Quote (Pitbulul @ Jan 15 2013 09:00pm)
can u elaborate even more on that?
There is no way to comprehensively describe this process. Many books and religious teachings are centered around it, and thousands of text have been written. To put it in a very simplistic way, enlightenment is not the direct result of religion, a single experience, or logical reasoning within one's own mind. Instead, it comes from the realization that we are not our minds, and that our egos are what prevent us from living a pain-free and joyous life. Many people identify heavily with their minds, their past, and the scenarios they envision in their future. If you attempt to break this cycle, your mind will fight back. Over all the years we have been alive, we have created an image of ourselves in our minds based on our experiences and aspirations. Our minds closely identify us with that image, our "ego". The mind feels threatened when we try to distance ourselves from this image, as without it and without our minds, we are nothing but an organic body of cells, atoms, etc. However, we must distance ourselves from our minds and our egos in order to truly be free. If we do not, we will allow our racing minds to take over our lives, and we will constantly be thinking of past events, of what we should be doing now, of what we predict the future to be like for ourselves, etc. This leads to internal chaos and insanity, and is why the majority of adults today are miserable as opposed to happy. The key is noting that as humans, we have both a mind and a spirit. Our spirits are often unknown to us as we devote all of our attention to our minds. The key to accessing the spirit is shutting off the mind and using it only as a tool when needed. There is no simple way to do this other than through careful and diligent practice. We must realize that the pasts and futures our minds so incessantly process are non-existent. Nothing exists at each very moment of our lives other than what is happening right now. Our pasts are distorted by our imperfect memories, and future scenarios we envision are fabrications and are not guaranteed to, and will most likely never, occur. We hence only have the present. Once we realize and accept this, we can dissociation our sense of identity from our minds and thoughts, and we can begin to shut off our minds except for when they are necessary. The resulting stillness allows us to feel our spirit, and be in touch with our inner selves. This creates a state of harmony in which our surroundings appear more vibrant, our bodies feel more alive, and we notice and accept the natural beauty of the world. This is the first step to spiritual enlightenment.