Enlightenment, a GUEST POST Post by Rebecca
May 7th, 2008 by Rose Rosetree
Rebecca has interviewed me for her magazine, The Magical Buffet, and I also have done some spiritual reading of her for the magazine (Was it aura readings? Reading faces? Maybe even some empathic merge along the way? It’s gonna be in the magazine archives, somewhere.)
What would Rebecca’s perspective be on enlightenment? I was really curious and her free-spirited answer hasn’t disappointed me in the least.
I have to admit, I was surprised when Rose asked if I would like to write a blog about enlightenment for her website. For those of you who are not familiar with me or my website ( The Magical Buffet), asking me about enlightenment is comparable to asking your family doctor to perform neurosurgery.They know the basics, but you may not want them putting them into action.
Enlightenment implies a level of spiritual or intellectual insight has been achieved, and perhaps you may even be able to share it with others. It is hard to achieve, and harder to prove that it has been achieved.
If that is the case, one starts to wonder, what is the deal with enlightenment
Why does the concept even exist in these modern, fast paced times?
Does one really need to worry about enlightenment when you can find out everything that’s going on in the world in under one minute and every day more and more people seem to seek the spiritual through quality one-on-one time with Oprah?
Perhaps, but I’m here to suggest that obtaining spiritual enlightenment is not half as important as the idea of enlightenment.
Let me be first to state flat out, for the record, I have not even nudged towards enlightenment, and that I am 100% positive that, even upon my deathbed, the only real insight I will have is that it’s really easy to make an ass out of yourself on the Internet
Yet I stagger down a path that perhaps, despite my rum-soaked brain, will lead me to some greater understanding of that which makes up the spiritual.
Frequently I ask myself what is it I’m doingWhat on Earth, do I hope to achieve? I have cluttered dusty book cases filled with books on mysticism, holy texts, and Idiot’s Guides. Why do I keep investing time and money on them?
As cynical and snarky as I may be, I cannot deny that the answer is enlightenment. I am not enlightened. But the quest for enlightenment has helped me start a website/online magazine, allowed me to attend religious observances of multiple faiths, and become friends with a vibrant, diverse group of people. It has also caused me to become more attentive to global affairs and national politics.
None of this would have been possible if not for the concept of enlightenment dangling in front of me like some deep-fried dessert of my dreams. My goal of enlightenment has definitely not been achieved, but it has certainly made me better person.
And in my humble, unenlightened opinion, that may be more important.
Rebecca, although one can’t prove a particular person is enlightened — any more than one can “prove” the existence of God or Goddess — one can definitely PERCEIVE if a person is enlightened.
The surface level of life doesn’t do it. Neither action nor speech nor Botox nor meeting the anorexic ideal… none of that really matters one hoot, far as enlightenment is concerned.
But you could learn to read auras simply for this purpose, spotting the enlightened folk, and you wouldn’t be disappointed. Look back at our recent blog post about Jeffrey Chappell, for instance. Reading that guy could make your day.
His crystal-clear, joy-filled, chakra databanks make him a perfect poster child for enlightenment!
As for posing, pretentiousness, and other artifacts of enlightenment-seeking culture, aura reading provides a refreshing wave of clarity.
Everyone has magnificent gifts of the soul. They show up just great in auras. Gifts can co-exist with STUFF galore. (And usually do.)
Enlightenment doesn’t really show up terribly often on people. Not yet, anyway. And if you don’t find it, reading Oprah’s aura, I would agree with you.
REBECCA has sent a link to the article where I read her face:
http://www.themagicalbuffet.com/Issues/Vol02_Iss09/Article_057.html
Rebecca, you’re exactly right. Enlightenment is often thought of as a destination when it’s the journey that’s the important thing. We are eternal beings, therefore, we can never be “done” in the sense that we can reach a place called “Enlightenment” and stop growing. There is always something else to expand to beyond where we are and it’s that inability to reach “the end” that causes us to continue to expand infinitely. Because we are eternal, it can be no other way.