Is It Easier To Get Enlightened As A Teenager?

[Afonso]

I'm wondering. As a 17 years old, do I have more of a chance of getting enlightened in my teens/early-adulthood than people with 30+ years?

I would suppose if one lives more decades, one is more apt to cling even more to the Ego and has more layers of bull-shit wrapped around it. Maybe I'm wrong.

What do you think?

[Joseph Maynor]

Hard to say.  If you got exposed to the right theory and teachers, perhaps.  Assuming you don't flounder around so long like the rest of us did.  Sure.  Move towards it.  Watch all of Leo's videos.  Keep partipating on here and don't be scared to ask questions or to look stupid.  That's what I did.  I'm a shameless man lol.  I've always been pretty shameless.  With enlightenment work being shameless can help you because if you don't bounce ideas off of people who can help you, that's where you get stuck.  And often times when you are stuck you don't even realize you are.  These are called blind-spots.  Enlightenment work is full of blind-spots.  So, yeah it's possible, the question is whether you will rise to the occasion.  But then again, I'm not as enlightened as most people are on here.  I'm like still at the intermediate stage of enlightenment, not the advanced stage.  But you gotta take your own bull by the horns and speak up and engage the people on here to help you.  This place is a goldmine if you use it.  But people aren't gonna come to you, you gotta come to them.  Be eager to learn and grow.  

Edited June 28, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Nahm]

@Afonso no. i can only come from my experience of course, but i think you are completely underestimating the sheer volume of practices and time in front of you, if u are pursuing  this.  

Edited June 28, 2017 by Nahm

[Prabhaker]

@Afonso

 

[Ananta]

I will not say, yes or no, what I will say is that in youth there are typically more egoic desires to overcome, unstability of career, relationships and so on, that keep the ego nice and busy...striving.

They are potential obstructions that side track the mind, but it depends on the individual. Ramana Maharshi was 17 at the time of his enlightenment, but he also lived in India, so did that matter, dunno?

There's also something to be said of the amount of suffering one has had in one's life. It can be a motivator for seeking/meditation/Self inquiry, because one wants the suffering to end. So, another argument could be, has one in their youth suffered enough? Again, dunno?

So, make no conclusions from what I've said... keep doing what you're doing and see what happens.

 

[Prabhaker]

1 hour ago, Anna1 said:

Ramana Maharshi was 17 at the time of his enlightenment, but he also lived in India, so did that matter, dunno?

India is not just geography or history. It is not only a nation, a country, a mere piece of land. It is something more: it is a metaphor, poetry, something invisible but very tangible. It is vibrating with certain energy fields which no other country can claim.

For almost ten thousand years, thousands of people have reached to the ultimate explosion of consciousness. Their vibration is still alive, their impact is in the very air; you just need a certain perceptivity, a certain capacity to receive the invisible that surrounds this strange land.

For ten thousand years millions of people persistently making a single effort, sacrificing everything for it - science, technological development, riches - accepting poverty, sickness, disease, death, but not dropping the search at any cost... it has created a certain noosphere, a certain ocean of vibrations around you.

If you come here with a little bit of a meditative mind, you will come in contact with it. If you come here just as a tourist, you will miss it.

Excerpts from: India My Love - Osho

[pluto]

I don't think it matters, it happens when it happens. You can only prepare yourself better by practicing all this stuff in my honest opinion. I don't believe there is a shortcut from my experience.

Edited June 29, 2017 by pluto

[Spiral]

You have higher neuroplasticity so probably.

[krazzer]

@Afonso I think you have an advantage. You're younger so your brain is more plastic. Also you have less years of societal indoctrination.

The only thing is that you have less years of valuable experience.

But since your here, you're on the right path. Don't fall back into the traps of society, and always be critical when people around you tell you how the world works. It was only around 25 that I started to realize how other people's opinions are nothing more than that, opinions. Not something I should always try to agree with.

[Shanmugam]

@Afonso  It varies depending on the individual and the two common influences on him: nature and nurture..

So, if it occurs to you that youth is the best time to get enlightenment, it may be true for you... There are people who have been brought up and live  in situations where there are always other people who reinforce their assumptions and beliefs about reality. These people may never see through them and begin a genuine search no matter how old they are..

But when someone is too young, his ego is still developing.. One's ego should be completely developed before he starts seeking.. There are exceptions to this, but usually this is the case.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Shanmugam

[Azrael]

20 hours ago, Afonso said:

I'm wondering. As a 17 years old, do I have more of a chance of getting enlightened in my teens/early-adulthood than people with 30+ years?

I'd say that strictly from a neurological and physiological standpoint - yes, because in your youth your brain still forms and rewires and sets in. If you take this time to work on yourself and to set in not the normal bullshit world view, it might make things a lot easier. But of course you need the motivation and practice hours and most teenagers or even young adults won't go with that.