Enlightened soul. What does spiritual enlightenment mean?
Every person who is engaged in spiritual self-development dreams of enlightenment. This is a very difficult path that everyone needs to go through in order to change their worldview, free themselves from prejudices and frameworks that prevent them from living a free, fulfilling life and loving this world with all their hearts.
If you decide to start down this path, here are some guidelines on what to do.
Get rid of habits that interfere with spiritual development
- Resistance
It’s worth starting with this bad habit. When we plan something important, and it doesn’t work out, we get upset, angry, and destroy everything around us – including our dreams. We resist the fact that now may not be the right time. Thus, we send negative impulses to the Universe and program ourselves in advance for failures in the future. Here we need to remember that sometimes certain life circumstances happen that we cannot change at the moment. They are given to us so that we gain experience, realize something and rethink our lives. By breaking this habit, we learn to let go, learn to wait for the right moment, and become stronger.
- Envy
This is a very common habit. Not everyone can admit that they have been jealous of a friend or colleague at least once. This is a very nasty feeling that eats us from the inside and greatly slows us down on the path to spiritual enlightenment. Learn to be happy for those around you and compare yourself only with your previous self, and not with someone else. Each person has his own path in life, both success and failure await him. Stop thinking that “Vasya already has a mansion at 35, and I live in a rented apartment” or “Ira got married at 25, and I’m still alone.” Cultivate a feeling of sincere joy for other people.
— Criticism
An unpleasant habit. Remember how often you criticized other people without really understanding the situation? You need to learn to look at any situation from all angles and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Why did he act this way and not otherwise? So there were reasons for that. Be tolerant and understanding. This is an important step on the path to spiritual enlightenment
Think about it, analyze yourself. Watch your words and actions. And then you will reach the first stage of enlightenment - this awareness or smriti.
Track states of mind
It is necessary to practice yoga and meditation in order to free your mind from restless thoughts in time, to cleanse it, to make it more sensitive and sensual. It is not enough to simply allow different states of mind to exist. One must analyze and observe, weed out unnecessary states and develop useful skillful states. You yourself choose what to think about and what qualities to develop in yourself in order to make yourself and the world around you better. This is the second stage of spiritual enlightenment - Dharma-vicaya.
Channel your energy in the right direction
If you have a lot of energy, both physically and emotionally, and you use it for unworthy purposes, it can hinder your enlightenment. Do not direct your energy to obtaining material benefits for yourself, let this not be your life goal. Direct your energy towards positive emotions and helping people. This is the third stage of enlightenment - Virya
Finding fulfillment
This is already the fourth stage of enlightenment - Preeti, which means joy and enthusiasm. There is nothing specific you need to do here. This state will overtake you on its own. You feel light in your soul, you love the whole world and the people around you, you feel that you have finally gotten rid of prejudices and bad habits. Feels like you are floating in the air like a balloon. This feeling occurs very often during meditation.
Finding Peace
Prashrabdhi. Fifth stage. A calm, stable feeling of pure happiness. Your mind is carefree, your soul is calm, you are happy.
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Mind training: learning to hear silence
Here, again, meditation and special practices will help us. Silence also has a sound - beautiful and filled with happiness and tranquility. You are no longer disturbed and irritated by extraneous sounds, and you are always in a good mood. You know how to concentrate and collect thoughts together - this is called one-pointedness of mind. One practice: Focus on one task at a time, such as when you wash the dishes. Let go of all thoughts, think only about this action. Listen to the water gurgling, concentrate on the movements and the sound of the dishes.
The last step is gaining impartiality
It is called upeksha. Safety, inexhaustible strength of body and spirit. You are like a rock against which waves and wind beat. Whatever period of life comes to you, you do not allow it to affect you. You become unshakable.
In fact, no matter how simple these steps may seem, each of these factors can take years to achieve. But the process itself is also important here: we make ourselves better, we develop, become strong, wise and happy.
We wish you success on this difficult but exciting path!
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The information that enlightened people live among us has been exciting, frightening and delighting humanity for several years now. A striking example of enlightenment is the Dalai Lama.
He, like his enlightened compatriots, differs from ordinary people in that if you look at him with the so-called “subtle” (energy) vision, you can see an unusual luminosity surrounding him, not typical of ordinary people.
Signs of enlightenment
Enlightened people, according to esoteric researchers, have a very smooth and clean energy field, producing clean, straight rays (usually multi-colored). It is also known that enlightened people living in big cities are forced to hide their luminosity so as not to be recognized.
According to a certain group of mystics, enlightenment is not connected with the arguments of logic. To be enlightened means to go beyond the limits of physical and mental capabilities. The physical body, not adapted to changes of this kind, often cannot withstand the load, and the phenomena that a person has to face are so powerful that they provoke mental and physical health disorders. Enlightenment has a particularly strong effect on the quality of sleep: a person becomes so meaningful that sleep cannot take over his body.
What kind of enlightened person is he? Signs that cannot be confused with anything else
In Tibet, facts of light absorption have been repeatedly recorded, but such cases are commonplace there. Through years of meditation, Tibetan lamas learn to separate the mind from the body. As a result, the body becomes unnecessary: the mind takes it with it into eternity in the form of absolute energy.
In the 60s of the 20th century, one Tibetan lama, a man with an awakened, enlightened consciousness, asked his loved ones not to disturb him and retired to his hut for a week. After this period, rainbow light “poured” from all the cracks of his house, and the lama himself disappeared without a trace.
Can “negative characters” achieve this state?
Adolf Hitler, who, according to some research groups, had the skills of a psychic, had no doubt that there was a place on the planet called the Hollow Earth. The idea of the existence of a hollow Earth inhabited by creatures that cannot be called people has indeed been discussed more than once among esotericists. The guesses of the Russian researcher of the occult magic of the German fascists, Sergei Zubkov, completely coincide with this statement.
The scientist believes that the reason for the racial cleansing that Hitler loved to carry out in the Third Reich was the Nazis’ attempts to attract the attention of the underground “masters” who were supposed to take part in the reorganization of the world as we know it.
Did Hitler have a chance of becoming an enlightened person? If you believe authoritative esotericists, the presence of paranormal abilities is not enlightenment, but rather a continuation of the game invented by the mind and ego. True, sometimes the game moves to a new level, that is, it becomes more sophisticated (but does not cease to be a game).
But this is not the peak yet - it is the mind that builds beautiful obstacles in front of those striving for the True Reality, making him think that he is almost at the goal. But if there is no real mentor next to the “player,” there will be no one to warn him that he is playing too hard.
