What Is Enlightenment?

[Guest guest]

What Is Enlightenment?

of the twenty-first century? What Is Enlightenment? magazine asked

twelve spiritual teachers...

Question: As humanity heads into the third millennium, the world is

changing in ways that would have seemed like good science fiction

only decades ago. From biotechnology to nanotechnology, from the

information revolution to the deterioration of the biosphere, from

globalization to global warming, life in the twenty-first century is

becoming increasingly complex, chaotic, and unpredictable. The

challenge of keeping up with the speed of life has never been

greater and, according to most futurists, we haven't seen the half

of it. They tell us that the rate of change itself is increasing

exponentially, and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. This

recognition has led many of the most forward-looking thinkers of our

time to the conclusion that in order to meet the increasing demands

of life in our evolving world, new capacities are going to be

required from all of us—not the least of which will be an

unprecedented willingness to change and keep changing in order to

respond to new life conditions as they emerge.

You are a teacher of what has traditionally been called

Enlightenment—the life-transforming realization of our ultimate

nature, which is widely considered to be not only the summit of all

spiritual seeking but the greatest and final aim of human existence.

This profound spiritual awakening has often been described as the

realization of the changeless, the timeless, the unborn, the

uncreated—that absolute reality which remains forever untouched by

anything that happens in the world of time, evolution, and becoming.

What I would like to ask you is this: What does the discovery of

this timeless dimension of being have to tell us about how to

respond to the challenges of a world in which time itself seems to

be accelerating out of control? How can the realization of the

changeless help us to navigate a future in which constant change may

well be the only constant?

Byron : How do we respond to a world that seems out of control?

The world seems that way because it is out of control—the sun rises

whether we want it to or not, the toaster breaks, someone cuts you

off on your way to work. We've never had control. We have the

illusion of control when things go the way we think they should, and

then when they don't, we say we've lost control, and we long for

some sort of state where we imagine we'll have control again.

But suffering isn't a result of not having control or of things

accelerating. It is a result of arguing with reality. When we

believe our thoughts, we suffer, but when we question them, we don't

suffer. Freedom is as simple as that. When the unquestioned mind

moves out of its arguments with reality, we move into alignment with

constant change. After all, change is happening anyway, whether we

like it or not. Everything changes, it seems. But when we're

attached to our thoughts about what that change should be, being out

of control feels uncomfortable.

If there is, in fact, an acceleration of changes, it's a gift. The

apparent craziness of the world, like everything else, is a gift

that we can use to set our minds free. You can't free yourself by

finding a " timeless, changeless dimension " outside your own mind.

When you question what you believe, you eventually come to see that

you are the timeless, changeless dimension that you've been seeking.

Then you may find that you don't need to navigate a future at all—

that what appears now is all you've got, and even that is always

immediately gone. And when you've stopped doing war with reality,

you are what changes, totally without control. That state of

constant change is creation without limits, efficient and free and

beautiful beyond description.

Byron Kathleen Reid was living what seemed to be an ordinary life:

three kids, a second marriage, a successful career. In her thirties,

however, became increasingly depressed and over a ten-year

period sank into rage, paranoia, and despair, obsessively thinking

about suicide. Finally, in February of 1986, she checked into a

halfway house. Then one morning, a few weeks later, she

spontaneously discovered a wordless process of inquiry that

dissolved all her suffering, leaving her without any concepts of who

or what she was. In response to others who saw her radical

transformation and wanted to achieve the same state, created

what she calls " The Work, " putting into words the internal questions

that were the keys to her freedom. currently spends most of

her time travelling and teaching. She recently published her first

book, Loving What Is.

> Dear Andy,

>

> So you are a person that needs or wants EVIDENCE to believe in

> something. Is evidence neccessary to all people for their belief

> system? Works for you, it seems, but perhaps Roslyn does not

> need " evidence " -- she just feels it. Are you trying to get Roslyn

to

> doubt her belief? Or are you talking just for yourself? Do you

have

> respect for other's points of view to the point that you can just

let

> it be and not have to put your spin on it?

>

> And how come many people who consider themselves awakened aren't

> terribly funny? It's all serious talk all day long. Yeesh. ,

> though, seems to have a sense of humor. And that's why I like

's

> (and often) Tami's posts, because they make me laugh AND think.

>

>

>

> >

> > I think when the soul evolves it goes back to God and doesnt

> > reincarnate here anymore Or it might evolve enough to go to

another

> > planet.. till it returns to God.. just a theory..

> >

> >

> > *****So, let's review. You think/believe that there is this

thing

> > you call " soul. " You can't explain what it is made up of. You

> can't

> > tell me where it comes from or from what it is created. You

can't

> > describe its attributes.

> >

> > It seems like you believe in some...thing...about which you have

no

> > idea. Does that seem intelligent?

> >

> > Please understand: I'm not saying " soul " doesn't exist. I

really

> > don't know. However, I see no evidence of it and without any

> > evidence of its presence, without any knowledge of what it is,

nor

> > any information about what it is composed of, I see no reason to

> > sustain a belief that it exists. Why do you, since you have no

> > answers to these questions (which is what you wrote in your

> previous

> > post)?

> >

>