Question 1: What is enlightenment or Realization?
Answer: Concepts to indicate that someone is acting to his natural state. Since no one can be separated from this natural state, these ideas are concepts of the mind which are not consistent with reality.
Because people think they have forgotten what their natural state means, they call gurus who must tell them that they have always been in their natural condition. Ofcourse people hear only what they want to hear so their guru's must behave as a good enlightened guru. Because people often think that this state must be reached so that you finally find peace, happiness and liberation many people are just looking for a guru to console them in their suffering. There are gurus here to respond, because consolation temporary can bring relief of suffering . There's nothing wrong with that. However, the essence of Enlightenment or Realisation, is that you realize that you are not substantial suffering and that suffering is by definition an illusion. There are only few who are willing to see through this illusion and give up suffering.
Someone who claims that he himself is so enlightened as daylight, in principle, he always speaks the truth, however it is up to you to discover what his actions do to you. So you can always walk from one to the other enlightened guru untill you discover that you yourself are your best teacher. Everything you experience with any kind of guru ,it's nothing but you, because that guru appears IN you . Now your guru can be the enlightened neighbor, but also the enlightened butcher, the cashier or Aunt Mary.
It depends on where you yourself believe in or where you're receptive. There are some very good speakers or teachers in this world, where you can dream away because you allow that these people touch you with their words. But be aware: the person sitting next to you at that moment, or a passing wanderer, a musician or a complaining mother can be your enlightened teacher, too. You are always enlightened, but do you realize that?
Question 2: Anne, are you enlightened?
My heart is FULL of ...
The nature of Anne is a bit stubborn, some grumpy. The character of Anne is introverted, sometimes she exhibits strong mood swings and her brain sucks sometimes. Do we have a problem now? No, absolutely not.
Whether I, Anne, is enlightened or realized is a wrong question. Enlightenment is nothing but a concept, an image that you would like to imagine that you've reached the ultimate happiness. Enlightenment does not exist, unless you really understand that you and your world appears in light and soeverything is enlightened.
I read on the internet a lot of information about the Advaita Vedanta. You only need to google on 'satsang' and about hundreds of people present themselves to be with you in silence , or talk about the great mystery of our existence. If you're seeking for truth, I suggest you to visit these satsangs, maybe it takes you somewhere.
The experiences in my life are interesting to emphasize my identity, but actually it is not the point. It's about what I really am and that's just not that identity, What I really am is where my heart is full of: the Unspeakable.. Call it God, call it consciousness, call it what you want, but it is too big and impossible to comprehend or understand. I am totally convinced, I know what I'm talking about, although I can't paradoxically know anything. . This ignorance is pure clarity.
Whether I met a 'real enlightened person', I have never asked myself, because everyone is by defintion enlightened or in its natural state. But sometimes I let myself be carried away by doubt and I wondered what happens with the personal life of someone who claimed to be enlightened. Does he still eat and drink? Does he brush his teeth? Why does he smokes? Does he have preferences? And more important, would he think I am attractive? Does he think I am special?
The answer is that these questions are actually more of the same: the preservation of the ego .. Maintaining the source of suffering. Someone you state enlightened lives just like a 'normal' person. . A guru will generally not respond to questions about his personal life, because the use of the personality is misleading you.
Someone who sees that you and I are the same will not feel a need to respond to personal questions. The dream of the past and your invented identity fades, and the whole quest is never done. The question of how someone came to realization is proving to be entirely irrelevant, as is seen that there is no path. You're always where you are.
If you are looking for your true identity you first must try to find your "Me" . . Only if you really want to look and look carefully, you'll discover that you will not find a "Me" because "Me" does not exist. You'll be most aware of a "Me" that perceives a "Me" but then again there is again a "Me'' who sees a "Me". ! So you can go on to infinity, because there is no final 'Me! ( Actually, the final "Me" you will never see because this is what you really ARE)
Then you can start to wonder whó is there, what's up there behind the final witness ( the final 'I" or "me")? Some say: God. Others say: No One.
There is nobody to be enlightened
Question 3: Which path should I walk to come to enlightenment ?
Liberation lies in the fact that you dare to accept totally your search, your search which contains all your experiences and your personality. This acceptance is the dedication and relaxation. Denial of your personality can be life threatening, especially for psychiatric patients. . A psychiatric patient must know himselve very well to know what makes him anxious. Dissociation can evoke fear, because everything you clung away will disapear. Before you realize it, you jump 'enlightened' from a flat while you desperately cries: "I'm so damn entlighened!" What you really are can only be understood if you're totally aware of what happens in your mind and body, Become aware of your true feelings and emotions !
Yet the experience of "liberation" is not True Liberation. 'Liberation' is another concept that should be achieved. Experiences come and go and concepts are based on the belief in it.