All these games and levels, stages of awakening and enlightenment from the point of view of Unconditional Reality are the fruit of human imagination, since on the path to spiritual heights there are no players, no sleepers, no lost ones, no Absolute or relative reality. The mind uses information about the stages of enlightenment only to calm the ego. And the most widespread ways to get closer to God all come down to gradual and not devoid of duality, hard daily work, the implementation of which requires spending many years (or lives).
Enlightenment does not guarantee physical health
How long do enlightened people live? The answer to this question has shocked materialist scientists for several centuries.
Some historians and psychologists who deny the existence of True reality admit that an enlightened person may well be socially adapted and successful in the professional and financial spheres. After all, people who are ideal in all respects cannot be unhappy in family and social life.
Most materialists consider the main false argument, which does not “fit” into the esoteric picture of the world, to be the fact that enlightened people, who seemed to be closest to Divine miracles, became victims of earthly diseases from which they died prematurely.
The earthly body is a fragile thing
Indeed, many enlightened teachers died of cancer and other incurable diseases. Buddha, for example, died after several months of suffering caused by poisoning. His numerous followers, watching the suffering of their Teacher, expected first a miraculous recovery, and then a resurrection from the dead. But the miracle never happened.
Krishnamurti suffered from terrible migraines for almost 40 years, and Ramakrishna suffered from paranoid hallucinations, but died of throat cancer when he was 45 years old. Swami Vivekananda was diabetic and died at 38. His weight at the time of death was 120 kg.
Sri Swami Sivananda suffered from diabetes and obesity, and Sri Aurobindo suffered from tuberculosis and nephritis. Carlos Castaneda died of liver cancer when he was 73.
There are several opinions explaining the facts of the untimely departure of great Teachers. Two explanations, which will be discussed below, are considered to be most consistent with reality.
Not warned means disarmed
First, the sudden death of all great men is the result of unconditional service to others. Giving all their strength and knowledge to the suffering, they forgot to take care of their bodies.
Secondly, not a single teaching mentions that enlightenment is a shock of enormous force that pierces the brain like a bolt of lightning. Only a few enlightened people find the strength to save their brain from destruction. As a rule, the “lucky ones” include individuals who systematically trained and used their thinking abilities: philosophers, mathematicians, physicists...
According to statistics, an ordinary person uses his brain at about 5% of its potential. A great man uses about 15% of his potential. And the one who uses 33%, that is, a third of the possibilities, will be able to experience enlightenment.
Unspoken statistics are no less inexorable: sudden death overtakes 90% of people who managed to survive enlightenment. And the enlightened people of our time, the survivors (10% of them), will never tell anyone anything about their experience, because their brain is no longer subordinate to them, and therefore cannot be used as a speech mechanism.
These shocking details, which took place over many centuries, were never mentioned. But no one asked...
Side effects
The “best qualities” of an enlightened person make his further stay on Earth impossible. A large number of enlightened people die at the same moment - from the experience gained, the heart stops and the breath stops. Only a few remain alive, and almost all of them in the past were either dashing adventurers or had life-threatening professions. Having received some doses of exciting experiences throughout their previous lives, they were able to cope with more severe shocks. But even if their hearts did not stop after what happened, their bodies, having changed, would be subject to suffering.
The human body can function normally when it is within its capabilities. But since enlightenment is going beyond limits, everything that is poorly developed breaks down. The body also breaks down, which, fortunately, will never be of use to the enlightened one.
True Masters are silent about their achievements
Observant people have noticed that debates about the essence of enlightenment and methods of spiritual practices are the lot of beginners or those who have not even set foot on this path yet. Experienced mystics call this behavior a game of religious practicality, based on the desire to show off.
What is the reason for such discussions and conflicts? Experienced esotericists argue that, consciously or not, debaters express their uncertainty in this way: “Did I choose the right path?” Beginners, chatting about “high”, do not suspect that this is due to their lack of experience and uncertainty about the correctness of their life choices. The eyes of an enlightened person radiate calm and leave no doubt about the strength of his faith. As for a beginner’s faith, any example of someone else’s negative experience can weaken it.
Trying to prove to others (and above all to themselves) that they are on the right path, many beginners begin to doubt even more, and this doubt first gives rise to aggression, and then to fanaticism. What then? Defending your faith becomes a matter of honor and requires more and more radical measures, such as burning “heretics” and “witches”, intimidation by sects, “jihad” and so on.
What does "enlightened" mean? A person who wants to find a good teacher, at least once, asked himself this question. How to distinguish a real, enlightened master? By his silence. An enlightened guru will never get involved in a dispute about “whose faith is more correct,” since he knows that all paths of enlightenment lead to the same God, and therefore to the same result.
Theory and practice of enlightenment
Each of the methods of enlightenment provides for the possibility of receiving secret signs and consists of certain stages of awakening. As for secret signs, inexperienced students receive them from the guru, and people who have been practicing the spiritual path for a long time are guided by them to determine whether they are lost in the illusory “wilds” of their mind.
The secret signs of different schools differ from each other, so it makes no sense to compare them. These are just a kind of “notches”, upon seeing which the walker will understand that he is on the right path.
People engaged in various practices receive many different, blissful states (of which experience is made up), as well as the opportunity to see and hear what is hidden from ordinary people, go to the subtle worlds and meet saints. Many beginners, succumbing to temptation, force themselves to believe that they are already enlightened and get stuck at one of these stages, fascinated by their own sublime experiences and revealed abilities.
Those who know about practical and Vedanta (Vasishtha) also know that a person following the path of development can achieve the state of a completely Enlightened, semi-enlightened or unenlightened being.
Ordinary beings (including humans) who are “sound asleep” relative to the Absolute Reality are called unenlightened.
Perfectly Enlightened Yogis are those who, based on personal experience, have come to know themselves as Absolute Reality or have become rooted in it, having achieved self-awareness. People who feel united with God and see reality as it really is are called samadhis. Samadhas were Shiva, Krishna and Allah. It is this indescribable state that all yogis strive for.
Sahaja Samadhis are people who live an ordinary life while in Samadhi. Sahaja Samadha is forced to release some of his attention and direct it to performing daily duties and maintaining life in the physical body.
Perfectly enlightened people are aware of the Absolute Reality even during night sleep. In dreams filled with Divine radiance, they are able to travel through subtle worlds inhabited by gods.
Semi-enlightened people are people who have touched the Absolute Reality for only a short moment and returned to their normal state. Some semi-enlightened people are able to absolutely correctly perceive and understand the Truth, despite the fact that their consciousness has not yet been completely purified.
There are also individuals who accepted the Truth and understand its essence, but they were not able to undergo the necessary experience and experiences. Not knowing that the consciousness will not be cleared until the mind calms down, they are engaged in speculating on the sayings of enlightened masters. According to some mystics, this is also a good start on the path. By reciting the correct statements an incredible number of times, they thereby bring closer the purification of consciousness and calmness of the mind.
