“It isn’t by getting out of the world that we become enlightened, but by getting into the world…by getting so tuned in that we can ride the waves of our existence and never get tossed because we become the waves.” ― Ken Kesey, Kesey’s Garage Sale
The Beatles…!
We may blame the Beatles for bringing transcendental meditation to the west, but I believe that the time was right, and the consciousness of the western world was ready for that philosophy. Along with Buddhism, the philosophy of transcendent to attain enlightenment became the norm. The majority of the people who joined an organized spirituality group meditate and perform other rituals to move out of the body and be in nirvana. The objective was to be one with source and out of our dualistic world. The only way to get to that level was to rid ourselves of the ego, so they say. Many teachers and gurus may have attained this level of consciousness, but at what price. Most had to be recluse, living without contact with the real world. So is this the price of enlightenment?
Do not get me wrong. I am not bashing them for leaving their home and go live the rest of their lives in an ashram, a temple, or on a mountain. I admire them for the courage of their conviction. What I mean is, what if there was a way for all of us to attain enlightenment and still having our job, deal with family, do our shopping, basically doing the mundane thing of life in this world of duality. I am convinced that this is possible.
I believe, we as souls, decided to come to this earth a planet of duality, for one reason. We came here to experience, you got it, duality. Transcendentalists recognize that the ego is the one that makes us a dualistic being that is one of the reasons they opt to dissolve the ego. They see it as the sentry holding the key to liberation. But why do we have to purge the ego to attain enlightenment?
Let us define enlightenment.
According to the dictionary, it is The realization of spiritual or religious understanding. To me, it means bringing forth the divine light of the soul within. It is a process as one does not bring forth his inner light overnight. Though, it may not be impossible. Albert Einstein validated this point when he stated that “The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.” Being free does not mean eradication. We attain True freedom when there are understanding, reconciliation, and wholeness. There is no freedom in separation, so let us embrace our ego, as it part of us, understand it and make peace with it, then we are set on our way to understand the truth that we are one with the source.
What causes duality is our judgment. Without judgment, there is no duality. We judge by comparing. We compare the light with darkness. We label one as good and one as bad. There is no good or bad. It only IS. We also compare our current reality with the past and extrapolate judgment to predict a certain future.
So for all of us down here in this world of duality, yes, we all are on the path to enlightenment; let us take the first by refraining from judgments. The second step is to be present: present in the body, present in everything we do, present with our thoughts. This quote of Eckhart Tolle is an excellent conclusion to this post: “…the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.”
Shine your light. You are already enlightened.
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In my studies in Ayurvedic medicine what I perceived is that we are all interconnected and connected to the source however, with the material things we have today we have lost the connection. And, yet, we spend our entire lives trying to reconnect to the source; the energy of love. Sanskrit is to create harmony between the body, mind, and spirit. Following daily dincharya, and seasonal ritucharya can most certainly help in todays face past technological world which, can also help separate our dependence and ignorance of Ego. Understanding this and the fact we are connected to source is surely bringing those to enlightenment. We need more trips in to the forest, put our feet in the beach sand, dip ourselves in the ocean and seek out practitioners that can help; reiki, oneness blessings, yoga, constitutional healers, NET, family constellations and so on, so that, we can heal our past traumas and live in the present moment and create the enlightened future we so unconsciously seek. Reiki is a part of this journey for sure! Great post Juan!
I like your point of view, definitely daily spiritual practice is of utter most importance so the mind and body can work harmoniously together. Thanks for the comment.
I agree that we can work towards enlightenment and still have our lives and jobs. I think getting rid of the ego at least to some extent.
Yvonne we are already enlightened we just do know it. we have been told that only certain people who do this and that are enlightened. I do not believe so. We just need to remember. the knowing is within. Thanks for the comment.