What is enlightenment?

Cognitive_Dissident

So I had to share a few passages from an essay that I just read, published in 1784 by Immanuel Kant, in response to the question "What is enlightenment?" Also, what would your own response be to the question?

the website for the full essay is here.

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man's inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! "Have courage to use your own reason!"- that is the motto of enlightenment.

...

After the guardians have first made their domestic cattle dumb and have made sure that these placid creatures will not dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are tethered, the guardians then show them the danger which threatens if they try to go alone. Actually, however, this danger is not so great, for by falling a few times they would finally learn to walk alone. But an example of this failure makes them timid and ordinarily frightens them away from all further trials.

...

I have placed the main point of enlightenment - the escape of men from their self-incurred tutelage - chiefly in matters of religion because our rulers have no interest in playing guardian with respect to the arts and sciences and also because religious incompetence is not only the most harmful but also the most degrading of all.

The whole essay is fantastic, but these are the passages that really stood out to me with regards to the Witnesses specifically.

CD

Super_Becka

Hmm, very interesting indeed. I've never been a JW, I'm just dating an inactive, unbaptized one, but I've read enough about the WTS and the belief system to be able to clearly see how those passages can be related to JWs.

Thanks for the passages and the link, it's very interesting, the whole essay should be a good read.

-Becka :)

DavidChristopher

"rebellion" to those out to control you and think for you.

greendawn

That sounds very interesting, humans have a tendency to remain unaware there is resistance to expanding their awareness of the inner and outer worlds, as these efforts are resisted by a powerful inertia that don't like sophistication, development.

poppers

What is enlightenment? Depends on who you ask, but I will give my answer. Enlightenment has nothing to do with beliefs or ideas; it has nothing to do with "doing" anything, including accumulating knowledge, prayer, supplication, following rules, observing rituals, practicing meditation, yoga, pranayama, or purifying one's body, mind, or senses.

In short, it is the discovery of what one really is - what one is prior to the arising of any IDEA of "self". It is the uncovering of what one really is when the mind/ego has abated and it is realized that there isn't actually a definitive "me", only a temporary appearance of "me" which comes and goes, and which had until then been believed in as "me".

It is the discovery that one is no longer bound by the emotions which flow through the human mechanism. It is the realization that all arises out of "oneness" and that You ARE that in which all arises. This doesn't necessitate any special knowledge or practicing any sort of "procedure" to get "there". It is the discovery of unconditional freedom and love, and that that freedom and love is one's very nature, and that that nature is available right here in this very moment.

There are no words to adequately express it, no words which will "give" it to another, and no words to lead one there because it is beyond words. At best it can be pointed to with words, but too often the words and the teachers become the focus. In even shorter terms, enlightenment is one's natural state prior to the conditioning of the mind, the arising of the ego, and the resulting "skewing" of what is seen, heard, felt and touched.

poppers

frankiespeakin

I think this guy(brain scientist) gives us a good idea of the brain functions that change the moment of the final stages of enlightenment, and what happened to the Buddha under that tree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqrpKUTMXgY

Neurotheology 3 - This lecture, by neuroscientist and author Todd Murphy, explores an hypothesis about what happens in the brain when a person attains enlightenment. Using concepts in neurotheology developed by Michael A. Persinger (inventor of the God Helmet), Murphy (inventor of the 8 Coil Shakti neural stimulation system) explores the brain's role in enlightenment as understood in Buddhism. The talk also looks at the self (or sense of self), and how it's place as a brain function allows it to be flexible enough to change as a person becomes enlightened. It examines a few case histories, including those of Ramana Maharishi, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, The Buddha, and some others.

Nov. 8th 2013 - Todd Murphy's book "Sacred Pathways: The Brain's Role in Religious and Mystic Experiences" (foreword by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama) is now available. Here is the URL:

http://www.shaktitechnology.com/sacre...