Enlightened people of our time
Many users of the Global Network are interested: are there any enlightened people in Russia? According to the information available to modern esotericists, in the 50s of the last century, the incarnation of highly developed souls on Earth began all over the world (and therefore in Russia). The reason for the “landing” was the need to protect the independent will of enlightened earthlings. The first wave of incarnations (Indigo Children) was completed in the 60s of the 20th century, the second was produced between 1980 and 1990 (Crystal Children), the arrival of the third wave (the birth of Rainbow Children) is currently taking place.
The last two waves are mostly the offspring of matured Indigos. Indigo parents create conditions for their offspring in which their innate intuitive, telepathic and develop very quickly. Many children already have the abilities of psychokinesis (moving objects in close proximity) and telekinesis (moving distant objects). The next stage for them will be mastering the technologies of levitation, teleportation and the ability to be in two places at the same time.
What is the difference between an enlightened person and an unenlightened one? An ordinary, unenlightened person with limited knowledge believes that the Universe is infinite.
An enlightened, changed person does not see the Universe and understands the boundlessness of wisdom and knowledge that he saw with his inner vision. He also knows that the Universe has boundaries and knowledge is limitless.
According to the information recorded in the Vedas, the soul of an enlightened person, having realized itself, leaves the material (no longer needed) body or burns the body in the fire of tejas (life force). According to people who follow this path, an enlightened person is immediately visible because he constantly talks and writes that “awakening is beyond the mind.”
According to the same source, there are other people who also talk and write a lot about their practice of mindfulness and magic... a deliberate lie, because they are inside the mind and are not enlightened.
How to recognize an enlightened person? Each school, as you know, has its own methods of enlightenment. But every enlightened master reveals to his disciples the same Absolute Reality (the highest spiritual realization), which can be achieved in different ways. Therefore, it is not possible for a master of one school to judge in absentia the degree of enlightenment of a master of another school. Only by meeting and talking (or staying silent) can enlightened masters answer this question.
Children: , .
Orthodox theory of personality: , .
Passions, their essence and ways to overcome: , .
Diseases and their origin. Ways to overcome: , .
The connection between sins, passions and illnesses: , .
Repentance, its essence. The main sins of our time: , .
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov. "About the beauty": , .
Asceticism, prayer (essence and varieties). Jesus Prayer: , .
About salvation in the world: ; .
Freemasonry and globalism: , .
Lecture text.
« The first people knew God personally<…>and constantly communicated with Him. The Lord commanded people to cultivate paradise, give names to animals and every creature, and also dominate the entire material world. Everything was allowed to man except one thing. It was impossible to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was located in the middle of paradise. “If you break this commandment,” the Lord warned, “you will become mortal.” People believed God, knowing that only goodness, only love always comes from Him, and did not violate this commandment» .
Someone may have a question: “Why did God create this tree with forbidden fruits in paradise? Isn’t God himself the cause of temptation?” This can be answered as follows. God is love and He does not tempt anyone. As it is said: “... God is not tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and deceived by his own lust.» James 1:13-14. The whole point was that Adam, having a lot, did not have one thing: the experimental knowledge of what he is without God. The fact that God was always there was familiar and natural to Adam. Adam did not know the absence of the Lord or disobedience to His will. He didn't know what it was. And therefore, having free will, he could have stumbled. God's prohibition should become a lesson for Adam in obedience to God. This trust and obedience made it possible for Adam to exist sinlessly in paradise. According to the interpretation of a number of Church Fathers, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be considered a kind of prototype of God himself, who knows everything. Eating from the tree without the permission of the Lord meant trying to take the place of God
. The act is unacceptable and atheistic, which Satan once decided on. He, out of envy of the high destiny prepared by God for man, seduces Eve with a seductive lie: “taste and be like gods.”
« The devil, a once powerful but later fallen angel, was terribly jealous of people's closeness to God. He wanted people to listen and obey him, and not the Creator of the world. And so he came up with a way to seduce the first people. Taking the form of a serpent, the evil one appeared to Eve and began to tempt her with cunning and tricky questions. “Is it true that the Lord did not allow you to eat from the trees of paradise? - he asked, knowing full well that he was telling a lie. “No,” said Eve, “we can eat from all the trees, except one.” From it, as the Lord said, if we eat it, we will die.” “You will not die,” the devil lied, “but you yourself will become like God, for you will know what good is and what evil is.”
The fallen spirit deceived people. He knew that they would become mortal, that through disobedience to God they would fall away from Him and become creatures subject to the devil. This is what he wanted. But he tempted people with knowledge! Learn something new! Become gods without God! How often do we hear a similar call today.
And Eve was deceived... Doubt about the righteousness of God crept into her soul: “God is hiding something from me. Doesn't want to give me any knowledge. Then I’ll take them myself.” She picked the fruit and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam, and he ate. But instead of becoming like God, they became mortal, fell under the power of the devil, saw their nakedness, and felt ashamed. And they hid from God between the trees of paradise. God gave man the opportunity to repent in order to return to his former dignity, but the man turned out to be stubborn in sin. Adam began to blame the violation of the commandment not only on Eve, but also on God Himself: The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate. Eve blamed the serpent for everything: The serpent deceived me, and I ate» .
Look, what is characteristic of modern man is self-justification. Everyone is to blame but me. Alarm clock, bosses, transport, but not me. Self-justification, lack of repentance. Expose your sin, see it, admit it, repent of it and not do it again. No! Self-justification. This is a property that is inherent in a person from his great-great parents.
« Having eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve learned from their own experience what good is and what evil is. It turned out that goodness is life with God, happiness, peace, joy, absence of illnesses, sorrows and immortality. Evil is life without God, suffering, illness and death. But the bitterness of evil and the tragedy of its consequences were gradually recognized, therefore, at the moment of the Fall, the first people did not want to repent of the sin they had committed, but were engaged in self-justification". They did not yet understand the consequences of the Fall.
What happened as a result of original sin?
- As a result of original sin, the whole person, his entire personality, underwent the most severe changes. According to Saint Theophan the Recluse: “ God is everywhere and contains everything, but He enters into free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but, preserving and containing them, does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they had repented sooner, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted, and in the face of obvious accusations, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty. A trial followed and punishment by expulsion from paradise. Then they came to their senses, but it was already too late. It was necessary to bear the imposed punishment, and for them, our entire family» .
