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What is
enlightenment?
Dear Family of the
Heart & Friends,
All religious
people have one thing in common -- they're all
looking for something called nirvana,
liberation,
enlightenment,
self-realization, eternity, or God.
Theyre looking for
enlightenment in all the wrong places --
in so-called sacred books and systems of
morality, in the realm of philosophy, and in
their chosen God's promises and threats about
a straight and narrow path leading to some
airy-fairy heaven.
Moving from one
emotional orgy to another, such people remain
in one system and refuse to budge, believing
they've realized whatever there's to
realize, and then spend their days withdrawn
from a normal healthy life for some imaginary
goal that leads them to fanaticism, hysteria,
violence and stupidity.
The ignorance and their
incense of piety stinks to high heaven, yet
they choose to remain in denial.
All this is called
religion, as I'm sure you'll agree that the
search for
enlightenment causes great havoc, and
people are sacrificed in its wake.
So, tell me if
there is in fact any such thing as
enlightenment, and if so, what is it?
My mentor, Jiddu
Krishnamurti, used
to say that if it is an escape from everyday
living -- everyday living being the
extraordinary movement of relationship -- then
this so-called realization, this so-called
enlightenment, or whatever name you
like to give it, is illusion and hypocrisy.
Anything that
denies love and the understanding of life and
right action is bound to create a great deal
of mischief. It distorts the mind, and life is
made a horrible affair.
So if we accept
that fact then perhaps we may find out if
enlightenment -- whatever that may mean
-- can be found in the very act of living.
After all, living
is more important than any idea, ideal goal or
principle.
It is because we
don't know what living is that we invent these
visionary, unrealistic concepts which offer
escape.
The real question
is, can one find enlightenment
in living, in the everyday activities of life,
or is it only for the few who are endowed with
some extraordinary capacity to discover this
beatitude?
Enlightenment means to be a light unto
oneself, but a light which is not
self-projected or imagined, which is not some
personal idiosyncrasy.
After all, this has
always been the teaching of true religion,
though not of organized belief and fear.
Rashid Mughal
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