Afraid to reach enlightenment

[Wim De Vos]

Hi, I would like your opinion on the following. I have been reading quite some material (both good & bad sources) about spiritual enlightenment. I just read in Jed McKenna's "Spiritual Enlightenment" the following sentence :

"I think the bubble (=asleep world) is a magnificent amusement park, and leaving it is a damn silly thing to do unless you absolutely must".

Now I wonder... I admit that I did already sense a feeling a fear (even before reading that paragraph) about this whole thing of reaching "enlightenment"... What if I would reach it and I don't like it and I wished I had stayed in the "dream", both with the goods and the bads...

Anyone has/had that same feeling ? When you reach the point of this feeling, have you already reached a confusion point where there is no way back on the journey ?

regards, thx for you thoughts

[karen]

I really don't think you have a choice in these matters. You get sucked in or you don't.

[wilson]

wim de vos- i think that you make a valid point. in my opinion much of the existing literature makes enlightenment sound like a wonder filled fantasy camp. so it's easy for everyone to say that they would give anything to be enlightened, but i think that the lack of true teachers shows just how few are willing to go that one step FURTHER. it's also why i value jed's books because in my humble opinion we need more teachers who are willing to speak the truth about such an important subject.
that being said i do think that it's possible to search for truth without sacrificing one's entire existence although not being enlightened myself i don't know just how far that path may lead.
wilson

[klaus]

vim de vos,

You make a valid point about enlightenment.

Once you start on the path the process begins to work on you and it will turn you inside out, upside down, question your sanity.....
in other words terrifying because you are going to die but with this death there is the birth of your true nature-THAT.

Once awakened you'll realize you mundane life was death and there was nothing to fear.

So when one who is enlightened speaks of the wonder, joy. peace(and these words are inadequate) they speak from their true nature.

[Wim De Vos]

Thanks for clarifying ! I wonder further, will enlightenment automatically mean that seeing the need for a "regular" job, striving for your "ambitions", enjoying "love & physical intimacy", caring about whether you do sports, eat on regular & healthy basis,... etc etc, that all of this will just become meaningless, less enjoyable just because life seems to have no true purpose in itself ?

[zendancer]

Wim De Vos: It probably won't change any of that, but it may change your perspective on some of those things. Ambitions, for example, probably won't be the same, because they won't be personal. There won't be any "you" trying to get ahead or accomplish "personal" achievements. You'll simply do what you do for no reason at all (this is not a bad thing). When you realize that who you are is infinite, it takes away the need for self-aggrandizement or recognition by others. Everything you do will be a mystery, and you will accept and enjoy the mystery. Your love for others will expand because you will see everyone as yourself (your True Self). The purpose of life will be seen to be whatever is happening in the present moment, and it will cease to be abstract. You will still make plans, but you will not be attached to the outcome of those plans. If reality turns out to be different than you imagined, then so be it; your ideas about the future may be proven wrong, but it will not be a big deal. You will simply go with the flow and not resist the obviousness of "what is." It may not be much different from what you're experiencing now, but there won't be the idea of a "you" involved in what's happening. Cheers.

[loverofall]

Zendancer: Thanks again for so much clarity. Your writings are greatly apprecatiated.

As I work on new goals, I can feel the experience being the focal more than the outcome the longer on this path. At times too, I feel so connected to others. I also can see where decisions are less affected by mental based fears. Maybe that is not the way for others but thats my experience. Its definitely a path of shifting back and forth. This week the mind was strong and I knew it but the patterns were there. Then I got back into exercise and meditation and the patterns became very weak and clear seeing was easy and the thought that makes me laugh appears "this is the scam of scams"

Just rambling.

[karen]

May 13, 2010 18:48:23 GMT -5 @Wim De Vos said:

Thanks for clarifying ! I wonder further, will enlightenment automatically mean that seeing the need for a "regular" job, striving for your "ambitions", enjoying "love & physical intimacy", caring about whether you do sports, eat on regular & healthy basis,... etc etc, that all of this will just become meaningless, less enjoyable just because life seems to have no true purpose in itself ?

I don't know about after enlightenment...

But I can say that things do not become meaningless. Meaningless is just the flip side of meaning, but still holding onto meaning; in this case the meaning is meaninglessness. When you drop both meaning and meaninglessness, there still is what is. After all: what does life have to do with our concepts or beliefs about it?

[vacant]

Karen, great reply, if only because it was written for me

[WimDeVos]

I think I'll have to let your reply "sink in"...I don't really get it fully...

I'm reading Jed's second book now, the passage where there is a letter from a girl that says "I don't know what i've gotten myself into..." (p145)... The point where Jed talks about people that give up, would even consider suicide when they reached this point...

Actually, I had to drop the book myself, I don't know which insights this book is creating, but it's kinda freaky... it destroys every belief, every cligning... don't know if I want to go through with this.

[klaus]

It is fear of death of the illusion that is you.
Why fear the death of an illusion.

Who is it that fears?

[WimDeVos]

Indeed, that I do follow, and probably the more stringent the illusions, the larger the fear ?

I have to think about the "who is it that fears ?" question...

[WimDeVos]

I'd say my ego fears... because it's the one that's being attacked & "put out of order" ?

[vacant]

It’s great to be srirred. I find the point of not knowing and questioning, but not having an answer, a treasure.

My old friend S… used to say "better not to take the first step on this road, but since you have, you now have to go full circle to where you were before you started!"

The one freaked out is doing so because of being found out to have undue rule. The one who does this finding out and doesn’t know a thing and is not WDV, is the point of interest here.

[karen]

May 17, 2010 15:26:13 GMT -5 @WimDeVos said:

I think I'll have to let your reply "sink in"...I don't really get it fully...

I'm reading Jed's second book now, the passage where there is a letter from a girl that says "I don't know what i've gotten myself into..." (p145)... The point where Jed talks about people that give up, would even consider suicide when they reached this point...

Actually, I had to drop the book myself, I don't know which insights this book is creating, but it's kinda freaky... it destroys every belief, every cligning... don't know if I want to go through with this.

I lived in a nihilistic fog for about a year before fully getting the meaning thing. Not that I was holding onto nihilistic philosophies, but rather that is seems to simply be a flip-side of placing all your eggs in the meaning basket then - YOINK! you're left with dealing with it when it goes. Or at least this seemed to be the case with me.

Intellectually I got the (false) dichotomy, but that didn't help so much.

Then I realized that laughter and joy were still there. Affection too. I gave up nothing of value. I just lifted another heavy weight off my shoulders. It just took a little time for me to set it down.

Thanks for liking my post vacant!