The Fall had a heavy and terrible impact on the entire nature of man. And the destructive effect of this fall is so global that it changed our entire world, incl. flora and fauna. All living things that did not know death began to experience the influence of fallen man and his self-will. Why did this happen? Man was the crown of all material creations of God. Man was endowed with dominion over all material creations and man had to spiritualize matter and lead it to God. And as a result of his fall, the fall of all matter occurred. Man stood, as it were, at the top of all matter, was a spiritual-material being, and as a result of changes in him, everything material, the whole world, underwent the greatest changes. Chaos destroyed harmony. Beauty began to be destroyed by ugliness. Health and immortality were replaced by disease and death. Already the son of Adam and Eve - Cain became a murderer - shed the blood of his brother. And then people got used to killing thousands of their own kind, they learned to kill them in torment and torture, they began to kill them with an evil word, and denunciation, and slander.
« At the beginning, man was created in such a way that his spirit, having communication with God, was enlightened and, in turn, enlightened the soul with the assimilated Divine grace. The enlightened soul permeated the entire body with grace, subordinating it to the laws of the spirit. The spirit was to the soul what the soul was to the body. The human body, sanctified by Divine grace and led by the spirit, knew no disease and was immortal.
As a result of the Fall, the wonderful harmony of spirit, soul and body was destroyed. The human spirit has lost the opportunity to communicate with God and has lost its internal strength. The soul stopped living at the expense of the spirit and turned to the carnal interests of the body. The body, having lost spiritual enlightenment, became mortal and susceptible to disease.
After the Fall, the primacy of the spiritual mind in man was lost. Feelings and desires, not restrained by the mind, began to give actions the character of malice, pettiness and selfishness» .
To understand better what happened to the human soul as a result of the Fall, let's carefully look at the following diagram.
Changes in the powers of the human soul after the Fall.
| Thought power (mind, reason) Left to oneself and receiving no beneficial influences from the spiritual mind. There is a tendency towards fantasies (imagining something that doesn’t actually exist), and therefore a person has a distorted picture of the world. The human mind is busy considering particulars and is not able to embrace life holistically. |
Strength is desirable (desires, will) Desires are directed towards sensory worldly objects and intensify, turning into lusts. The will has lost the power to suppress harmful obscene desires, |
Irritable force (feelings, emotions) The single feeling of the soul (aspiration for heavenly beauties) split into |
After the fall of the first people, not only the body, but also the soul became subject to the action of sin. As Saint Gregory Palamas wrote back in the 14th century: “ The soul is tripartite and is contemplated in three forces: thinking, irritable and desirable. She is sick with all of them..." . Collapsed chastity
human. Chastity, in the broad sense of the word, is the harmony of the subordination of all the forces of the soul. The mind accepts, reflects and chooses. The will acts. Feelings in accordance with the will and mind help and bring joy from this. Now everything in a person is fragmented. You can think one thing, but desire something completely different, and your will can be paralyzed and not act at all. The Apostle Paul says about this: “ Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?» Rom.7:24; " For I don’t understand what I’m doing: because I don’t do what I want, but what I hate, I do. If I do what I do not want, then I agree with the law that it is good, and therefore it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
» Rom.7:17. This is the most terrible thing - the loss of chastity.
One of the most common problems of the modern world, especially in developed countries, has become psychological the problem of people losing the meaning of life
. Having a fairly high level of well-being, people do not know why they live. This is accompanied by acute emotional experiences that push people to drunkenness, drug addiction, or even suicide. Let me give you an example. In the society for combating drug addiction and alcoholism in which I work, one hundred percent of the drug addicts surveyed have no meaning in life. To put it in the language of psychology, they do not have long-term prospects. Those. they don’t know why they live, what they live for, where they live. It's the same with alcoholics. Complete lack of meaning in life. It’s the same with fornicators - a complete lack of meaning in life. I live for pleasure, the meaning of life is to receive pleasure, i.e. hedonic attitudes. How can you enjoy it? - Here, alcohol, women, men... etc. and so on.
Often people withdraw into themselves, and the mind begins to work idle, wishful thinking, living in their own imaginary world, divorced from reality. Moreover, several such little worlds can form in the mind of such a person, which often contradict each other and conflict with themselves. A person lives in some fictitious virtual reality. In its extreme form, this is expressed in schizophrenia (from ancient Greek σχίζω - split and φρήν - mind, reason, i.e. division, splitting of the mind). It must be said that modern medicine has still not learned to treat this disease and, by and large, does not even understand its deep spiritual roots. Medicine is only interested in ensuring that the patient is not aggressive towards other people and does not commit criminal offenses.
From a Christian point of view, the mind was the most dominant force of the soul, and in the current state the main thing. What the mind can do is turn to God with prayer for its purification and enlightenment.
After the Fall, the main diseases of the will were its incorrect direction and, in general, its insufficient development in God. The most important psychological problem of our time is lack of will - the so-called abulia
. When a person does not strive for anything on his own, but, as they say, goes with the flow. Such people do not have an active rejection of evil; because of indifference and callousness, a lot of evil occurs in the world. At the extreme stage of its development, abulia reaches the point where a person seems to turn into a plant. He doesn’t move, doesn’t eat until he’s fed... etc. and so on. Very often we began to see this in modern children: when you don’t want anything, don’t need anything, you want to have fun, watch cartoons, or hang out on the computer... etc. This is how abulia manifests itself in full - the lack of will and ability to put effort into something. I’m lazy to study, lazy to work, and this laziness’s evil shadow is always with me every day, as one poet wrote.
The feelings of modern man are no less disturbed than all the other forces of the soul. Modern experts: psychologists and even psychiatrists are sounding the alarm about the increasing number of people with unmotivated fears, anxiety, and depression. The latter is even called the scourge of the twenty-first century, since in the West it is a very common disease. At the same time, medicinal forms of influence - antidepressants do not lead to a solution to the problem, but only temporarily alleviate the situation. And this is understandable, because depression is a kind of signal from the soul about trouble, about its disastrous spiritual state. And, of course, treatment must begin with the treatment of the soul, with the treatment of the spirit. And when the syndromes, the main causes of these mental illnesses are not eliminated, and only the symptoms are treated, then, naturally, the disease does not go away, it can change forms, it can be driven inside, it will always be with the person. And the further we go, the stronger these diseases will be in a godless, atheistic society. Because, first of all, these are diseases of the spirit.
As a psychologist, I can testify: a lot of people come to me with problems of correcting their spiritual order, but their roots lie precisely in the spiritual area. That is why, when they go to psychiatrists of an atheistic school or to psychologists of various schools who are alien to the Orthodox understanding of man, they cannot help them. With the help of various trainings and psychotechnics, they can switch, take the course of the disease in a different direction, give external relief, and then it returns in one form or another. Doesn't work. Because its root lies in the spiritual part of man. Until this problem is solved, no mental problems will be solved. And then, what’s most interesting, mental illness leads to illness in the body. There is a whole area of medicine that I have also been working on for many years, called psychosomatics. Those. Just like diseases of the body, diseases of the organs follow from diseases of the psyche. And mental changes, in turn, are caused by changes in the realm of the spirit. Thus, diseases in the realm of the spirit lead not only to mental illnesses, but also to many diseases of the physical level.
