As we move " in time and space " into the new millennium, a debate is warming up among  Teachers (but most hotly debated among their students or seekers) about the nature of Enlightenment -- or choose your synonym-- as the Internet propagates an information explosion, and I listen in.

The primary question about the " E " word, or its equivalent, is " what is it? " The question itself has become a popular journal title.  Around that core Quest arises questions about its degrees or stages, its permanence or not once " achieved "(a misnomer), and the general diversity of experience  around it , including definitions and specificity of synonyms, i.e.,context of descriptive language.  What a busy global net we have created!. . .just crackling with excitement about this quantum leap in our evolution of consciousness, this transformational shift which is underway.

As we explore this question, truly the Ultimate Quest,...
First let's be clear that we as egos take ourselves way too seriously.  We are illusory identities entertaining ourselves with shadow play on the wall with our backs to the sun.  It is Lilah, the divine play creating form and experience (but I use this "name" playfully, not as another god or goddess.)

This "Seed" will sprout and grow into a tour of this interplay between ego and The One. The great irony in all of this is the divine humor of  "enlightened Teachers debating", or semi enlightened Teachers/seekers trying to teach and seek at once.  Sometimes we must either eat or chew gum, but not both at once.  This is  perfect too, for the comedy it is, but this tour promises "Teacher" or "Witness" perspective as primary, reserving ego games for comic relief, even as "I" write.  However,  we can truly  See as Witness and do as ego  from both causal  and manifest  perspectives at once, though the resulting paradox can be confusing.

Egos debate! But that Oneness is the essence of Consciousness Itself . In that Omni-Prescence, regardless of what you call  It or what you name the divine,  there is no debate! There is only Unity . .  Essential Unity as One Identity. . .  Beyond the concept... in actual Being.  There is only That, call it what you will.

The debate is among seekers, not finders.  Seeker develop this thing called devotion around their Teacher, and eventually s/he can't talk them into Being That Love Themselves, because they fixate on the " special-ness " of the teacher.

I am with Satyam Nadeen ( Seekers to Finders) on the absolute wonder of Being naturally ordinary! ("What about miracles?" is another question.  But the manifest Cosmos is the miracle of Consciousness manifesting everywhere!)

Those who enter, by whatever way (or Way) are One with  "It". Then what is there to debate?  "Which is the  ' better ', or even ' best ' way to ' to get there'?" ( "there" being ego's perspective... we're truly "here" already.  ). . .  Or, " How sudden or gradual is it? " . . . or, " Is it always permanent if it is " true Enlightenment? " There are as many answers as experiences " around It. "What experiences validate it ?"  How does "the One" act then, through "this one?" Each one has his /her own experiential context ,each unique.

 So let's sit down at the table and share this communion in Consciousness Itself, which nourishes the soul and inspires it to transcend its illusory limits by which it defines ( makes f.inite) it's identity, the thing we have named " myself ".

What is Enlightenment?  Well. . . Let's approach this question playfully . (The direct approach can get in its own way when " mind " reaches for infinity.)

Just to over- complicate it and keep the little mind busy, let's say , E=MC to the "n th" power, where Enlightenment= Me ( myself) multiplied by Consciousness to the"n th" power, which not only approaches infinity but becomes the Infinite Oneness.  Let E also equal Epiphany, the direct experience of the Divine, which also equals  Gnosis, to know the divine directly, beyond empirical knowledge. . .  Likewise,... Awakening. . .  Self Realization,... Nirvana/Samadhi, (which implies degrees of permanence,) and so on through all traditions and cultures of all ages.

To continue this tour in a playful ,non direct way,... If we play with naming  maybe we can see through it better.  Say we include Deity Itself in the above listed names and then construct an acronym, ... E.G.A.D.S!.  ...Enlightenment =  Gnosis = Awakening = Deity = Self Realization. ( The divine One plays through this  wordsmith. )

The dark humor is and how we get caught up in our Naming and want to be " right " and make the other's names for the divine " wrong ", or "off the mark" ( the literal meaning  for "sin", your basic  condemnation word for "others stuff " of which  you don't approve.E.G.A.D.S.!, indeed. It's time to get over it, brothers and sisters, and wake up beyond our fabricated ego " identities " into Cosmic union, starting with the one/ones " closest " and expanding that circle ever outward into Infinite Oneness.

If you doubt that we are One Consciousness expressing as all these forms, all individuality, then you still buy the illusion of personal identity as more " real " than the Transpersonal identity you think of as " God -out -there ", contrasting with " me -in -here ".  The " Shift ", another " E " word, is seeing and knowing that this very barrier or boundary is an illusion. . .  But the mind cannot go there; the finite gets lost in the infinite.  This irony factor permeates the whole "discussion"( literally, to " cut up "), which is not truly a " dialogue "( literally ," to speak to together".)

