Meditation is not something that I do anymore, it is something that happens to me. Differing states of mind are natural whether they are induced or influenced by many different internal and external stimuli (built in comparative analysis of our conscious states). Sometimes I struggle to sustain a shallow state of mindlessness and sometimes deep meditative states wash over me at anytime or anyplace. And, when these deep states occur there is usually a message associated with that meditative occurrence.
Today was one of those days in which a deep meditative state occurred. The message concerned my relationship with the concept of enlightenment. Previous notions of enlightenment were overly simplified. One cannot understand what enlightenment is if they are not enlightened, just as people that are blind from birth are unable to understand the concept of color.
What I had hoped for was some sort of rapture. A definitive point in time when I would cross the threshold from the darkness into the light. I was hoping to have an Eckhart Tolle moment of realization, but for me that was not the case. Today I was given and opportunity to see where I was. I was given a snapshot of my relationship with enlightenment.
At this time enlightenment is a never ending process of conscious evolution. In a way enlightenment no longer exists as a definitive state of mind. The battles I fought in pursuit of enlightenment were part of the process. The process, as I now understand it, was never about attaining anything, but more about returning to my innate state of being. If one is seeking purpose then that purpose is the perpetual expansion of consciousness.
We have words that describe a concept of 'no beginning' and 'no end'. One word is infinite. It is difficult to grasp the meaning of the infinite. Even our physicists purport that there exists a beginning to our universe, conceptualized as the "big bang". In our materialistic world view we experience beginnings and endings, creation and decay, life and death so it is difficult to understand that which is infinite. Today I was given a snapshot of my life and what was a scarred and battered past I am now able to see an infinite expanse of possibilities (conscious immortality).
I have been frustrated and sometimes infuriated with those around me. How can you not see what is right in front of you? "I must be surrounded by idiots" (mostly thought, but rarely spoken). That frustration has prompted self isolation. Lately I have wanted to end my self imposed isolation, but do so gradually so that I won't be perceived as bipolar. Enlightenment was once described to me as trying to swallow a red hot iron ball, but I never allowed myself to consider the psychological fortitude that was going to be necessary. The analogy of the iron ball was taken literally, not as a metaphor for the painful mental, and eventual, conscious transition(s).
I am certain that my current concept will not persist, it will continue to evolve and expand. The process of enlightenment is to set in motion that which is stagnant. Our existence is not about beginning and endings, it is about transitions. Perpetual conscious evolution awaits. Transient enlightened states are my new normal. My constant state of frustration is being undermined by happiness. I sometimes find myself pushing back against these persistent eruptions of happiness fearing that they may foretell an inevitable slide into insanity. I have been fighting so long that I have forgotten how to allow the very thing I have been fighting for.
I sit here now finding it hard to stop grinning, ready to take another step...
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