Cosmic Awakening and True Enlightenment
by Michael Corthell
What does it mean to 'wake up?' This can all be a bit confusing because awakening means different things to different people, and the word and its many variations are often used to describe completely different experiences. Simply stated, there is more than one type of awakening.
Awakening, which in Japanese Buddhism is called Satori, is a process that challenges the foundation for understanding the nature of the Universe. During awakening our perspective on how we see the world is radically changed. It is flipped upside down or turned inside out.
After experiencing this state your understanding of the world shifts and you incorporate new concepts that you were unaware of or had rejected. A true awakening causes you to recognize that much of what you previously thought or understood was quite limited or incomplete.
But, I need to point out strongly that a Cosmic Awakening can be related to, but is distinct from, Enlightenment.
Enlightenment is a state of being in complete alignment with all that is. In enlightenment, you go beyond all duality, beyond all space and time, to experience the fullness of the universe in both form and beyond form — or in Buddhist parlance, emptiness. This is a place of non-judgment, where the paradoxes between relative and universal truths are understood and resolved. In this state, you are connected with all of life in a state of total and unconditional love. Enlightenment requires awakening, but awakening does not necessarily result in enlightenment.
To summarize, true Enlightenment(capitalized) is the state of total spiritual freedom(a state of experiencing the 'void' or the place of no-birth and no-death).
Awakening, which in Japanese Buddhism is called Satori, is a process that challenges the foundation for understanding the nature of the Universe. During awakening our perspective on how we see the world is radically changed. It is flipped upside down or turned inside out.
After experiencing this state your understanding of the world shifts and you incorporate new concepts that you were unaware of or had rejected. A true awakening causes you to recognize that much of what you previously thought or understood was quite limited or incomplete.
But, I need to point out strongly that a Cosmic Awakening can be related to, but is distinct from, Enlightenment.
Enlightenment is a state of being in complete alignment with all that is. In enlightenment, you go beyond all duality, beyond all space and time, to experience the fullness of the universe in both form and beyond form — or in Buddhist parlance, emptiness. This is a place of non-judgment, where the paradoxes between relative and universal truths are understood and resolved. In this state, you are connected with all of life in a state of total and unconditional love. Enlightenment requires awakening, but awakening does not necessarily result in enlightenment.
To summarize, true Enlightenment(capitalized) is the state of total spiritual freedom(a state of experiencing the 'void' or the place of no-birth and no-death).
It is the state that Gautama Buddha, and Jesus Christ achieved and that Matreya will achieve. I also would like to point out that uncapitalized enlightenment means this; ''Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not a lack of understanding, but a lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere Aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding!''
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[this is an excellent lecture that provides more clarity and an explanation that
will cause you to read the Sermon on the Mount with new eyes resulting in a better understanding of Christ Consciousness.]
''Jesus Christ and Christ Consciousness''
- Wake Up To Who You Really Are -
Alan Watts
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