What is enlightenment?

[neversickanymore]

"Enlightenment" is really very complex. There's too much going on to fit on a list.

The overall changes brought about through enlightenment may be widespread and complex. I think the key initial realization is really very straightforward and simple. Its uncanny allusiveness comes from it being a grand illusion, or rather a delusion. But like any illusion, once we see through it we can't not see it. Once you see it its impossible not to see it. Once you see how the brain works, you become less and less its slave. Its like reaching up and begining cutting the puppet strings and starting the journey to finally walking away free. There is also a good possibility that once the illusion is exposed that a irreversible process begins and hopefully ends with a strong form of enlightenment.

I we were to consider addiction as a reverse enlightenment.. or an encumberment.. then we have a decent example of one key component making very complex outcomes.

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We have to be careful to avoid reductionism, particularly such based in assumption. The brain is not as modular as prior research suggested, and while the removal or damage of some neural regions can induce loss of consciousness, willfully directed behavior, etc., such phenomena fail to establish some module that acts as the 'seat' of consciousness. I am partial to the hypothesis that consciousness is emergent due to certain informational properties of the brain functioning as a systemic whole.

ebola

I think reductionism is exactly what we need to get a big picture of how human brain works. Even though some of our best insights have come from studying resultant change when areas are damaged it certainly has grave limitations and likely has lead to same false conclusions. If we had little idea how a modern jet fighter worked at all and began damaging parts and recording the consequences of these damages and then tried to determine individual functions of areas we may do alright after some trial and error. But I'm not sure how accurate we would be at determining a big picture. Thats not a very good example but I hope it at least gets the point across that I feal, even though we may be close to great strides in this field, I think we have a ways to go.


My theory I belive is backed up by studies of brain damage and post 15 and then the peer edited version in post 23 in this thread.. also the idea of the divided self is explored in the chapter linked in the first post. The Brain and Addiction

I also feal that the idea fits so nicely in place with evolution, nicely explains emotions newest function, and presents a great explanation of addiction and a legitimate hypothesis around enlightenment. I also belive that addicts could be able to see and accept the illusion much easier than non addicts because they have a greater degree of intimate experience surrounding it. This experience includes greatly increased instance of disharmony and struggle between the two minds. This is kinda like seeing little cracks in the mirrors if an ilusion. So we could wonder if drug addiction could turn out to be a catalyst to enlightenment?

I hope that this amazing work will provide some much sought after answers and the hard science to back them up
NIH Puts $4.5 Billion Price Tag on Project to Map Human Brain

 

[Ninae]

I can subscibe to "making the sub-conscious conscious". I think this is necessary for enlightenment or you're just confused, like adrift on an ocean, and don't know what you're doing.

You need to bring the subconscious up in the conscious, although this is very painful, so hard to do for most.

But it's the only way to get to know yourself, gain command of yourself and other people, and understand the way existence works.

 

[cire113]

It's all very simple

Enlightenment is realizing one is not the mind or the body but is truely the ONE and ONLY Eternal, Divine CONSCIOUSNESS that serves as the non-dual substratum of the entire Cosmos.

 

[cire113]

^^^^^

If you truely realized this and became it;

You would have the power to create and experience anything in life that you wanted because you ARE life.

YOU ARE GOD,The One, The Infinite, The Tao, etc etc having a subjective human experience .

It's not complicated or complex at all once realized it is liberating

 

[Foreigner]

There are different levels to this.

The first is realizing that you have a mind and a relationship to the world. The external is there and you interact with it.

The next is realizing that the world is a projection of mind, and therefore your interactions and reactions are all based on internal relationships.

The final level is realizing there is no reality and no self perceiving it. It is Empty, but not nothing. To be in that state of awareness 24/7 with no breaks is enlightenment. Some people take a lifetime of focused inner work to get there. Others realize it in a split second and become it forever.

There's no action you can take to become enlightened. You already are an enlightened being who lives in a state of confusion. We are all Buddhas who are not seeing and realizing our own Buddha nature. Enlightenment is the process of letting go and yielding to true nature. But it is an extreme letting go that most people don't want to do... because it means coming to terms with the trauma that everything they thought mattered, actually doesn't.

True liberation is not secure. It is the opposite of security. It is living in a state of complete unknowing. You abide there in perfect trust, in Emptiness. There is nothing to hold onto in that kind of consciousness. It is pure awareness and nothing else. And there is no longer a grasping ego present to categorize the Emptiness into the 10,000 things. There is only Emptiness talking when the mouth utters words, and it is all much ado about nothing.

Enlightenment is the true end of separation.

 

[Alice_Chipper]

I think it is unique to the individual. When I studied & grasped poststructuralism it was a monumental experience in changing how I thought, acted & understood the world around me. It freed my mind to think greater than ever before & I experienced a peace I had never known. And it has never left me as it deepens over time as a continuous process. Not a lot of people understand this philosophy as it is challenging but I am glad I did the work.

I do not believe in one 'truth' or enlightenment being a universal fixed state for all. My experience is my experience & I hope we all find something just as deep & meaningful. Peace.

 

[bees_knees]

If you play with your nervous system a bit it literally appears that everything is the same thing, and that thing is you.