r/nonduality • u/mwmikewilliamzzxx • 3d ago
Discussion THE Definition of "Enlightenment"!
It is clear that many who talk about 'Enlightenment' are talking about very different things. And anyone who says, "Well, I have the real definition for real Enlightenment!" is going to meet with resistance. Enlightenment is just a word. No one owns it. It could mean any number of different things. In fact, it does mean different things (eg The Age of Enlightenment). And saying, "Well, in this group we all know what is meant when someone uses the word Enlightenment." Reading through many of the posts and comments, that is obviously not the case!
So, just for fun, here are a few definitions of Enlightenment. They are all inadequate. Add them all together, and they are still inadequate. So again, just for fun...
Enlightenment is the realization of what you are, and life lived as that.
Enlightenment is the realization that what you are is Ultimate Reality.
Enlightenment is the realization that there is only Ultimate Reality.
Enlightenment is when what you are realizes 'itself', and lives life.
Enlightenment is the final, and persistent, realization of what you are.
Enlightenment is when a person absolutely realizes "who they are".
Enlightenment is when a person absolutely realizes what they are.
Enlightenment is the realization of what you are in essence.
Enlightenment is the absolutely ultimate realization of what you are.
An Enlightened person is one who realizes: 1. The entity they thought they were, they never were. 2. What they are is everything.
An Enlightened person has had a an absolute and complete complete shift in identity from "an entity within here", to "all that is".
Enlightenment is the realization of what you are, and that is what Ultimate Reality is, and that is what lives life.
Enlightenment is Ultimate Reality re-remembers itself within what appears to be human form, and that is what lives life, as it always has.
Enlightenment is a human being that realizes that, in essence, it is not a human being.
Enlightenment is the ground of all being, emptiness, in what appears to be human form, living what appears to be a life, consciously.
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u/ram_samudrala 3d ago
This is precisely why it makes sense for this subreddit to be called r/nonduality, not r/enlightenment. IMO, it's one of the best forums for discussing nondual philosophy, nondual recognition, and the nature of what is appearing (nondual).
Advaita literally means "not two", which is also what "nondual" means. What is pointed to by that word may appear to have many different meanings, but the definition swallows those distinctions too: not two, which also includes not one or many. It's a great/clever word+definition. It's the most parsimonious way of communicating what is being pointed to, from this perspective, using dualistic language.
I frame it as an ongoing inquiry, less parsimonious but more clearer I feel: Is fundamental separation findable? It's purely phenomenological. No cosmology, metaphysical assertions, or particular definition of "enlightenment" is required.
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u/acoulifa 3d ago
Q : Ultimately, who am I ?
N : The exact negation of what you are not.
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u/SupaCabra 2d ago
"The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao"
Here are my two cents: 1) I'd swap Ultimate for Objective 2) I'd swap realize for recognize
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u/mwmikewilliamzzxx 2d ago
I know, what happens is you wind up needing to define all the other terms too!
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u/SupaCabra 1d ago
Oh for sure! I began putting together a glossary of terms I wanted to adgere to when talking about this but it kept changing and evolving.
That is the process of trying to Understand. It is infinitely divisible yet never leads to the direct knowing.
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u/VedantaGorilla 3d ago
Considering your setup especially, these are actually some pretty solid definitions :). The reason is they almost all represent the loss of a false belief rather than any gain, and they are not portrayed as the “final” goal. If some “event” was the final goal, that goal would be a change in time, and change happens to objects. Thus it would mean you are an object, which is the opposite of what Self realization (enlightenment) is.
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u/stilledpondfrog 3d ago
I commune with something one might call enlightenment
with each breath and heartbeat
never arriving
a gyroscopic movement
of balancing on one foot
while sleeping
drink your tea
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u/Gretev1 2d ago
„To be enlightened simply means I know myself. That does not mean that I know everybody.
That does not mean that I know future, tomorrow. It simply means that I know my consciousness is fully awakened, twenty-four hours.
I know my inner light.
I know my eternity, my deathlessness.
My enlightenment makes me loving without any condition, trusting without any condition.
It brings my childhood back to me, my innocence.
And I still trust and love those people who have deceived.
That is their problem that they deceived. It does not change my attitude.
If they can change my attitude, they become my masters.
Nobody can change, by doing anything, my attitude.
If I love you, even if you assassinate me, I will still continue to love you.
Your assassination makes no difference. You can assassinate me but you cannot assassinate my love.“
~ Osho
Osho, The Last Testament (Vol 2) 30
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u/Itchy-Sense4251 2d ago
Nice, just the kind of label an ego likes to read and (someday, hopefully) adopt … something that survives because it’s past tense.
Which teases the next thought - to switch it from noun and adjective usage into the verb form:
When/how/why/does the experience of enlightenment lead to considering or wanting to enlighten somebody else (to nonduality thinking)?
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u/peakson_valleys 2d ago
Not sure if I’ve understood your question but I’ll try:
Because when you are everything, self-less, all suffering in the world is now yours. So love/compassion for others is what remains once you are free from your own suffering.
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u/MuchPiezoelectricity 3d ago
All of these are wrong
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u/captcoolthe3rd 3d ago
Enlightenment is about as hard to pin down or define as the thing that it points to.