Enlightenment

Enlightenment is the experiential understanding of the Eternal nature of the Universe, which is the chief doctrine of the shaman/mystic; it is the epiphany that you are God (the Universe). Everything is understood to coexist simultaneously as both “positive” and “negative;” a perfect balance; the triad of Being. This can only be if, in fact, the Universe is an Eternal Whole, of which nothing could be “amiss,” but part of a distinct process with a purpose of no purpose; it just is. In light of this seemingly paradoxical and “pointless” existence, there arises a profound realization during this experience that, if we are going to live this same life over and over again, then there is a great responsibility bestowed upon us to subsequently redeem our collectively-shared unconsciousness and therefore direct our wills toward an awareness of Oneness for the betterment of all. This is due to the fact that our knowledge of our unconsciousness acts as the “greatest weight” upon us and the only way to free ourselves of this weight is to liberate it via the integration of God's Eternal Nature. To accomplish this, man must confront his Jungian shadow (the unconscious); then and only then, will he realize that he is the progenitor of his own reality; he will effectively realize his true nature as God, the Eternal Self of the Universe.

“In so far as analytical treatment makes the "shadow" conscious, it causes a cleavage and a tension of opposites which in their turn seek compensation in unity. The adjustment is achieved through symbols. The conflict between the opposites can strain our psyche to the breaking point, if we take them seriously, or if they take us seriously. The tertium non datur (there is no third) of logic proves its worth: no solution can be seen. If all goes well, the solution, seemingly of its own accord, appears out of nature. Then and then only is it convincing. It is felt as "grace." Since the solution proceeds out of the confrontation and clash of opposites, it is usually an unfathomable mixture of conscious and unconscious factors, and therefore a symbol, a coin split into two halves, which fit together precisely. It represents the result of the joint labors of consciousness and the unconscious, and attains the likeness of the God-image in the form of a mandala, which is probably the simplest model of a concept of wholeness, and one, which spontaneously arises in the mind as a representation of the struggle and the reconciliation of opposites. The clash, which is at first of a purely personal nature, is soon followed by the insight that the subjective conflict is only a single instance of the universal conflict of opposites. Our psyche is set up in accord with the structure of the universe, and what happens in the macrocosm likewise happens in the infinitesimal and most subjective reaches of the psyche. For that reason the God-image is always a projection of the inner experience of a powerful vis-a-vis (face to face).” Carl Jung, ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections: Late Thoughts’

The climax of the experience of enlightenment involves a full blown epiphany of the Oneness of the Universe: time ends, Eternity is experientially realized, and subsequently, death is experienced as a transition of being; not the end of our existence, effectively eliminating any fear of dying. The person thus raptured experiences the death of his ego; his merely limited sense of self is totally dissolved, enabling him to comprehend for the first time the Ground of All Being; the Eternal Universe of which he understands that he is. Essentially, the individual’s microcosmic, Earthly frame of reference slowly erodes leaving behind only a macrocosmic, Universal frame of reference, which is almost entirely ineffable. All that was previously unconscious is revealed to consciousness: it is as if the entire mystery of life dissolves before one’s eyes, leaving one to comprehensively feel and understand the predestined purpose and synchronistic order behind all things and events in the Universe. The concept of God presents itself as a divine totality symbol of Love/Oneness and paradoxically, reciprocity (forming the triad of Reconciliation). The realization dawns upon consciousness that, “I am God.” (This is precisely why Christ equated Himself with the Father, because He was acutely aware that He is the Father; He is God, of which we all are – which, by the way, was His principle teaching.) This understanding is paralleled in Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks God for his name and God replies, “I am that I am.” That is, “I am self-created; I am existence and I am void; I am One in a trinity of being – the All.” This tautology is also found in the Hindu Vedas (the Chandoyga Upanishad 6.8.7) as “tat tvam asi,” which translates to “thou art that.” Truly, thou art that, the Universe - God.

“When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same… then you will enter the Kingdom…

It is I who am the light, which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.” Jesus, Gospel of Thomas, Nag Hammadi Library

“To the individual thus enlightened it appears as a vivid and overwhelming certainty that the universe, precisely as it is at this moment, as a whole and in every one of its parts, is so completely right as to need no explanation or justification beyond what it simply is. Existence not only ceases to be a problem; the mind is so wonder-struck at the self-evident and self-sufficient fitness of things as they are, including what would ordinarily be thought the very worst, that it cannot find any word strong enough to express the perfection and beauty of the experience. Its clarity sometimes gives the sensation that the world has become transparent or luminous, and its simplicity the sensation that it is pervaded and ordered by a supreme intelligence. At the same time it is usual for the individual to feel that the whole world has become his own body, and that what-ever he is has not only become, but always has been, what everything else is. It is not that he loses his identity to the point of feeling that he actually looks out through all other eyes, becoming literally omniscient, but rather that his individual consciousness and existence is a point of view temporarily adopted by something immeasurably greater than himself.” Alan Watts, ‘This is It’

“…there came upon me a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immediately followed by an intellectual illumination impossible to describe. Among other things, I did not merely come to believe, but I saw that the universe is not composed of dead matter, but is, on the contrary, a living Presence; I became conscious in myself of eternal life. It was not a conviction that I would have eternal life, but a consciousness that I possessed eternal life then; I saw that all men are immortal; that the cosmic order is such that without any peradventure all things work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle of the world, of all worlds, is what we call love, and that the happiness of each and all is in the long run absolutely certain. The vision lasted a few seconds and was gone; but the memory of it and the sense of the reality of what it taught has remained during the quarter of a century which has since elapsed.” Richard Bucke, ‘Cosmic Consciousness’

“Just now my world became perfect, midnight is also midday – Pain is also a joy, curse is also a blessing, night is also a sun – be gone! or you will learn: a wise man is also a fool.” Friedrich Nietzsche, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'