Definitions of " E" and its equals define, or make finite distinctions among various kinds of experiences.  But Consciousness Itself is Infinite, not contained in these forms.  " In-form-ation" means ""put into form. "" My " genetic information and specific life experiences are unique, as are everyone's.  But Consciousness is formless, being the causal agent of form, the Creator in each and all.  The mind can " stand under it " in awe as  in " under the stars ", but it can't understand it.  The personal mind tries, in vain, to be " informed " of the Infinite, but in-forming is not transcending; which is the " direction " toward " Awakening ". . .  Then re-integrating is the other half of the process...as Creator manifesting  this creation locally.

Next on " my list " of hot topics gleaned from surfing  the Web on the " Enlightenment " word  wave. . .  (Isn't it awesome how our planet, our Mother is growing a neural network of individual, group, and community minds all linked together . . . and I don't mean just this technological wonder, amazing as it is, but the whole "noosphere" or "Akasha" or Global " over soul ", by whatever name.)...
The next question was about the stages or degrees, relative or absolute permanence, and the finality, completeness, or perfection of Enlightenment as experienced in so many ways.  A related question is about its gradual growth versus sudden appearance in fullness.

One short and true answer  is" all of the above " can be true of " E "; and ego can deceive itself in any and all modes above.

Who is " a fully Enlightened One? ", and who just partially?

There is only One " Light ", a metaphor for Consciousness, seamless, Whole and Infinite.

" Claiming " is an ego function, including claiming " I am an enlightened one."  Knowing  that " i ", personal identity, am really " nobody ", and " I Am, We Are, God is, One Conscious Being " . . . is the truth that Teachers know.

Each teacher has his or her True story of Awakening.  When " i " really awoke to the realization that " i " was no one, nowhere in this Infinite sea ("see") That I Am,  then " claiming Enlightenment " seemed like a great parody which we could call " egos on parade ".  It's all God . . . or Goddess. . . ( We need a non-polarized word here.)  When " awake ", " I " get to manifest  God- here -now, and so do you.  There is no barrier or limit but that which we impose through ignore-ance of this Omniprescence.  This ignorance is the shadow play of thinking we are this one or that one.  " We are The One manifesting locally as this one and that one.

" It " grew very gradually, this realization, in " me " as an individual.  Gradually " my individuality " became clearly secondary, in the relative field, and Unity Consciousness primary, in the absolute, beyond " field ", in the causal dimension of Being , prior to doing or creating.

There were breakthroughs, plateaus, peak experiences, . .. forgetful periods stuck in ego programs. . .  More wakeful periods " watching my movie " with perfect compassion/detachment. . .  More hard falls, like trying to hang onto  It and  claim it as the great prize all seekers seek.

After about 25 years of meditation " I " notice that this Witness was almost always present, even when " i" made a fool of "myself "as a " great new-age Teacher ", that ironic parody of Oneness. ( I had locally published a Great Pyramid prophecy interpretation which was in error....We will see if the correction I was given works out to be true.) Anyway, this performer in life's divine drama was entertaining the One with his antics ,and the Witness, full of perfect equanimity and compassion blessed the performer with more and more grace transcending the personal or separate identity illusion.

And then the performer and the Author were consciously One.  " They " are always One; always have been and always will be, but the key is "consciously."

But ...there is always a " but "...  " Shit "still happens! A moment asleep at the wheel and. . .  Crash! Even in small fleeting moments, like when I'm 95% chopping firewood and 5% wondering when that rain down in the valley is going to get here, I might miss my " pocket " where the first swing started cracking the round, and it will take an extra swing to finish it.

And there is still more "serious shit", like when I  I sat on a cracked plank full of bricks on my scaffold; it snapped and I fell to the concrete and got badly injured. . .  This just a year ago.  So if you expect Enlightenment to look a certain way. . .  Well, know that  it expresses uniquely through each individual, and the "inertia" of personal programs can still be operating, though we transcend and alter them as they come up.
I am now  totally healed from that " accident " , but the old cliche' is true, " no accidents ".  It was a perfect lesson in  my  total context of all circumstances.  And " I " witnessed the whole process from total Compassion-in-equanimity.  " I ", who? When this inquiry goes beyond the intellectual exercise to the core of  Being. . .  not  " you're being " but Being  Itself. . .  Then the threshold (which our egos fabricate) between observer and observed is crossed and we enter through the Great Door of the Inner Sanctum and find Gnosis in the Oneness of Consciousness Itself.

In " my personal story " (published locally) I have given a date when " my " darkest night of the soul was over--4/4/94--, and the Witness has stayed present since then, but now " my story " is written and past.  " I " live here and now ,but the one "i" thought " i" was is not real anymore, even though the same personae are functional in the relative world. These are" my " roles as husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, friend. . .  "Teacher", contractor, etc.. . ( I choose to remain anonymous as author of this web site, because it is not about "me" but rather about Enlightenment Itself. )

Beyond Time, I Am The Presence in the Present.  Beyond Space, I Am The  Infinite One.  So are all of us whether or not we fully realize " It " yet.

In summary; I Am/We Are/God-Goddess Is One. . .  Consciousness Creating All Individual Forms. . .  From atoms to humans to galaxies to the Whole Cosmos . . . to multiple Cosmoses..."Cosmi?". ..beyond the reach of even our extended senses.                  I Am One! manifesting as All Creation!

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