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#2093 - Friday, March 25, 2005 - Editor: michael

ENLIGHTENMENT

a google search on the word enlightenment
returned over 4 million 600 hundred thousand hits

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http://www.thegoldenfrog.com/enlightenment.htm?
c1=Enlightenment&source=Google&kw=enlightenment

Throughout history, there have been some saints who behave in a
fully unattached manner on the personality level of their being.
Their devotees had to hit them with sticks so they wouldn't wander
off into the jungle. They had to be force fed because they
were "free from all desire," even the desire for food and
sustenance. Let's assume for a moment they were awake at the deepest
level of their being. Even if that were the case, they were still
functioning in an unintegrated manner. Their personality was not
functioning in a healthy way. They were living a dissociative state.
Since they were, perhaps, awake to that deepest level of their
being, one may choose to call them enlightened. Because the state is
so unhealthy and unnatural, I prefer not to refer to it as
enlightenment. But this is a matter of semantics. If someone were to
insist these saints were enlightened because they were awake to that
deepest level, I would offer no strong objection. What is most
important to me is that the bigger picture is understood. A healthy
state of enlightenment is an integrated state where people are awake
to the deepest levels of existence, yet concurrently function quite
naturally and appear perfectly normal around other people.

© Michael Mamas, 12/04

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"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for
us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a
few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from
this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all
living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

- Albert Einstein

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However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good
will they do you if you do not act upon them? -The Buddha

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http://www.bliss-music.com/enlightenment.htm

Notes on Spiritual Enlightenment

How to attain self realization





  There is only one thing ever to point to for your own freedom. 

And it's not a thing, it is this moment.  This is where your focus
should rest.  Not today, not this hour, not this minute nor this
second, it is much more simple than that.  It is right now, this
very moment.  To allow everything to be as it is just now.  To be
present with what is right now. 

And right now you exist.  Right now, there is a feeling of being. 
In this moment without referring to your thoughts there is this
undeniable sense that you are.  Notice this.  Not "you are a
person"  or "your are" anything at all.  But simply being.  It is
indescribable, indefinable, but it is you.   If thoughts come, let
them come, let them go.  If feelings are there let them be.  Don't
resist anything.  Don't even resist the resistance.  Because if you
resist this moment, if you think it should be other than it is, then
you are at war with this moment.  And no matter how hard you try and
manipulate your world in this moment to be the way you would like it
to be, it will only be the way that it is.



So you either are resting in this moment or you are fighting this
moment.  You are living as "I am" or your are living as "I want." 
To be here in this moment, or to be lost in your thoughts.  You
can't have both.  Freedom or limitation.  This present moment, or
your endless commentary about who you think you are, where you have
been and where you are going.  Can you let everything be in this
moment?  Can you stop trying to change and control your world and
instead, simply rest with me right now?  Just for this second, can
you let go and rest in what is here and now?

  Don't worry if you are doing it right or wrong.  Just be here with
me.  Notice this moment.  Notice that in this moment you exist. 
That you cannot deny this feeling that you are.  That it is here, it
is now and you are.  Very simple.  Are you still here?  If not, just
come back, keep coming back and all is peaceful again  Keep coming
back and you will see that you never actually left.  What else is
there besides now?  Isn't it all thoughts outside of now?  Isn't it
all your imagination outside of now?  Let all of that go for just
this moment.  This is all that there is and the only thing.  This
moment is freedom itself, bliss itself, love itself.  So incredibly
intoxicating.  So nurturing.  This moment is you.  And the you-ness
goes on forever.  Now is forever.  So easy and so simple.  Too
simple for thinking.  It's too subtle to be figured out or defined. 
It is you and you alone.

And if you find this hard, simply ask yourself "Who am I?"  In this
moment, who are you?  This question simply takes out the thinking
you and all that is left is this feeling of being, of just
watching.  All that is left is this moment.  Ask this over and
over.  "Who am I?  Who am I?"  The question takes you immediately
back to now.

Or you can just surrender.  Surrender to everything that is
happening right here and right now.  Let all of your fixing,
wanting, needing, controlling go.  What will be left is just this
moment.  Just you.  If there is emotion let the emotion be.  If
there is pain, let the pain be.  Feel it completely in this moment,
don't label it, judge it or resist it.  If you let it be completely
you will see that pain is delicious, that emotions are delicious. 
Because in this moment there is only you and you alone.  And you are
love itself.  You are bliss itself.  You are presence itself.  You
are consciousness.

No guru or teacher can give you this.  They can point and provide an
energetic to assist you but you alone have to let go of who you
think you are and rest in this moment.  No improving your mind or
body will bring you to now.  Because now is what you are.  You just
have to look.  Are you still here?  Are you still present?  Breathe
with me here.  Sit with me here.  Stop trying to fix what needs not
fixing.  Stop trying to get into a meditative state, or to be
peaceful.  Just be, and in the being, the one that resists is no
more.

And if you rest here, you will see that everything is happening by
itself.  That thoughts come by themselves, that action comes by
itself.  That everything is moving along just fine without out you
pretending to control everything.  And then you can rest in this
moment, you can dive deeply, unceasingly into this moment and
disappear into the sweet nectar of silence.

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Dear Friends,

Be well.

Michael

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