Enlighten

*ENLIGHTEN/*ENLIGHTENED/*ENLIGHTENMENT - also see AWAKEN, NOT-TWO, HEAVEN, WAY, PATH, JOURNEY, CONNECTEDNESS, LEARN, KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTAND, GROW, AWARE, CONSCIOUSNESS, GOD, TRANSFORM, TRANSCEND, ILLUMINATION, MYSTIC, GRACE, TRUTH, REALIZATION, WISDOM

Antonyms: MYSTERY,

The 5 stages of mystic conscioussness are: 1. awakening or conversion, 2. self-knowledge or purgation, 3. illumination (or enlightenment, presence, transcendence, reality) 4. surrender (or dark night), 5. union (Mysticism by Underhill, p203)

Enlightenment made human beings aware of their own transcendent dimension. (p337) The cradle of religion was ignorance and fear, where a mature, enlightened man must climb out of it. (p344) (History of God)

It is Jesus who has enlightened you and who has allowed each human being to distinguish between good and evil. (Lost Years, p154) And between good and higher good. (Randy)

Enlightenment is not a goal. It is a process, a process of living in the presence of God. (Divine Rev, p61)

He who knows others is wise; He who knows himself is enlightened. (Tao Te Ching 33)

The downside of the "enlightenment" paradigm was that in its rush to be impirical, it inadvertently collapsed interior depths into observable surfaces was all the knowledge that was worth knowing. Now we awake in horror to find ourselves living in a universe with no value, no meaning, no intentions, no depth, no quality - the brutal world of the lab technician. (Everything, p89)

Enlightenment sees the Emptiness of all Form, not to actually get rid of all Form. And so Forms continue to arise, and you learn to surf. Abide as Emptiness, embrace all Form. The liberation is in the Emptiness, never in the Form, but Emptiness embraces all forms as a mirror all its objects. Your Original Face is the purest Emptiness, therefore every time you look in the mirror, see only the entire Kosmos [because we in the image and likeness of God / Universe]. (Everything, p240)

Though the whole of Zen is geared to enlightenment, one is faced with the interesting PARADOX THAT ONE MUST NEVER DESIRE IT. TO DO SO WOULD BE TO CULTIVATE AN ATTACHMENT THAT WOULD VITIATE(???) THE WHOLE PROCESS. (Zen, p95)

John of the Cross declares that the darkness of contemplation is in itself an enlightenment (for him imageless darkness is faith and faith is enlightenment) even if one never arrives at any soul-stirring experience. The important thing is not the sudden shock to one's psychic life but the total transformation that ensues. What matters is the new man, the new creation that follows the death of the old that should come gradually without melodrama. (Zen, p96)

Coming to enlightenment you are like a chicken breaking out from the egg. From within the little thing keeps pushing, but it never breaks out unless the mother hen pecks on the shell from outside. And in the same way your meditation may keep maturing, but it will not reach its climax without pressure from outside yourself. (Zen, p102)

Christ's enlightenment is expressed in the words "I am." (Zen, p21)

"Anyone who follows me shall not walk in darkness" reminds us that we must imitate his life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened and set free from the darkness of our own hearts. (Imitation, book1, ch1)

For all of us who listen, in the stillness of our hearts, God enlightens us and offers to lead the way. (Awakening, p12)

The heart of the matter is: relax; just love as much as you can from wherever you are. When you come right down to it, you're already "enlightened" and you don't have anything to prove. (The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment)