Is it safe to continue?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3rdTimesTheCharm
"He achieved the very rare spiritual state of personal enlightenment."
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I found that particular bio posted on half a dozen websites:
1 (the one 3rdTimes linked to),
2,
3 (PDF, 16 pages),
4 (a variation with a religious twist
*),
5 (Google-cached version),
6 (PDF, 2 pages). We don't know if Dr. Nuckols wrote it himself in the third person or if someone else was writing about him but either way, he'd pretty well have to know it's out there.
The main problem I see with it is that enlightenment is more a way of experiencing, a context
in which you experience, than something
that you experience. It definitely isn't something you can have, or hold onto, or achieve, or (especially) put on your resume. At any given moment you can experience life from an enlightened place
or you can say you're enlightened, but not both.
*Interestingly, I came across an online book sample (Google, I thought) where Nuckols says something like, you can work your way up to being ready to be enlightened but enlightenment itself only comes by the grace of God. I would've loved to find it again and cite it exactly but the browsing history that would show it is on a different computer.
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edited to add:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inedible
I have even heard it argued that it is possible to gain enlightenment only to lose it again and become unenlightened.
There are even teachers who say that everyone is already enlightened and we just need to realize it.
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This fits nicely with what I was saying above. The way to lose it is to turn it into a thing and try to hold onto it.