Enlightenment Law # 24

...It is our most sacred task, to be Light and to bring Light. Could this be so hard? What allows it and what prevents it?  

Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Enlightenment card 

        (cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

What makes us believe we are enlightened, or not? 

How do you evaluate someone else's degree of Enlightenment? 

Who radiates light among the people in your life?

As you experiment with this Law for the next ten days, be playful. Solemness is no substitute for genuine Enlightenment. Being able to laugh at yourself, and the human condition, seems to be a prerequisite for those on the Enlightenment quest. 

Have you heard the Zen saying?

Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. 

After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. 

What is meant by this?

When you broach the subject of Enlightenment with family and friends in the coming days, co-create a list of enlightened qualities. Then list who has them, especially the capability to enlighten others. 

Review your beliefs, assumptions and expectations about Enlightenment. 

Is it possible to become enlightened without meditation and isolation? 

Does the Process require a guru or teacher? Many teachers? 

How long does it take to become an enlightened being? 

Is any single practice guaranteed to produce Enlightenment?   

Decide how important Enlightenment is to you, during these next ten days and what, if anything, you plan to do about it, in the time you have left. Here's some enlightening advice from the wise ones.

Is there a fear of enlightenment in some societies? For example in societies which focus their energies on materialism, possession, consumerism, and time-based activities? I think there is, and it might be called phobosophy, the fear of wisdom. In short, what is the opposite of enlightenment and where did it come from?

Thomas Clough Daffern (1956 - ) Welsh educator, author and peace advocate

Enlightenment is…one part physical study of Awareness, one part mental application of truth, one part Cosmic Kiss.

Meredith Young-Sowers, in her Spirit Heals book

In general, all the steps toward enlightenment are mind reforms. This mind of ours must be cultivated and transformed. There are methods of doing so…. our real enemy is our own inner habit of self-preoccupation... A blade wheel is a very fierce image for mind reform… exposing the self-preoccupation and self-addiction habits, underlying all my other bad habits… It causes damage—serious, blessed damage to narcissism, vanity, the self-habit.

Robert Thurman in Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious... This is disagreeable and therefore unpopular.

C. G. Jung

I had hoped to get instructions in Yoga…but what the teacher did was mainly to force me to face the darkness within myself; and it almost killed me.

Irina Tweedie

To be awake, to be enlightened, is to be fully and completely embodied. To be fully embodied means to be at one with who we are, in every respect, including our physical being, our emotions, and the totality of our karmic situation.

Reginald A. Ray in Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body

The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them.

Albert Einstein

Gaining enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon doesn't get wet; the water isn't broken... The whole moon and the sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

Dogen

Since ‘there is really no duality, separation is unreal.  Until duality is transcended and at-one-ment can be realized, enlightenment will not be attained.

Padmasambhava (8^th century)

Not two.  In this ‘not two’ nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter when or where. Enlightenment means entering this truth… in a single thought is ten thousand years.

Sengstan 3^rd Zen Patriarch

(Non-duality comes from transcending duality)

I spent years trying to be a holy, solemn monk. It was so artificial, unnecessary, and, in retrospect, goofy. I was trying to glow in the dark while in truth everything was naturally radiant.

Josh Baran in The Tao of Now

Liberation is… another name for enlightenment… Enlightenment is not morally neural; the will to enlightenment is the most profound commitment a spiritual seeker can make. The experience of enlightenment is the end game, so to speak, if there is one, of the spiritual journey… We need to begin talking about Enlightenments, rather than spending futile energy disputing whether Eastern or Western enlightenment is better, whether Sufism, or Christianity or Buddhist, or Mahayana or Theravada or Zen – is the quickest way to enlightenment. … We need a methodology that enables us to remain true to all our separate and diverse enlightenments… It may be that all of us are tapping into a substratum of collective transpersonal consciousness, which is one, yet appears as many. …this perception of unity is one of the tell tale signs of genuine enlightenment.

Thomas Clough Daffern (1956 - ) Welsh educator, author and peace advocate

As more and more enlightened people take over powerful positions in all areas and fields of governments, businesses, economics, education and communities the nearer we will be to the coming Golden Age. The Golden Age will come about only when many people are enlightened and live in harmony with universal laws.

Margo Kirtikar, Ph.D, Flowing with Universal Laws

In ten days, we'll take up the 25th Law of Creativity, which is more enjoyable when we've done our Enlightenment work.  

Surrender Law # 23

Not to give up, but to give over, is the essence of this Law. Who here is wise enough to understand Surrender?  To live humbly for a cause, rather than to die nobly for one. This begins to tell us what Power real Surrender holds. 

Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Surrender card 

(cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

Some might call this the Law of Radical Acceptance because Surrender implies being undefended, being vulnerable, and able to accept what happens. The difference is in whether you can accept 'being' in this state, or whether it is 'forced' upon you/your ego personality self. It means being able to tolerate not being in control...

For the next ten days try experimenting with Surrender. 
You can start with the mental defenses, like being judgmental and critical of others, and yourself. What if you surrendered your need to be 'right'?
Emotional Surrender could involve allowing yourself to feel Love instead of some habitual condemnation of a particular person or group of people.
Physical Surrender could be as simple as going to bed when your body is tired.  
Spiritual Surrender might be something like saying a different prayer before drifting off to sleep. For instance, 'Send me, use me and protect me.' These words express the spiritual Surrender I have yet to achieve during my waking hours. 
What sort of Surrender do you aspire to? 
All of us ought to have some practice to help us prepare for the ultimate Surrender when our bodies die.

Talk to family and friends about Surrender. Reconsider examples of masters and sages who surrendered their needs for worldly wealth, human acclaim, and were able to live humbly and quietly as monks, nuns, hermits.  

What happens to us, and to others, when we cannot let go? 

Which attachments do you cling to, too tightly? 

Have you noticed that the word 'end' is inside Surrender? 

Each ending is another beginning. You may be preventing a new start by not having enough Trust to be able to Surrender what needs to go. 

What have others said about the Law of Surrender?

Surrender means accepting this moment, this body, and this life with open arms.  Surrender involves getting out of our own way and living in accord with a higher will, expressed as the wisdom of the heart.  Far more than passive acceptance, surrender uses every challenge as a means of spiritual growth and extended awareness.

Although The Law of Surrender means accepting whatever happens in your life, it does not mean passive toleration for what you don’t like, or ignoring injustice, or allowing yourself to be victimized or controlled. True surrender is active, positive, assertive — a creative commitment to make use of your situation, in a spirit of appreciation.

Dan Millman, author of the Laws of Spirit

The last laps of all paths are the same – surrender of the ego.

Ramana Maharshi

I don't know Who—or what—put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of U.N.. Markings (1964)

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or else surrender to self-chosen ignorance.

Confucius (551-479 BC) China's most famous teacher and philosopher

In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty... in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.

Deepak Chopra (1946- ), Indian medical doctor, books include Power, Freedom, and Grace: Living from the Source of Lasting Happiness

To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.

Irving Wallace

The sacrifice or surrender of the heart of man and his emotions is the first of the rules; it involves the attaining of an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotion.

Bhagavad-Gita: The Song of God, translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.

Mahatma Gandhi

One act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever.

Robert Holden from Shift Happens

Sometimes what seems like surrender isn't surrender at all. It's about what's going on in our hearts. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater.

Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.

Gail Sheehy

Surrender in spite of Freedom is the way of wise men.

Chinmaya

To live in this world you must be able to do three things:

To love what is mortal;

To hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends upon it;

And, when the time comes to let it go,

To let it go.

Mary Oliver (1935– ), American poet, books include Why I Wake Early (quote from poem 'In Blackwater Woods')

Surrender has never been my favorite word. I always thought it had only one meaning, which was to lose and be defeated. There is also a spiritual meaning... To surrender is to accept that there is a waxing and a waning rhythm to events... Trust that good things can happen without our needing to control them.

Peter Block, American management consultant and author, books include Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest

A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.

David Seabury

We need a set of rough principles to guide us, lest we surrender to something too small, to false gods, gurus and groups... The followers of Jim Jones took the full dose of poison. Over belief can be deadly.

Sam Keen, from his book Hymns to an Unknown God

I belong to no nation, no civilization, no society, no race, but to the Divine. I obey no master, no rules, no law, no social convention, but the Divine. To Him I have surrendered all, will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if such is His will, with complete joy, and nothing in his service can be sacrifice, for all is perfect delight.

Mirra Alfassa, ‘the Mother’ (1878- 1973)

Because people so cherish the Self, surrendering is a very frightening experience. A person may experience surrender as a leap into an abyss or as death. This may be perceived by one who has not yet attained a complete Trust and Faith in God or a Higher Power…Once Self is abandoned, the ‘being’ automatically merges with a higher stage of existence which is ready and waiting to accept it.

Margo Kirtikar Ph.D. in Cosmic and Universal Laws

In ten days, we will take up the Law of Enlightenment. Till then do your Surrender practice.

Purification Law # 22

There is no denying that adults adulterate us, despite their best intentions. We can decide to undo this. Who here has not been blessed by the steaming grace of a good shower or the wonder of a hot bath?  What is the equivalent for our hearts and minds? 

