teacher is not satisfying any more, you may go and look for a stronger or more resonating leader. As long as you are looking for something, be it bliss, resonance or peace, you will encounter teachers or masters who will claim that they can give it to you. As long as this process is going on, it is ok to follow. It is also ok to have spiritual experiences, and to look for more of those until there is the recognition that the 'final it' is not attained yet - and never will be. Until it is recognized that blissful experiences are appearing in It but are not It, it seems that all this seeking and all these special experiences can bring you closer, but not close enough.
It becomes clear that searching for something special or trying to be peaceful and openhearted doesn't bring you closer to the very natural state you are always in, no matter how you feel or behave. Beingness is not something you can acquire as a result of your personal effort. Beingness is what you are. And this Being is completely beyond any sense of values.
Seeking the extraordinary , you overlook the splendour of the ordinary in everyday life. You overlook the simplicity of the open secret, which is available right here and right now. Enlightenment is not something you can reach and that will make you special, something that will make you stand out in the crowd. It is just the opposite: you become nobody and everybody at the same time.
annaxmalina
germansingergirl
yousharknotpass
andulkaphoto
dededos
jacobvanloon
prguitarman
