Enlightened Peeps: Can You Relate To This Idea?

[Orange]

I thought about enlightement, I don't think I have experienced it but is it the same as letting life live through you? Is it seeing that you are not in control and never were, life is just living through you. You are a bunch of cells grouped in a system that has created an ego in the mind in order to maintain the system's survival. 

Is it Seeing that the ego creates an illusion which says: I am controlling my actions and making decisions when all everything is is just a result of chain reactions that led to how your life looks like now? 

Edited August 13, 2016 by Orange

[Beam]

The search for enlightenment may well be enlightenment in itself. To question what appears to be to find what actually is.

 

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Enlightenment was a philosophical movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals such as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.[3][4] In France, the central doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy and the fixed dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.[5] The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism along with increased questioning of religious orthodoxy.[6]

 

The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution. Earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza.[8] The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Immanuel Kant. Some European rulers, including Catherine II of Russia, Joseph II of Austria and Frederick II of Prussia, tried to apply Enlightenment thought on religious and political tolerance, which became known as enlightened absolutism. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson visited Europe from America during this period and contributed actively to the scientific and political debate, and later incorporated the ideals of the Enlightenment into the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.[9]

 

[Orange]

But...what does this have to do with anything? I wasn't asking for Wikipedia ..

[Pelin]

Yeah spiritual enlightenment and European Enlightenment have nothing to do with each other. 

On 13 August 2016 at 2:12 PM, Orange said:

I thought about enlightement, I don't think I have experienced it but is it the same as letting life live through you? Is it seeing that you are not in control and never were, life is just living through you. You are a bunch of cells grouped in a system that has created an ego in the mind in order to maintain the system's survival. 

Is it Seeing that the ego creates an illusion which says: I am controlling my actions and making decisions when all everything is is just a result of chain reactions that led to how your life looks like now? 

I think it might be similar to what you say in the first part, but it might be different for everyone, and it might not even require an isolated experience. One can enlighten a few times according to what I read. And I think it's true seeing people who say they are enlightened. I feel some might need a few more enlightenments to see the reality as it is. And I sure need a lot. 

For the second part, I'm not sure. There is still the ego as a part of a bigger picture consisting of "other" egos. There is "me" and "other" according to this. It's a bit like Chaplin's movie Modern Times, which is helpful but I feel there is one more step ahead of this. Seeing that me and other and the system is the same. You are the system and you are the actions. And you are nothing at the same time.

[Beam]

To me they are the same its all about improvement and growth from old to new , Buddhist Monks are actually very scientific

[vizual]

The only somewhat valid definition for enlightenment I can come up with is: "Truth is Absolute". There is absolutely no wiggle room in trying to define the truth, when two truth-realized entities cross paths they have the same exact knowing of truth. Yet, they can have a vastly different way of expressing their experience of it in words. There lies the problem in these definitions. When the ego hears a definition which totally makes sense it gives itself a pat on the back for "understanding" enlightenment, it gives itself the permission to rest on its laurels because it already "knows".

The only way that coming up with these metaphors and definitions, along with trying to find truth in subjects such as biology, physics and philosophy, is that the absolute truth is nowhere to be found in concepts. You can have an explanation of every little(and big) thing that goes on in the universe and still be totally oblivious to the truth.

 

 

[Orange]

1 hour ago, vizual said:

 You can have an explanation of every little(and big) thing that goes on in the universe and still be totally oblivious to the truth.

 

 

 so how can you  not be totally oblivious to truth if you cannot define it?