Enlightenment

Yesterday, I went on a mission, of sorts. As a process of my new awareness and learning, I have been looking for answers about some of the terms I am now hearing about. Yesterday's word: Enlightenment. For those of you, like me, who are learning, I have found ...

Enlightenment can refer to many different ideologies. In a secular, non-Buddhist context, the word enlightenment often means "the full comprehension of a situation."

Spiritual enlightenment, I have learned, means "to obtain a spiritual revelation, or deep insight, into the meaning and purpose of all things; also, to communicate with or understand the mind of God; in addition, to achieve some other type of profound spiritual understanding; or, to achieve a fundamentally changed level of existence, where one's self is experienced as a nonchanging being of pure consciousness".

Furthermore, I read that scientists now believe that during meditative states leading up to the subjective experience of enlightenment, there may be actual physical changes which take place in the brain. I find it totally amazing that even scientists, who are historical skeptics, are now coming around ... amazing.

To those of you more knowledgeable than I, please correct me if I'm wrong, but after my quest yesterday, I've come to believe that enlightenment is a deep acceptance of self, the ability to know who we truly are. It is also the acceptance of all of our feelings, including pain, more totally than ever before. Enlightenment is, therefore, a deep acceptance of ALL that we are -- including those parts of ourselves that we have always considered unacceptable.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing our self is Enlightenment.

Namaste!
CJ/Zora