Cynthia F. Davidson, excerpt from the Wisdom Wheel Purification card 

(cards, stones, posters & more available via www.thewisdomwheel.com)

Unadulterated and pure, that is the Purification state of mind, heart, body and spirit. Spend these next ten days doing whatever you can to dissolve any accumulated layers of disappointment, indifference or expectation so you can reconnect with the genuine purity at your core.

Give priority to the Process of Purification for ten days and see what happens. 

Do a thorough review your Purification practices since childhood.  

What has worked before to clear your feelings, thoughts & energy? 

Do some research and try some new methods; sauna, sweat lodge, meditation, a fruit juice cleanse, for example. 

Decide how best to purify thoughts, feelings, your physical self and your surroundings. 

Revisit your spiritual life and consider the role Purification has in it.

 

Ask friends and family members what they do concerning this Law. 

Bring up the subject of Purification at work and in a social setting. 

During the past ten days, you did some Renewal work. This made room for Purification. Surrender is the next Law. You can see how these operate in tandem. These three come before Enlightenment, the 24th Law.

 

Here are some wise words about the practice of Purification from others.

 

Be in your own aura…Whatever it is we must do, to reach the knower of truth in ourselves, is our particular purification. Intention and preparation, the removal of barriers and contaminants, until we can respond authentically to what we encounter…as we did when we were children, before we were shamed or punished for doing so.

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.

Purification is the gate of knowledge… minds cleared of prejudice and convention break our habit of taking the visible world for granted, our lazy assumptions that somehow science is real and metaphysics is not.

Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism

 Omniscience is achieved only through the process of purifying the disturbing emotions within your mind. It cannot be achieved merely through wishes and prayers. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing emotions by relying on specific antidotes. All the activities of a Bodhisattva can be included in two major categories: the practice of skillful means and the practice of wisdom. If the practices of giving, ethics, and so forth are to be perfected, they should be supported and influenced by the practice of wisdom. Without the practice of wisdom, the first five of the six perfections cannot actually become practices of perfection.

The Dali Lama

All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you.

Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet

 Purity of the heart is the will to one thing.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) Danish philosopher and religious writer

There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers...even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.

Abraham Maslow, 20th century humanistic psychologist, books include Motivation & Personality

Purification is included in the three Pure Precepts of Buddha's teachings: Do no evil; do good; purify the mind. In its most important sense "purify" means to rid ourselves of delusion, a synonym for ignorance, sometimes translated as non-knowledge or non-Clarity. Ignorance is the root of human suffering. By ridding ourselves of ignorance (delusion), we "cleanse within" and return to our original state, enlightenment.

www.prairiewindzen.org

Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.

 Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

American and Trappist Monk at Our Lady of Gethsemane Abbey

Violent fundamentalism is motivated by the need to eliminate badness through fighting the bad outside (of oneself). What is required now is to eliminate the heretical, impure, inimical elements, that is, killing the infidels who do not believe in (my/our) God. A destructive counterpart is created by the killing of "God’s enemies": it is the killing of oneself. Obviously the killing of oneself in the effort to kill the impure part of oneself, amounts to the total failure – or total grim success – of the process of purification.

Dr. Ruth Stein, Fundamentalism, Father and Son, and Vertical Desire http://ideologiesofwar.com/papers/fundamentalism_stein.htm

On any vision quest the seeker must first achieve a purification, an altered state… (T)he Oglala fast for many days, as did the Jew Jesus during forty days in the wilderness; in other cultures sacrifices must be prepared, pilgrimages made. Only after such ritual purification is the seeker prepared to see what ordinary people cannot normally see… Purification can be achieved by loneliness, despair, deprivation and waiting… they are all forms of sacrifice.

Sy Montgomery, author, naturalist, from her essay in Face to Face

Why not face heroically the furnace of inner purification so that it does not become necessary to pass once more through one of those terrible, gigantic destructions which plunge entire civilizations into darkness?

Mirra Alfassa, aka The Mother in The Sunlit Path

The Night Way ceremony (of the Navajo) has a lot to do with purification of the patient. The chanters say, If you haven’t been purified – cleanliness inside and out – they (the Holy People) won’t come near you.

Navajo Night Way Chanter in The Circle of the Spirit by Peter Gold

Step by step, piece by piece, hour by hour, the wise man should purify his soul of all impurity as a silver-worker purifies silver.

Sri Aurobindo, from Purification chapter in The Eternal Wisdom book

In ten days I'll post the Law of Surrender, until then focus on your Purification efforts.