The Rocky Road to Enlightenment

We may think of men such as Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus as those who came to earth with a fully fledged enlightenment. Most men and women, however, do not reach this level of awareness in their entire lifetime.

If you think you're enlightened you're likely living an illusion!

What happens when you consider enlightenment not as a noun or something static, but as a movement, a verb, an ongoing process of waking up to reality and shedding the illusory defenses and pretences of our personalities?

The Rocky Road to Enlightenment is our path from life to death. Some of us live our entire lives in an illusion, unaware of anything other than the goals and desires of the materialistic illusory world.

And then something happens, a small spark, an awareness, an illumination. This is usually generated by a tiny nagging thought that occurs from time to time saying ‘there must be more' or asking ‘this can't be all there is'.

It can be sparked by something someone says, a line we read in a book or a blog like this or by an unexpected kindness or action on the part of someone else. The only real given is that once woken we cannot go back to sleep again.

And believe us, you will want to go back or you will know what we are talking about!

Waking up to reality is similar to the process of Neo taking the Red Pill and getting that life outside the Matrix is not so shiny shiny. We are so programmed to seek the illusion, and to draw comfort from it yet the illusion keeps us in a zombie like dream.

On the other hand living in reality allows us to be FULLY ALIVE.

Once started along the road, we will experience a series of small illuminations, often triggered by a ‘dark' experience. And if we are waking up and aware then we recognize that frequently the darker and more traumatic the experience, the greater the illumination available to us. These illuminations become pathfinders, points of light that show us the next steps in our journey.

This journey is not about thinking spiritually or having a vast knowledge of spiritual texts or knowing the ‘how tos'. It is about having real experiences that face us with our egoic defenses and pretences and wake us up and engender a resolve to be and do differently. It's about recognizing that these experiences, however uncomfortable we translate them to be, are showing us what needs to be addressed.

It is about seeing how we stop ourselves from more fully participating in honest and open relationship with our own thoughts, personality and subsequently with other people. It is about catching ourselves if we can and congratulating ourselves each time we do. It is about being humble, admitting our part in the game and respecting the other for facilitating in us this illumination, no matter how harshly it appears to cut you to the quick.

The steps are small, the path is uniquely yours and the road is eternal. Knowing how it works enables us to keep on track in the darkest of times.

Ram Dass [Professor Richard Alpert] in ‘Be Here Now' his classic book, gives some useful pointers to the process of spiritual waking up.

Ram Dass was a big spiritual guru in the 60's and subsequently suffered a stroke in his sixties, prompting him to rewrite his latest book ‘Still Here'. The book offers profound hindsight into his own process and is endearing in the way Dass observes himself and his egoic moves with humor. What's really cool and a lesson to all of us is that after the stroke, Dass realized his journey of spiritual growth was far from done.

The topography of the road to enlightenment [adapted from Ram Dass]

YOU ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED
Each stage one can label must pass away. If you think you're enlightened, you're probably not.

IT GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER
The initial euphoria at waking up will often be followed by and leave a sense of loss or even a despair that may seem like the Dark Night of the Soul.

THE ROAD IS ROCKY
This process is NOT smooth. Each new height is followed by a new low and understanding this makes it much easier to ride the aves.

GLARING IMPERFECTIONS
As you get illuminations so your imperfections seem more glaring. Relax. You're not getting more stuck in the illusion, you're just more aware of it. But also take heart in the fact that, as the demons get fiercer the illumination get Sbrighter. Think of if as the sweet that comes after the medicine.

FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT
In the beginning you may see spiritual practice as something you do, like meditating for 40 minutes or giving to the poor or thinking abundantly. In time you realize mindfulness, being present and experiencing the moment IS spiritual practice. You can experience illumination as you pour a cup of coffee, wash the dishes or fire an employee. There is a Zen saying, "Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water.

THE 'I'M SO SPIRITUAL' TRAP
At some stage when you think you are being all good and spiritual you will get caught up in how ‘spiritual' you are. In India this is called the Chain of Gold. The chain traps you in an inflated illusion of ‘oh I'm so spiritual' that only exists up your own backside. We have to give up the illusion of total purity and holier than thou if we are ever to make progress.

AM I THERE YET?
Early in the journey you will I be probably wondering on a regular basis how long it will take or whether you have got it yet. and be saying to yourself ‘Oh if I do this course or read this book or meditate for x hours a day, I'll get spiritual in two, three or four years' As you progress you realize that where you are going is ‘here' and you will arrive ‘now'.

LAUGH AT YOURSELF
You will also start to get really serious about it all. Give it up. A cosmic sense of humor about your predicament, your resistance and your journey is an absolute requirement

NOTHING'S HAPPENING - IS THIS SPIRITUALITY?
At some phase you will experience a plateau, a sense that nothing is happening, in which case just continue chopping wood and carrying water or whatever equivalent you have in your life. Sweep floor, make beds. Fix car, drive to work. Write blog! Just keep on doing whatever YOUR Zen is!

INSTANT ENLIGHTENMENT - NOT!
You may have been led to believe that enlightenment will come upon you like the flash that hit St Paul on the road to Damascus that your halo will sprout and everyone will notice your spiritual energy. Bullshit. This is very very rare. Most frequently it is just a slow peeling of layers, like an onion, only slower!

IN AND OUT
At times you will experience not just the up and down process but the ‘in and out'. You will feel the need to go inside and spend time examining and experiencing your own inner processes and sometimes getting just how yukky it really is in there [and how nice it could be]. And you will also feel the need to be out in the world, connecting with and experiencing yourself in relation to others. Both the in and the out are part of a total process and feed each other.

The rocky, stony road to enlightenment is full of challenges, obstacles and barriers that bring spiritual illuminations because it is in the facing of these and moving beyond them that we develop spiritual fortitude.

Enlightened people don't have to sit on a velvet cushion, holding their fingers in om-cars, chanting mantras and getting into yoga asanas. They're all great, but remember, enlightenment comes from being present in whatever life you life, no matter how ordinary.

And next time you scream at the guy who takes the parking space you were angling for or you think angry thoughts about your spouse, or you trip over something cos you're not ‘here'... remember you're human. We all are. Simply tell yourself 'life happens... what's next?'

WE INVITE YOU TO SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES IN THE COMMENTS

What illuminations have you experienced along the road?

How did they come about and what changed for you as a result?

Sunny and Pierre Soleil

Harmonic Emergence - Return to Earth
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