True liberation lies in seeing experiences and concepts. And thisview of the show of experiences and concepts is seen again. So what you see is what you see is what you see (infinity) and that is "the realization where are no experiences." In that sense, True Deliverance has nothing to do with peace, happiness or hope and comforting whatsoever.
There can be no path to freedom, because the paths are illusionary and freedom is nothing more than a new concept that you commit to cling.
True liberation lies in Openness. Openness is the highest possible 'profit' that can be achieved. If you are open, completely open to follow all possible stories, you feel that there is nobody who does something, there is no will. And yet the whole world is at your disposal. This is the ultimate liberation.
But how do you do this, opening yourself ? Is it something you can choose and make it happen ?
You could say that if you think you've seen liberation, or once experienced it, you're there. This is the big mistake (because you were there already), and the misunderstanding that hangs around gurus: thinking that they have seen it and that they are enlightened or realized. Open yourself is not something you can do. Opening yourself is a spontaneous process that naturally happens when you become aware of your inner world, which is equal to the outer.
I have fought for a long time against the fact that gurus claim that the ordinary person's preferences are retained after 'realization'. I thought that if you really have seen that you are the world itself, that this vision inevitably has an impact on your daily functioning. Het is niet een kwestie van 'een beetje mediteren, beetje aandacht geven aan, en het leven gaat nu vrolijk verder', nee, als je gezien hebt wie je werkelijk bent, dan moet dat de persoonlijkheid veranderen. It is not a matter of "a little meditation, a little attention , and life goes merrily on. No, I thought, if you've seen who you really are, then that the personality will change. So basically - I thought - you get automatically a halo around you, whether people are happy around you because you radiate peace. Well, let me tell you this: this is not true.
Why not? Each person receives what he wishes to receive. Are you looking for a person who should give you peace , you'll find him or her on your terms. Are you looking for a guru with a charismatic aura: you will be attracted by somebody with charism . It's your world. Everything what lives in you is you. Where ever your attention (rudderless) goes, that's you.
This is the openness that I want to give to you: there are unhappy enlightened people, there are aggressive enlightened people, there are stubborn enlightened people, there are disturbed enlightened people, there are social and peacefully enlightened people . The latter will most appeal to you, because that's what you're looking for: peace. This peace where you are looking for is an experience, an experience that you can train by meditating al lot. Maybe you are lucky that you were grown up in a stabile familiy in combination with your quiet character so that you're set pretty peaceful. Or maybe you're busy with denying certain facets of your life. The openness lies in the fact that you start looking at your judgments about aggression, misfortune, anger, disturbance, tranquility. The truth lies in the fact that everything you judge is a conditioning which is usually based on fear and ignorance. The truth is that the conditioning is so strong that your identity is based on this.
A conditioned identity is actually quite natural. . This is why you can not do much and so a depressed disturbed enlightened person stays just himself.Just like the quiet, inconspicuous, friendly enlightened persons. (They also will have their unpleasant traits, but that you don't want to see) The realizing of this conditioning is a piece of cake. Everyone knows this already because 'knowing' is quite natural, and conditioning as well. The natural state is what you áre , whatever they say about it ! Well, this is relieving, isn't it ? What I am saying here is just follow your heart.
I would like to take you to the 'safe harbour: Home'. . All the searching and all religions has been based on finding Home. I know you want to read about comfort, you want a clear instruction, and you would prefer to hear from another one who you really are. You will not like it if the story never leads to somewhere. You think a good story should have a happy end. I wil not give you a happy ending story nor an unhappy ending. This is because it's not about happiness. It's about Truth. .
There are gurus who claim that "enlightened people " are free of concerns because they are in a specific state that this preselected. This is only true (for you) if you think you are looking for an absolute solution for all your problems. Realize that the goal "free from concerns" is another concept that is held for you, and that your search for this takes place within this concept. Something like 'concerning' does not disappear, at most it is seen as a phenomenon that comes and goes without a Me who claims this emotion. Just like anyone else, the 'enlightened' die of lung cancer, heart attacks, old age and other ailments which seem to take place in this collective dream.
Beware of the opposition knowing / not knowing. Nobody knows more than you know.
Question 4: Is it necessary to have a stable personality to achieve enlightenment ?
Whether it is necessary to have a stable personality to investigate yourself and thus to come to the very core, is actually irrelevant. Each compulsive idiot, any psychotherapeutic seeker feels substantial to what his life is about. I can still remember that I knew my search for ultimate truth could not begin until I had indulged my personal suffering. I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling and regretted the fact that I was not able to take a trip to England and to listen to the words of Krishnamurti. . I had to walk a different path and I could not help myself: the psychic pain that roared through my body screamed for attention. And for sure the attention was gonna be paid, I could not help it.
The idea that a certain maturity should be present before you could walk the way to the Self is a little something to maintain the concept of achieving some illusionary purpose. In other words, to maintain the suffering. I say: there is no road, there is no maturity.
The total surrender is the triumph of life, even though that life is full of pain and misfortune.
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