An important task in the life of an Orthodox Christian is the acquisition of chastity
.
« Chastity should be understood as the integrity of man as the image of God, a state in which the spirit, soul and body are in pristine harmony: the soul, enlightened by the spirit, rules the body. A chaste person does what his God-enlightened mind tells him, he is not in constant dependence on carnal needs and is not a slave to his bad habits and desires.
But chastity in this broad sense of the word is not given to a person from birth, since a person, being a continuation of his parents, carries within himself a disposition towards those passions and vices that were characteristic of his ancestors. Chastity can be cultivated in a person in the course of life if he puts effort into it. The beginnings of chastity, namely the disposition to goodness, are an integral part of the image of God in man, but their development largely depends on the person himself, on the nature of his upbringing, the influence of the environment in which he lives, and on much more.
So, chastity is cultivated in a person in the process of his spiritual life and, naturally, has different levels. Innate, natural for a normal person is physical chastity. It manifests itself in a feeling of shame of one’s physical nudity, in modesty and restraint in communicating with the opposite sex, in bashfulness and modesty in words, gestures and body movements. This feeling must be preserved in oneself in every possible way and supported and developed in others. Natural chastity can develop into a higher, spiritual chastity and serve the development of the likeness of God in man» .
Today, we see, a terrible blow is being dealt even to a person’s physical chastity. Films, advertising where the sexual instinct sticks out. Sex education in school, which tries to corrupt the child, deprive him of chastity, etc. All this leads to the fact that people, if they do not protect themselves and do not cultivate and strengthen natural, bodily chastity in themselves and in their children, then they lose it, and having lost it, they receive obstacles to acquiring chastity in the full sense of the word .
« If a person, infected by someone else’s bad example and improper upbringing, destroys his natural chastity and acts “like everyone else,” then gradually the sense of purpose will leave his soul and the spiritual perfection of such a person will be impossible.". A simple example. Alcohol and drug addicts have been coming to us for treatment for 15 years now. In adult drug addicts (over 18 years of age), the fall occurred as follows: first, they lost physical chastity, fell into prodigal sin, and then, as a rule, they became involved in drug addiction.
« The beginning of spiritual chastity is also the unity of thoughts, words and deeds. A person should always say what he thinks and act accordingly with his way of thinking. You cannot think one thing, say another, and act in a third way. This is hypocrisy - a sin that destroys a person’s soul. A person who does this will never become chaste.
“Chastity is the comprehensive name of all virtues” St. John Climacus» .
Enlightenment is the main goal in most spiritual and esoteric teachings.
Enlightenment is the highest insight, awareness of the essence of life as such. Enlightenment eliminates ignorance, illusions of the mind, expands consciousness, and frees one from psychological suffering. A more detailed description is further discussed using examples of direct and indirect methods of achieving enlightenment.
Direct Methods for Achieving Enlightenment
These are the best, simple, instant methods. Direct methods eliminate the buffer of mental understanding, thinking and theorizing. Direct methods of enlightenment are not associated with training in schools, sects, seminars, gurus, teachers and mentors. These are all mind games. Direct methods are for those who are one hundred percent honest with themselves. Next, in order, is a description of direct methods of enlightenment.
Awareness of the present implies a direct perception of life here and now. When an ordinary person becomes familiar with this method of enlightenment, he begins to imagine what he is doing, or has just done. This is a deviation from the method.
Present awareness is the continuous, natural perception of what is right now. This is not a search for something, but if one is present, it is an awareness of the search as one of the lines of the drawing of the present moment. Ideally, the object of perception really becomes the present moment itself between the past and the future.
We can conditionally say that being in the present moment, being real is a property of our Higher Self. If you are aware of the present, the focus of identification shifts to.
If awareness of the present moment occurs continuously, life “collapses” into itself, and you see that now there is an endless presence in weightless eternity, where something happens beyond the limits of the future and the past. Now there is existence itself, the boundless space of consciousness. This is the primary basis of everything. This being is awareness itself and life as such. All perceived objects and forms occur in it as something deeply secondary and equivalent.
Acceptance of the present- essentially the same as awareness of the present, but with the help of a fine line of “letting” into your consciousness what is right now. The psyche closes the mind from most sensations, which ultimately form the subconscious.
Acceptance of the present is a full disclosure of everything that is here and now. At the same time, one’s own consciousness is felt as a pure vessel and conductor of all phenomena. Ideally, you realize everything as a single inseparable phenomenon. And if resistance remains somewhere, it dissolves. Everything just happens.
Enlightenment is total acceptance. Even if something feels like an obstacle, it is just another step on the path.
Relaxation in natural presence- essentially the same as awareness and acceptance of the present. On the other hand, this is another fine line in understanding life. Rejection of the present closes one from awareness of the present. This rejection arises due to tension at all levels of the psyche. Tension is eliminated by relaxation. And this is not a dream, but a cessation of resistance to the present.
In this case, all bodily sensations are perceived as compactions in the emptiness of the space of consciousness. Important . Acceptance and relaxation are two facets of the same process of enlightenment.
Defocusing consciousness– another facet of enlightenment. Everyday attention is focused by the mind in intense illusions of the past and future. The most subtle focusing of the mind creates a habitual self-identity - ours. It is experienced in the back of the head, throat and at a deep level in the chest area. Defocusing leads to the dissolution of these tense clots of psychic energy. And then painful tensions and “malicious fidgetiness of the mind” pass.
First, you feel how, in the presence of the familiar “I,” a sense of space appears, against the background of which tensions flounder. Then, as you defocus, the habitual “I”, which seemed like something impenetrably dense and solid, begins to create a gap through which the refined energy of consciousness leaks. Total defocus is identical to complete relaxation, acceptance, disidentification and enlightenment.
Viewer's awareness of life– the subtlest “movement” with which you shift the focus of attention from the world of forms and sensations to the viewer himself, who perceives life. Being, awareness, observation, presence - all this is a description of his essence, his only property, which is expressed in limited words in many aspects.
Smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing are instruments of perception. Who uses these tools? Where do these five threads of perception of life fit together? The one who looks at life right now is the eternal viewer of life. He is always there. Forms change. Enlightenment is the awareness of one's essence as a continuous free presence.
Exposing choice– another facet of enlightenment. Personality is a set of choices passing through consciousness in the present. Choice is born from rejection of the present. The personality is tense in the present, so it avoids it, choosing an illusory future.
