What is enlightenment?

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   lovetherainposted 8 years ago

   How do you become enlightened?
   
   What do you come to understand?
   
   What are attributes of an enlightened person? How does the person change?

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      wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Doesn't "enlightened" simply mean the person has learned something they didn't know before?

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         lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Spiritual enlightenment.

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            wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            In that case you become enlightened by declaring yourself so.  You come to "understand" whatever you think you do, even if false-to-fact.  And the attributes of an enlightened person are whatever that person decides it is.
            
            100% subjective, in other words - the "enlightened one" makes all the calls, all the definitions and does whatever they like to become enlightened.  How could it be otherwise?

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               Live to Learnposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               I'd like to add that every example we have of an enlightened person throughout history is defined such by what they ultimately gave to humanity. Claiming it is not the same as being it.

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                  wildernessposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Good point...but was Mother Theresa "enlightened"?  Her personal diaries would seem to indicate not, at least in her opinion.  Are monks, staying in their residence, "enlightened"?  They give virtually nothing to humanity.  Were the inquisitors, "cleansing mankind of heresy" for God and man?  The religious leaders that imprisoned Galileo, doing the same?  Was MLK "spiritually enlightened", or just a great man?

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                     Live to Learnposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     I was thinking along the lines of Buddha and Jesus.

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                        lovetherainposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        And St Teresa of Avila

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                           Live to Learnposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           Don't know about all of that.
                           
                           I'll be honest. These 'mystics' do fascinate me. Especially the ones like Edgar Cayce where we have no option but to recognize the strange gift. But, enlightened? I can't throw them into that category.

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   Live to Learnposted 8 years ago

   I've never claimed to be enlightened but someone once said we all travel different paths and while on that path it's all we can see but when we reach the summit is when we see all paths. They all lead to the same destination. So, that change would be acceptance and peace. Think about all the discussions and disagreements we have about enlightenment. But, in the end, they are pointless because we are all traveling to the same destination.

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   cheaptrickposted 8 years ago

   Enlightenment is a ghost we chase inside our heads due to the universal quality all humans share which is arrogance...Absolutes and archetypes exist only in the sense of altruistic ideals;they have no place in the lower levels such as physical existence...of course,I could be wrong;we humans so often are...

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