--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > The "there is a path to enlightenment" / > "there is something wrong with you that must be corrected > if you're not experiencing enlightenment" paradigm is *very* > popular, but far from the only approach.
"In dealing with the omnipresent state of the impersonal God, a statement was made that the transcendental, omnipresent Divine, by virtue of being omnipresent, is the essential Being of everyone. It forms the basic life of one and all, it is not anything different from one's own Self or Being. "Therefore, no path to realize it could be conceived of. Certainly, to talk in terms of 'path' of realization of one's own Being seems to be unjustified, but because all the time in our life the attention is left outside in the gross relative field of experience, we are AS IF debarred from the direct experience of the essential nature of our own Self, or transcendental Being. [emphasis added] "That is why it is necessary to bring the attention to the transcendental level of our Being. This bringing of the attention is said to be a way to realize. "Thus, although we find the idea of a path to realization absurd metaphysically, it is highly significant on a practical level." --MMY, "Science of Being and Art of Living," footnote to the section "Intellectual Path to God Realization" It's the "AS IF" that has to be overcome, one way or the other. That's the "something else" that has to happen. "It's just a trick" or "You're just attached to the trick" may be true on the metaphysical level, but on the practical level, it's absurd. > These days I resonate more with the Ramana Maharshi > approach. It's more real, and in my opinion more effective > at producing realization. If someone in a satsang given > in that tradition tried to claim that they'd really like to be > enlightened but just "can't" because... they'd be cut off > after "because" and reminded that they already ARE > enlightened. After a while even the most attached person > gets the point. "Getting the point" isn't the point. We all get the point on the level of being reminded, i.e., intellectually. Something *else* has to happen. > It's a little like people who are unwilling to give up a long- > time grudge or neurosis. They don't want to give it up > because they get *mileage* out of it. "Oh woe is me...I'm > not enlightened because..." It's a way of getting attention > and prolonging the non-realization of enlightenment. If > everyone around you stops rewarding you for whining > about not being enlightened, maybe you'd drop the whining > and just realize that you're already enlightened. Nope, doesn't work that way. Realizing intellectually that you're already enlightened doesn't help you realize you're already enlightened on the level of enlightenment. Something *else* has to happen. (For most of us, anyway.) Also, for someone who *has* realized enlightenment to offer this formulation is one thing; even if it isn't helpful, it's offered with compassion and love. For someone who has *not* realized enlightenment to offer it as a putdown of somebody else who hasn't realized enlightenment either is beneath contempt. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