Dedication– another one facet of enlightenment. You give everything you have. Not in a material sense, but in an essential sense. Self-giving occurs inactively, without effort and effort, in relaxation. We can say that this method of enlightenment is the edge of relaxation, in which you let go of your grip on what is happening here and now.
Contemplation of the present. As a rule, it begins with concentrating attention on any object. The method differs from “life spectator awareness” in its emphasis on contemplation itself. The essence of this method of enlightenment is to make the process of contemplation basic and continuous. Then the focus of self-awareness shifts to the Higher Self. Perception as such is a property of the Higher Self. When you contemplate what is, the higher “I” is, as it were, “activated.” Enlightenment is a manifestation of the contemplative principle of life. This is the true one. Ideally, contemplation of an object occurs without, as something extremely natural.
Awareness of who you are- Ramana Maharshi's method of enlightenment. The method is based on the question: “Who am I?” You ask a question once, with a clear understanding of the meaning of this question. Then you shift your attention to the feeling “I am.” If “I” exists, then it can somehow be felt. What is "I"? Who am I"? A verbal answer means nothing. You need to experience who you really are. Comprehension of the “I” is comprehension of reality.
All these methods are different facets of the same process. Because of their unique experiences, different paths to enlightenment are available to different people.
Indirect methods of achieving enlightenment
These methods are usually associated with changes in energy, cleansing the mind, preparing the body and psyche for clear consciousness. The division into direct and indirect methods is conditional. Sometimes direct methods become indirect, and indirect methods become direct, depending on the readiness of consciousness.
Energy boost is the experience of awakening stagnant energy. It can be caused by energy exercises, and in particularly successful cases it removes mental blocks, clears the mind and enlightens consciousness. This includes the practices of Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, working with energy and other esoteric practices.
Shaktipat, or diksha- spiritual dedication. Typically given by a mentor, guru, or master. In especially successful cases, it gives an instant expansion of consciousness and enlightenment. More often it gives the experience of insight, which sows the “seed” of enlightenment. If the initiate conserves energy, the seed sprouts and over time the lotus of consciousness opens and blossoms.
Middle way. Buddha preached. In my understanding, this path to enlightenment is an intuitive, relaxed finding of balance in every new moment of life. Castaneda's Don Juan figuratively spoke of how a man of knowledge goes through life “lightly touching everything.” This path helps life. Don't stress, don't sleep, let reality happen. At the same time, paradoxically, you gain the ability to make efforts that a vain and tense mind is simply not capable of.
Not doing- Carlos Castaneda's method of enlightenment. Perception of the world is a subtle effort in consciousness. You make the world in your mind habitual. - this is the cessation of the “effort” to. Then familiar phenomena reveal their essence. You begin to feel what is happening as a play of energy. And on a more subtle level - as pure consciousness.
Super Effort– method of enlightenment by George Gurdjieff. This is one of the most difficult methods on the edge of life and death. Gurdjieff said that in the human body there is something like household batteries. When their energy is spent, the person collapses. But if at this time you make a jerk, a super effort, then your consciousness switches to a deep, almost inexhaustible source of energy, and you continue to move.
When mortal fatigue sets in, you make another jerk and from the deep source of energy, switch to the causal source. At the same time, the hyper-subtle consciousness is activated. The method is extremely dangerous for independent practice.
Suffering. They temper and develop the soul. Everyone knows this. Suffering is one of the main incentives for true detachment. Detachment from temporary phenomena leads to truth and enlightenment. Many saints underwent conscious suffering in order to cultivate spiritual qualities.
In no case do I encourage you to suffer. We can limit ourselves to the understanding that what we have already experienced was not useless.
Humiliation. One of the powerful incentives for the surrender of the ego and... Humiliation and pride go hand in hand. Neurotic self-identification is based on this pendulum. Again, I don’t urge you to humiliate yourself - it’s enough to treat your own person more simply: and not get ahead of yourself, embellishing reality.
Confession, recapitulation, journaling, psychotherapy are effective methods of clearing the mind. Secular memoirs don’t count. To work for enlightenment, you need to sincerely speak out all your own fears, highlight everything that has been suppressed, and.
Reflections on the beyond: about God, about eternity and infinity, about love, about the true “I” - it is also considered one of the methods of clarifying consciousness and enlightenment. If a reflector tries to feel the topic of his thoughts, his attention is torn away from theories and touches these deep layers of life in practice.
Karma yoga– this is work without expecting a result. The mind is calculating, and doing something for others without personal gain loosens the ego's grip. Ideally, karma yoga is performed with complete immersion of consciousness in the present moment, without goals in the future. Contemplation of the present is one of the direct methods of enlightenment. Contemplation in motion is the highest aerobatics in the practice of enlightenment. True karma yoga is, as Swami Vivekananda said, bringing the goal and the means together.
Unconditional love considered the best method of spiritual transformation and enlightenment. This method opens, . Unconditional love knows no insincerity or deception. This is the love of life itself. Ideally, on this path you are immersed in bliss, and leaving all divisions, you surrender to this experience without a trace.
Doubts
There is an opinion that enlightenment is impossible to achieve. Some say that enlightenment must be earned, or “received” from a master. But then it comes to what methods exist for this “receipt”. As a rule, it all comes down to donating your resources and time to schools, where the sufferers find themselves dependent on, after serving for many years, they seem to have a chance to become enlightened.
Another option is to pay a lot of money for initiation, and then, if the mind does not go beyond the mind, again, there is a chance to become enlightened “for free.”
Some say that enlightenment simply “happens” beyond methods and practices. Of course it is. But before this, a person goes through some kind of path. And most often this is the path that is called spiritual. It doesn’t matter how, it doesn’t matter in a past or present life. The path includes everything that happens.
Someone says that everyone is already enlightened: there is nothing to strive for, nothing to achieve. But what are these words worth? Why not? A righteous life, or a practical life, is no worse than an ordinary life, filled with contradictions and vanity.
Others say that enlightenment is only available to Buddhas, who come once every millennium, or even less often, and mere mortals cannot see the truth. This is the voice of doubt in oneself and one’s strengths, the voice of a mind that is in the shackles of concepts.
People tend to believe that the more seriously they take life, the closer this perception is to reality. However, this seriousness also consists of emotions that project subjective pictures of the mind onto a reality that has nothing in common with these projections.
In this article, expressing a subjective opinion, I argue that enlightenment is achieved, and there are suitable methods for this. Let everything be relative and achievement illusory. But there is nothing else to talk about.
I understand that in order to cover the stated topic, it is still necessary to be a member of the world association of enlightened masters, which I am not. Therefore, here, as elsewhere, I act cunningly, and in no case insist on the final truth of words and the effectiveness of “methods”.
