Enlightenment (concept)
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This article presents enlightenment in the sense of any transformation into greater wisdom. For other views or essays on enlightenment, see meditation, mysticism (ancient to contemporary), moksha (a Hindu term), Bodhi (the Buddhist concept) and Satori (a Zen variation).
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Enlightenment as a concept is related to the Buddhist Bodhi but is a cornerstone of religious and spiritual understanding in practically all religions. It literally means being illuminated by aquiring new wisdom or understanding. Historically Judaism and Christianity referred to spiritual enlightenment as divine illumination. The systematic search for enlightenment was a goal of truth seekers after they found a master teacher or guru, who could guide them. However, this formulation was not necessarily spiritual. In earlier times, such as during the Bon period of Tibetan religion, it was essentially magical, which is a pre-scientific stage. After the systematic methods were learned in India, the nations of Asia made pilgrimages to learn them. The relationship between seeker and guru was and remains, in most cases, an essential point for Enlightenment. There are practical signs of such a state, which can be recognized by a guru. Thus there is a practical, even secular component to Enlightenment, which differs from the requirement of Christian divine grace from God, which was essentially mystical or sacred.
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Definition
This intellectual history of term "enlightenment" is the basis for the secular idea that relates to a localized, religion-specific "enlightenment", and also attempts to bridge the traditional gap between religions and religious belief and psychological science.
Before we know it, we are lost in a thought stream about what we experience rather than experiencing the present. Enlightened are those who are not distracted by their thoughts but who stay focused. Focusing on existence comes with the bliss of the awareness of being - satchidananda.
Simple techniques that strengthen our ability to concentrate are meditation, chanting (with awareness), and mentally affirming what's happening now ("I am breathing in," "I am tasting my food," "I am driving my car and passing exit 89."). Over time they help us be aware of (i.e., realize) what's happening in every moment.
Kant's definition of enlightenment
In his famous 1784 essay What Is Enlightenment?, Immanuel Kant described it as follows:
Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is the incapacity to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. Such tutelage is self-imposed if its cause is not lack of intelligence, but rather a lack of determination and courage to use one's intelligence without being guided by another. Using this reasoning, Kant decided that although a man must obey in his civil duties, he must make public his use of reason. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own intelligence!"
Adorno's and Horkheimer's definition of enlightenment
In their controversial and devastating analysis of the contemporary western society, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer developed a wider, and more pessimistic concept of enlightenment. In their analysis enlightenment had its dark side: while trying to abolish superstition and myths by 'foundationalist' philosophy, it ignored its own 'mythical' basis. Its strivings towards totality and certainty led to an increasing instrumentalization of reason and thus it was ultimately responsible for the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. In their view the enlightenment itself should be enlightened and not posed as a 'myth-free' view of the world.
Enlightenment in western civilization
The Christian saints, who stood outside the religious hierarchy, attained their spiritual standing on their own and could not communicate the practical means toward illumination. Instead, the Christian saints were frequently adjoined into religious orders, as was the case for Mother Teresa in the twentieth century. Thus, as in the case of Saint Francis of Assisi, huge wealth was channelled into their orders. Put boldly, the Christian ideas were used to make money, the primary motivation for the Age of Exploration.
During the period after the Age of Exploration when Portuguese, and later, English trading companies were gaining hegemony over the rajahs of India, the concept of Enlightenment started filtering into Europe. Concurrently, when Isaac Newton's System of the World was being formulated and then exploited, it was realized that a mystical view of the world could be discarded. This program was called the Enlightenment. Thus the Christian viewpoint was systematically suppressed, culminating in the secular viewpoint expressed in the American Revolution, and tragically in the violent actions of the French Revolution against the King, the First Estate (the Church) and the Second Estate (the nobility).
The age of enlightenment
The "age of enlightenment" is a proverbial time of maturing in people -- roughly around the age of 18 years -- when the illusions of childhood lift, and one is left with greater self-awareness and understanding of their own roles and responsibilities in the world. This is analogous to the Christian-adopted concept of being "born-again" and is a direct tie between the spiritual teachings of The Christ, Jesus and Buddha. In Buddhism, enlightenment means one is ultimately free from the cycle of suffering and rebirth thus never have to be born again except by choice, to save others, by aiding others in the path toward Enlightenment.
People who have been said to be enlightened
In our own time, Jiddu Krishnamurti is said by some to have attained Enlightenment under a pepper tree in Ojai, California in the 1920s. He has influenced, among others, the physicist David Bohm (considered an outcaste from physics, but not wholly scorned by some), and a surprising number of seekers in California and also world-wide, to this day (see Scott Nearing, Helen and Scott Nearing).
Other individuals who claimed to reach a state of enlightenment have included Mahatma Gandhi, who many regard as being a seeker of truth. Also, Siddharta Guatama was said to have reached the "ultimate state of enlightenment" or "nirvana."
See also
- Afterlife
- Awakening
- Awareness
- Christian anarchism
- Consciousness
- Gnosticism
- Illumination
- Meaning of life
- Oneness
- Satori
- Self-knowledge
- The Matrix
- The Truman Show
- Vanilla Sky
External Links
- Gnosticweb Providing Free Global Access to Spiritual Information.
Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Articles lacking sources | Spirituality | Religious faiths, traditions, and movements | New religious movements | The Enlightenment
