Are animals enlightened?

[Someone here]

Considering their child-like innocent state.. They live completely and comfortably in the present moment and they act according to their instincts directly without much conceptual bullshit and belief systems etc. They seem to not indulge in unnecessary thinking about the past and the future. Cats for example are so zen if you ever saw one. 

[vladorion]

They're innocent, but also ignorant.

[Loba]

I don't think so - but I do think that they carry within them a certain inborn-archetypal-species wisdom, and that the underlying instincts that have allowed a particular animal to evolve into the niche that it is in has an inherent power/lesson to it that can be tapped into that people can learn from.  But that you need to have the realization of being an individual self first before transcending it, and animals are not evolved enough to understand fully that sense of self in the way a human is.

Some are seemingly almost there, like they could be the next contestants if humans go extinct.  

Edited April 16, 2021 by Loba

[WaveInTheOcean]

Animals are born asleep in mind but awake in heart. They don't change through their lives.

Human beings are born asleep in mind but awake in heart.
Growing up, they eventually become asleep in heart due to trauma.
But they have the ability to become both awake in mind and heart during their lifetime.

Edited April 16, 2021 by WaveInTheOcean

[outlandish]

Moo!

[Someone here]

16 minutes ago, vladorion said:

They're innocent, but also ignorant.

We are also ignorant but we struggle due to the illusion of knowing that comes as we grow up.. However animals don't have that inner struggle against their ignorance. They seem completely at peace with their ignorance. 

[SpiritualAwakening]

No they are not.

[EddieEddie1995]

My cat is Enlightened as fuck!

[diamondpenguin]

4 hours ago, Someone here said:

Considering their child-like innocent state.. They live completely and comfortably in the present moment and they act according to their instincts directly without much conceptual bullshit and belief systems etc. They seem to not indulge in unnecessary thinking about the past and the future. Cats for example are so zen if you ever saw one. 

It's actually the opposite, animals are very asleep. Animals don't think about much else than sex, food, sleep, shitting, and playing. Kind of newborns and toddlers, then we evolve into little kids, then teenagers, then grown-up children. Have you seen an enlightened baby. No! Of course animals are not woke, they are pretty much asleep. 

[DecemberFlower]

They arent lost in concepts of the mind like humans are but they aint awake either. Conscious but not aware of consciousness and running life on instincts so answer is def no. 

[The0Self]

Yes, but so are plants. However they are at a lower level of consciousness than humans, so it isn't the same.

[Carl-Richard]

Enlightenment implies that there has been a journey from darkness and into the light. If you've always been in the light, there is no such thing as enlightenment.

Compare it with the hero's journey: the animal has never had to travel through the dark abyss of human suffering, overcome it and return to the village. You're not a hero for just living in the village. It's the journey that makes you a hero.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Carl-Richard

[The0Self]

5 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

Enlightenment implies that there has been a journey from darkness and towards the light. If you've always been in the light, there is no such thing as enlightenment.

Exactly. It's when you enter into our tiny frequency band of consciousness (level/dimension/density/whatever), shared by humans and all other similarly self-conscious beings, that enlightenment is part of an actually apparent distinction.

Edited April 17, 2021 by The0Self

[Moksha]

Enlightenment requires sublime intelligence, diligence, and surrender. Animals are incapable of this, as are most humans.

Presence though, is something else. Animals are beautifully present.

[Lyubov]

depends how you define enlightenment 

[Someone here]

6 hours ago, diamondpenguin said:

It's actually the opposite, animals are very asleep. Animals don't think about much else than sex, food, sleep, shitting, and playing. Kind of newborns and toddlers, then we evolve into little kids, then teenagers, then grown-up children. Have you seen an enlightened baby. No! Of course animals are not woke, they are pretty much asleep. 

Would you say they are not capable of thinking outside of the realm of their survival. And that's pretty much a huge facet of being awake.. Is not concerning oneself with too much overthinking in the future and the past and what's outside one's direct experience. They are just in touch with direct experience. 

4 hours ago, Moksha said:

Enlightenment requires sublime intelligence, diligence, and surrender. Animals are incapable of this, as are most humans.

Presence though, is something else. Animals are beautifully present.

I don't believe enlightenment is a matter of intelligence. 

5 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Enlightenment implies that there has been a journey from darkness and into the light. If you've always been in the light, there is no such thing as enlightenment.

Compare it with the hero's journey: the animal has never had to travel through the dark abyss of human suffering, overcome it and return to the village. You're not a hero for just living in the village. It's the journey that makes you a hero.

They suffer less psychological suffering.. They have more peace and surrender to the present moment.. They have less mental anguish.. Etc all these are enlightened characteristics.. They don't necessarily need to be earned. They are just born with it. I would say they are more in tune and touch with their own being then us humans and live less in concepts and more in the real world. That makes them more naturally "enlightened" than us. 

[Enlightenment]

11 hours ago, Someone here said:

Cats for example are so zen if you ever saw one. 

 

[TheSelf]

Animals don't have the illusion of "I" separate self, so they can't get enlightened since they're not unlightened in the first place.

 

[Someone here]

8 minutes ago, m0hsen said:

Animals don't have the illusion of "I" separate self, so they can't get enlightened since they're not unlightened in the first place.

 

They are not unenlightened =they are enlightened.  Was not asking can they "become" enlightened.. But it's their natural state 

[TheSelf]

@Someone here Sorry I haven't read the thread carefully, I thought you're asking if they can become enlightened or not 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by m0hsen