Enlightenment , A Viewpoint

Enlightenment is an oft misunderstood concept or state of consciousness. It simply means the moment, in the now, when a complete shift occurs from illusory mind consciousness to reality based, aware consciousness. It is an awakening of the human mind, heart, and souls inherent ability to see things as they are in complete purity of perception and awareness. In the history of the human species , humanity has been dominated by unconscious, conditioned thinking, that has distorted it perception of reality, including their own identity as divine beings. They have been lost in a sort of dream or fog perpetuated by egoic thinking and obscuration. This dream has fostered a distinct viewpoint of the individual being separate , isolated, and alone in the universe. In other words , lost or cut off from the source and origin of Life. In this state of confusion ,life has become a matter of survival of the fittest, or should I say of the cleverest. Each person, to one degree or another, seeing the other person as competition or prey to be taken advantage of! This sense of illusion, fostered by this viewpoint, gives rise to tremendous fear, loneliness, and despair. Not only does the ego not know its true identity, it also feels threatened by the others. Jean-Paul Sartre said “hell is the others”. Enlightenment is basically a liberation from this egoic dream and confusion. This is why the Buddha describe the human condition as confusion. This basic confusion gives rise to suffering caused by excessive desire or perceived need and want, whose source is the egoic viewpoint of separation and lack. We seem never to be satisfied by this moment and what we already have , which is an abundance of life and energy that constantly is here with us. Instead the delusion of egoic thinking creates a sense and perception of lack and need, thus resulting in excessive grasping and neediness towards life. The basic ego consciousness is a feeling or viewpoint of “ What can I get out of life” . In other words to take out from and possess or cling to. This is rooted in the insecurity and fear of loss or death. The ego does know that it is ultimately not real , and that when the person dies, it dies as well. This is why most humans suffer from an unconscious fear of death or loss. To compensate, we try to strangle life, until we squeeze the life and energy out of it. What a tragedy! Most of human history can be described by one word. “Tragic”!!! Enlightenment means to simply allow Life to be as it is, and perceive it clearly as such. The Buddha called it the “ suchness ‘ of life. Let us all awaken and end the dream or more accurately, the nightmare!