Let everyone believe their own experience and make sure that there is truth. Let everyone personally verify that he/she IS. Some will need schools and teachers, some will need personal hard practice, some will need a simple introduction to the topic and a direct look at what is here and now.
A practical article will show whether enlightenment exists as an objective reality, how spiritual enlightenment is related to the practices of meditation and conscious breathing, and whether there is another way to achieve enlightenment other than spiritual practices.
Enlightenment of consciousness: what does it mean?
What does “enlightenment of consciousness” mean? The question is not an easy one. Many minds have struggled to express in words what cannot be expressed, because words have not yet been invented for this. The only word that people are accustomed to associate with the state of being in a higher reality in a spiritual sense is enlightenment.
Enlightenment as a state of samadhi or, even higher, as the Enlightenment of the Buddha, where we are finally freed from all suffering and passions; a process of absolute purification and reincarnation, where the ego no longer has power and life situations do not provoke emotional reactions - then this can be called true enlightenment.
Many crave it, even more seek it, but only a few go the long way and finally begin to live in a state of enlightened consciousness.
Does enlightenment exist objectively?
The Diamond Sutra says: “There was never a Buddha who entered this world. And there will never be one who enters this world.” He says: “I taught for forty years and never said anything.” Such a saying implies a general denial of the existence of the phenomenon of enlightenment. There is no Buddha, the whole world is an illusion, there is no you and your ego. Who or what will be enlightened? From the point of view of some philosophical teachings, this concept is completely justified, because in the world there is nothing but emptiness, and therefore our existence cannot be taken seriously.
We will leave philosophical questions for philosophy and consider the practical aspect of the phenomenon of enlightenment.
Yoga and Enlightenment: Human Spiritual Enlightenment
Yoga and enlightenment are directly related to each other. By practicing yoga, you open the way to states of insight and enlightenment. By performing breathing and meditative practices, you are primarily working with your energy, increasing your spiritual state and level of development.
In the teachings of yoga, enlightenment plays a special role - this is the final stage of Ashtanga yoga, an 8-step system. Achieving enlightenment - samadhi - is the cornerstone of yoga. All stages of yoga lead to one thing - to samadhi. Whether you are doing asanas or pranayama, whether you are practicing focused attention or meditation, you are always doing essentially one thing - approaching insight, and enlightenment, its brief moment, can happen even at the very approaches. You may not be as experienced as other practitioners; here the whole subtlety of the process lies in the implementation of the techniques, in turning off the mind from being absorbed in everyday issues.
When we talk about samadhi as enlightenment, liberation from passions, it would be wrong to say that this is the final stage on the path to enlightenment. This is rather a technical form of gaining enlightenment; the real highest enlightenment is entering the state of Anutara Samyak Sambodhi, the enlightenment of the Buddha. This is the state of a bodhisattva, a saint who helps people. He has learned the truths, is completely free from the power of passions, he is no longer bound by logic, everything is comprehended and everything is known not through the intellect, but directly as receiving revelation.
The only thing a bodhisattva does not do is go into nirvana. His decision is to help people on this earth, so he continues to reside here in the state of supreme Samyak Sambodhi, free from egoism, passions and desires.
If we look at the process of enlightenment from a more practical point of view, we will understand that everyday worries take up a lot of mental energy, and to achieve enlightenment we need free energy, which is why it is so important to stop thinking and making plans at least for a while. You need to renounce worldly concerns, think about the timeless, about what will remain forever - it is eternal. This is the same as devoting one's thoughts to what Brahman is, how it expresses itself in the world and that we are all Brahman.
How to achieve enlightenment
We achieve enlightenment not simply through practicing concentration or self-awareness. Enlightenment is a daily process when you learn new things, change your view of things and the world order. After analyzing the situation and coming to a new conclusion, you begin to perceive reality differently.
You don't just achieve enlightenment (can it be "achieved"?), we are not in the sport of achievement; you come to enlightenment, find yourself in it. This is precisely the formulation of the question: to find yourself, to know your essence, your real essence, your spiritual one. Why are you here, who are you, do you have a mission, do you need it? You are a spiritual being, so why should you take care of missions. If your consciousness wants this, then why not. This means that this is the essence of your life, your enlightenment, you will come to it through your mission.
For others it will be simply through self-improvement. A person is designed to learn, but it is not necessary to master new arts or skills, you can devote yourself to knowing yourself and your spirit. This truly will be your enlightenment.
How to achieve enlightenment
You can seek and achieve enlightenment in other ways, more indirectly. By changing your lifestyle, abandoning your previous views, tastes and habits, you come closer to a state of insight. You are like a sculptor who cuts off what is unnecessary, mercilessly parting with pieces of stone in order to create an image that has already appeared before his inner gaze.
Remove what has become ballast for you, find new interests in life, and start creating your new reality. If you changed something in one of the areas of your life and it led to radical changes, this is gradual enlightenment. You discover life in a new way, its hidden aspects, esoteric knowledge. There is no need to understand esotericism as strange voodoo magic or something like that. Esotericism is knowledge that is hidden from the inexperienced eye, but it contains the essence of things.
Once you lift the curtain, you will understand that life has not only a physical aspect, but also a spiritual and energetic one. You will begin to solve riddle after riddle; Much that was previously incomprehensible to you or interpreted from the position of a purely dense reality will take on a new coloring. You began to see in a new way.
Enlightenment: synonyms
By the concept of “enlightenment” we also mean insight, insight, a new perception of life, the emergence of consciousness to a new level. You have grown spiritually, become wiser, rethought your positions - this is what the concept of enlightenment and insight is associated with. You begin to see through the veil, the so-called maya. Finally, glimpses of another reality, other worlds become visible to spiritual vision.
Symbol of enlightenment
Enlightenment not only has a spiritual aspect, but also its symbolic representation in the physical world. Since ancient times, the lotus flower has become a symbol of enlightenment in the East. Its roots are in the ground under water, and its straight stem and luxurious flower rise above the surface of the water surface. If you have seen how rice grows in the fields, then a lotus grows from the same environment - this is a tropical beauty.
The petals of its flower are numerous; It’s not for nothing that they say that its inflorescence consists of 1000 petals, and our upper “crown” chakra is associated with the lotus inflorescence. He is pure, gentle, sublime in the literal sense of the word. The buds of this flower can be seen in all Buddhist temples and are given as offerings to Buddhist monks. A flower is a symbol of insight, purity of thoughts and high ideas. He is the embodiment of spirituality.
Pitfalls of Enlightenment
Enlightenment Traps: Both new and experienced Buddhist meditation or yogic practitioners can fall into these. Even if you do not engage in any of the ancient practices, still even an ordinary person engaged in self-improvement, internal search or knowledge of the secrets of our planet and everything that exists on it, there is a risk of falling into the trap of consciousness, better known as the trap of enlightenment.
