The Paradoxical World of Spiritual Enlightenment
When we wake up to whom we are, we stop identifying with our egoic selves because we realize they are impermanent. Only that which is permanent can be who we truly are. We aren’t our bodies, we aren’t our memories, we aren’t our thoughts, and we aren’t our feelings. We aren’t any of these things, so we stop identifying with them. When we wake up to the fact that life is an extended dream, a sense of calm or a feeling that “all is well” sets in.
We cease to identity with our lives, thoughts, and feelings; we witness them, but we don’t engage with them. We don’t create the stories that go along with these experiences called life. Thus, we become very quiet inside and we are able to merely watch as life occurs.
We Are Everything
People often worry, “Won’t we become so indifferent that we’ll stop caring for anyone or anything? Will we just sit back, so aloof that we never do anything for anyone? Will a form of intense selfishness set in?” None of this will happen because we will also realize that everything we experience and see, from the farthest galaxies to our neighbors next door, are a part of the dream. They are a part of us because without us, nothing would exist. Unless we are, nothing is. So, because we are, everything is. Thus, everything is who we are.
We are everything that is permanent. Out of this permanence, everything can flow. What naturally arises from the sense that we are everything is a deep compassion and love for everything and everyone. Simultaneously, a sense of distance or detachment is also present.
The Great Paradox of Life
Life is paradoxical in the sense that the only thing that is, is our awareness of what is.
Without this spiritual awareness, nothing could be. In the same sense, everything is because we are. We are absolutely nothing that we think we are or that we define ourselves by: we are not our egos or ourselves. Yet, out of this nothingness, everything is. We are nothing. We are everything. Ultimately, we just are.
In this pure being-ness, an understanding that everything is because we are spontaneously flows. We develop a deep compassion for everything and everyone. We even witness this compassion which spontaneously flows from our awareness. Enlightened people are incredibly loving and kind, not because they have to be, but because these feelings flow from their awakening, and because they realize that everyone is who they are and they are nothing. There is no involvement or need to change anything, because everything is perfect. Although changes occur, everything is still perfect. I know this is paradoxical, but life is paradoxical.
If you study quantum mechanics, you’ll discover that light is a particle and yet it’s also a wave. This is absolutely paradoxical, but it’s the truth. Science works in paradoxes; life, at its physical level, is paradoxical. The same holds true at a spiritual level. We are absolutely nothing, yet we are everything: this is the great understanding, this is the great love. When we discover and wake up to who we are, life flows between these two states, namely complete, utter detachment and complete, utter love.
Wake Up and Let the Enlightenment Flow
We wake up to who we are but we understand that we are that which is permanent. The only thing that is permanent is true being-ness, without labels. In this pure being-ness, there is only witnessing. When that passes and we die, when this dream we call life ends, then we become the non-dual supreme self that we’ve always been, we always were, and we always will be. Love, aloofness, compassion, detachment: we are these. We are totally free, yet totally in love. Let us wake up to who we are and let the enlightenment flow.
Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, author, international speaker, and meditation expert who have been counselling individuals, families, nonprofits, and businesses for over twenty years. A contributing writer to Psychology Today, he has authored numerous books, including Spiritual Enlightenment: Awakening to the Supreme Reality and creates a weekly podcasts and articles on enlightenment, spiritual enlightenment, nonduality, Advaita Vedanta at: http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com
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