Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious.”
-Jung
-Jung
"What I like about Jung's definition is -- it is integrative in nature. Is not trying to reject darkness.
Eckhart Tolle's definition of enlightenment : "Restoration of Sanity".
Buddha's definition (or so it is claimed) : "No Suffering/End of Suffering".
The point at which the full and final collapse of the false-i/ego occurs, delusion ends, and the continuous, beyond-doubt direct experience of the connection with the deepest (shunya) level of life occurs.
Tolle talks of a waxing and waning joy, that has never left him, ever since he found enlightenment. The peace never goes. The joy waxes and wanes. Sadness is also felt by him, when he sees some kind of a serious tragedy somewhere.
He also talks of the end of boredom, loneliness, restlessness, and all such things that make us common-ly human. Tolle can be stuck in traffic or stand in a long que, and not lose his cool.
He also says that the sights and sounds of the world around him became more lucid, and lost their irritating, disturbing flavour, after he found enlightenment.
But the biggest thing --- is the appreciation of the difference between "LIFE" and "life-situation".
The enlightened person can appreciate the difference and know that the difference is not subjective, ambiguous, debatable.
ie. it points to some kind of a multi dimensional existence in which --- one is continuously aware that this is the realm of maya (via continuous direct experience) *YET* functioning as if it is *NOT* maya. And this mode of existence is *NOT* confusing and uncomfortable.
And I'll stop here, before I end up slipping deeper into...as you would have guessed by now...advaita vedanta "
-Vikram Madan
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2 comments:
Hey MD,
Glad you liked my comment on 'enlightenment'. I've learnt most of what I know from Eckhart Tolle, I must've heard all his lectures many times over, by now. :-)
Apart from Advaita Vedanta, which Tolle doesn't talk about much, though he does raise the volition question sometimes -- a question central to advaita vedanta. Sort of.
Tolle himself says that he doesn't like to talk about controversial things --- and telling people that they may not have any free-will, in human life -- is bound to lead to a controversy.
But some advaita vedanta scholars like Ramesh Balsekar are blunt about it. That there's no free will in the unenlightened human. The unenlightened human is like a phenomenon that manifests, not a do-er with free will.
In the unenlightened, sleeping state, the human *thinks* he/she has free will, but this illusion is created by this realm of maya.
(As per advaita vedanta.)
Common sense of course says that a person with a human body should be a do-er with free will.
I have some semi-finished blog entries on this, perhaps I'll finish them, and blog them them one of these days.
Hi Dev, wow, just re found this post, 3 years down the line!
Very happy you liked what I wrote enough to post it to your blog.
I'm pretty much into Wei Wu Wei's Advaita Vedenta these days, this site is dedicated to him:
Link: The Spirit Works by Dr Gregory Tucker
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