On The Path

Of Enlightenment



It helped to have seemingly lost everything. It helped to have help. It isn’t always pleasant to be suddenly confronted with the loss of just about everything one treasures, but it is a start if one desires self realization and to walk the path of being one with all things.



Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, Paramahansa Yogananda, Confucious, and countless others have described becoming one with the universe, (or the infinite present), and have given instructions on how they achieved this completeness.
 


For this journey to the essence of life, you cannot take any baggage. Any physical, mental, or spiritual trappings will hold you back. Had events and circumstance not stripped away most of the stuff that I thought defined ‘me’, I don’t think the rest would have sloughed off as readily as it did.



In addition to having studied various philosophies, religions, and meditative techniques for most of my life, (at least since I was 13 or 14 and was advised to seek enlightenment in all possible ways), I have been close to some divinely gifted people who have nudged me along toward my path of enlightenment.



Over the years I have experienced various upward manifestations with friends and acquaintances. These shared awakenings have bonded us for life. They might have been magical moments in love, sports, or music. They could have been shared ‘near death’ experiences that sparked the desire to revisit that moment of light, or the promise that there was even more if one stepped through that opening to a higher plane of existence.



I have been wondering why some of the people I know, don’t seem to be getting any farther along the path than the point where they stepped on.

In the AA big book the inability to ‘trudge’ along on the path of enlightenment is attributed to holding on to old ideas and behaviors. I can see my progress improve each time I cast aside another negative concept or wasteful habit. It works. Life gets better after the first 12 steps point one in the right direction.


Silly, comic relief

In the past, I have tried to force enlightenment by the strength of my will. But of course that just pushes me farther away from the realization I seek. The way to enlightenment is the complete absence of will, ego, or any other thinking by which I define myself or my place in this world.

I have found that trying to achieve ‘nirvana’ by squinching up my face, forcing my muscles into knots, huffing, puffing, sweating and straining, accomplishes little more than physical discomfort. This is why most meditation methods are designed to achieve total relaxation of body and mind.

Even the most strenuous tasks can be more competently dispatched when approached with a happy attitude.



I guess what I am trying to say is that it would not have been so easy to surrender all the things that were important to me had they not been torn from my grasp. The way to enlightenment includes abandoning all that defines who we are in this world and very few of us would voluntarily give up all our earthly possessions, desires, and sense of self.

Since there was so little of ‘me’ left, it was my time to grow. Once one is released from those things that bind us to the life we have, we can begin to reconstruct who we are potentially capable of being. What a wonderful and timely gift. ( although I didn’t see losing all that was near and dear was a gift at the time ).

I think that having written this post tonight, I can let go of any further need to explain in my words, what has been explained by many men and women ever since explaining began.

Today’s Instructive Video;



It’s Easy, Once You Get It