Signs of enlightenment: pseudo-lucidation
These are states when it seems to you that you have already broken away from this mortal reality, you really no longer care about the interests that the majority live by, the TV has been thrown into a landfill for many years, the Internet is the only connection with the world, and even then you use it not for the purpose of watching the news, because they no longer interest you, but rather as a means of connecting with like-minded people or finding new information that is adequate to your spiritual development.
A short list of signs of a seeker close to enlightenment:
- understanding of reality and the essence of things;
- getting out of the crowd;
- view from the outside;
- craving for deeper self-knowledge and the process of self-discovery;
- study of spiritual, religious and mystical literature;
- awareness of actions and thoughts.
Although it is sometimes difficult to admit, but when we have become smarter and even more enlightened in many matters of existence, our emotions are still strong. This is, perhaps, the stronghold that is most difficult to overcome - the emotions associated with our attitude towards ourselves.
How can you not notice that we have truly risen above the crowd, that we are smarter and kinder, that we understand others better, that we have developed empathy and a high level of emotional intelligence. We may not even look proud and we are well aware that vanity and pride are the most difficult emotional states to get rid of.
We have driven them underground and are aware of how modest and simple we are towards others, but this awareness itself is a good indicator that the corrosive emotions of an egoistic plan are still with us, living in us. They just changed their role and now act as meek ones, as if telling us: “Look how humble and simple you have become, there are few of those on earth.”
Emotions are the mystery of enlightenment
So, the very awareness of how new, improved we are, with an improved range of interests and much more, is just the other side of the coin. You know that every emotion has a second side; perhaps it looks more pleasant, but turn it around - and the same unpleasant picture will open: behind humility - impudence, behind modesty - pride, behind detachment - involvement in the vanity of affairs.
These are not just comparisons, this is the rule of duality. We just turned the coin over, and the coin is still the same. What to do to truly get rid of even hidden disguised emotions? First of all, you need to understand that as long as there is control, even minimal, then the ego is doing its job. Remove the ego and there will be no emotions left to control. Without the obvious presence of the ego, even the very concept of emotion disappears. What is replaced is a feeling of goodness, unshakable calm, because we cannot say that the enlightened do not have emotions, although in reality they do not exist as we understand them.
The difference between the emotions of an enlightened person and an ordinary person
This kind of calmness is the basis of the “emotionality” of an enlightened person. Nothing can upset him, nothing can upset him, because the ego is finished. Only the ego reacts to external stimuli, which is why we get emotion as an output. Those emotions that we like, we consider positive and do not want to get rid of them, and negative ones - of course, we want to quickly recover, replace them, throw them away.
We again forgot that both positive and negative emotions are part of one whole: a response to stimuli. There will be no “I” reaction to the external - all emotions, including positive ones, will disappear! Yes, and we need to acknowledge this.
We must stop hunting for a positive emotional state, it is such a natural drug: ate something tasty - a positive emotion, ate something bitter, something disgusting - a negative emotion. There is a mechanism at work here, period. In order to become free from emotions, if you really want this, you need to leave all emotional attachments - then the ego will weaken, it will dissolve, and what remains will be a state of peace and bliss.
State of Enlightenment
It is difficult to express in words what will happen, because in our dictionary there are no suitable words for this: after all, most of them that describe a person’s psychological state are associated with emotion. In the case when we have moved away from emotion, only words such as “peace” and “detachment” can at least approximately describe such a state in which there is no “I”. It is difficult to grasp, but when you experience this state for the first time - you cannot say “feel”, you just need to live it - then you will understand what we are talking about.
Moreover, it is interesting to note that this pure emotionless state is available without performing special meditation practices or breathing exercises. Techniques and methods can help you achieve peace, speed up the process, but this is not the only way. It is quite possible, without constantly engaging in any specific practices, to find inner peace - spiritual peace.
However, it should be remembered that factors such as proper nutrition - plant foods, certain physical activities, looking at the world from a new angle, less focus on your “I” and its needs - are excellent components in order to achieve an illuminated state of mind, even without leaving society.
Remedies on the path to enlightenment
Staying alone and reading wise books written at least a century ago, or better yet, works well in this direction. Back then, authors were much less concerned about remuneration issues, if not at all. They created because they wanted to convey something to the reader, to truly convey knowledge. They created works from an overabundance of experience, a desire to open up something new to the world, it was their self-expression, and therefore, when you read such books, you inevitably become involved in the process, become part of it, and this definitely affects your psychological state.
Books, music, the right films, even feature films, can serve as an excellent means of changing your psychological state and switching your spiritual mode to a higher level.
It may be difficult to imagine at first, but works of art and sources of wisdom, such as books, travel to different parts of the globe, and exposure to the world of art, can serve as a lever for changing your spiritual state.
It is important to remember one thing here: do not make this an end in itself. An end in itself is the work of the ego. It will make purpose and competition out of everything. The process is important to us, so live as if you do not care about issues of self-knowledge and enlightenment, and then it will come by itself.
What does enlightenment give?
Again a question from the “I” position. After all of the above, you yourself understood that posing such a question is not only incorrect - it comes from egoistic ideas: “What will I get from this? What will I end up with? Once I become enlightened, what next?”
Our “I” is never enough. So it longs for enlightenment, and if it seems to it that we have become sufficiently enlightened, then we need to run again to a new goal and achievements. Faster, higher, more illuminated - this is the credo of the omnipotent ego at the hourly Olympiads of the mind.
Is there life after enlightenment?
So how do you know whether you are enlightened or not and what awaits us after enlightenment? When you achieve enlightenment, these questions will not interest you. They simply won't exist. You will live in a state of inner peace. You will stop weighing on your internal scales whether you are satisfied with the life you are leading and what it is like in comparison to the past. A new life will come for you, where there are no comparisons with the past or with the expected future.
At this moment, which many mystics and teachers talk about, you will find everything for yourself. This doesn't mean you shouldn't make plans for a vacation or trip. It is necessary, since these are real gradual movements that need to be performed in physical reality. But while taking actions, you will be in agreement with yourself: the conflict of parts is over. What you do in the moment, what you devote your time to in life, will be for you the only and best activity that you could ever imagine for yourself.
You will find harmony within yourself, and it will be reflected in the world around you. You will stop wondering whether I live for others or for myself. You will live both for yourself and for others, because even the concept of “others” will merge with yourself for you. You will still understand that there is Masha, Vasya and Kolya, but you will not think of them as separate and independent beings from you. Much will take on a new meaning for you, you will understand that your action has an energetic response in the world, one does not exist without the other; you will understand that spiritual and energetic connections rule the world.
