What is Enlightenment?

“O SON OF MAN!

“The light hath shone on thee from the horizon of the sacred Mount and the spirit of enlightenment hath breathed in the Sinai of thy heart…” from the Hidden Words of Baha’u'llah

So what, exactly is enlightenment?  It is often spoken of as something to be sought.  But, if the above passage is true, then enlightenment must be with us always, never lost and therefore, no seeking is required.

Let’s hear the rest of this Hidden Word:

“Wherefore, free thyself from the veils of idle fancies and enter into My court, that thou mayest be fit for everlasting life and worthy to meet Me. Thus may death not come upon thee, neither weariness nor trouble.” (HW #63 from the Persian)

It must be that we are “veiled” somehow from our own enlightenment and, as the passage implies, from our eternal life–wherein we meet God and will no longer experience fatigue, trial or even death!

So the crucial task becomes one of freeing ourselves from these intervening veils.  How is this done?  Personally, I always jumped to the conclusion, that somehow I had to remake myself in God’s image, you know, fix myself so that I’d be worthy.  I never realized how arrogant this position was until I found the Course.  I began to realize, as I practiced the lessons and read the Text and the Teacher’s Manual the mind-training that is A Course in Miracles is the quickest route to the unveiling.

This, from A Course in Miracles:

“Why wait for Heaven?

Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. …The light came with you from your native home, and stayed with you because it is your own. It is the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source.   It shines in you because it lights your home, and leads you back to where it came from and you are at home….This light can not be lost.  Why wait to find it in the future, or believe it has been lost already, or was never there? …

The peace of God can never be contained. Who recognizes it within himself must give it. And the means for giving it are in his understanding.  He forgives because he recognized the truth in him.  The peace of God is shining in you now, and in all living things.  In quietness is it acknowledged universally.  For what your inward vision looks upon is your perception of the universe.

Sit quietly and close your eyes. The light within you is sufficient.  It alone has power to give the gift of sight to you.  Exclude the outer world, and let your thoughts fly to the peace within. They know the way.  For honest thoughts, untainted by the dream of worldly things outside yourself, become the holy messengers of God Himself.”

~  from lesson 188 of the Workbook of A Course in Miracles

This passage, this lesson takes my breath away!  The same way that reading from the Baha’i writings takes my breath away, only differently.  If Baha’u'llah said that we should free ourselves from the veils of idle fancies and vain imaginings and I’m having trouble with that, it makes sense to me that God would provide a means for helping me with this all-important task.

For me, the Course is providing this means. I certainly could not explain the idea of using the Mind to reach the Light any better than the above passage from Lesson 188 of ACIM.

It’s not that the Baha’i Faith is lacking anything, the problem is: I’m veiled from understanding it fully.  The Mind Training works; I may struggle sometimes, but it never fails, if I just give it a moment…and I say, “If it’s working, why try and re-invent the Wheel?”  A provision has been given to help me strip off the intervening veils that hide the Light in me and in every one of us!  Hallelujah!

~The Peace of God is Shining in You NOW!

Oraea

Note: the views expressed herein are based upon my own experiences and are not intended to express any official Baha’i standpoint.

A Trained Mind

Okay, I could have been more sensitive….or not.

This is not what matters.

I sit here, stewing in my own juices from my brother’s verbal attack upon me from just a moment ago.   I notice that my initial, knee-jerk reaction is to want to fixate somehow, out of the discomfort. I feel triggered: judged, unloved, and like I want to separate from everyone and everything…and I’m in trouble.  In the past, I would have used a substance: alcohol, drugs or food to self-medicate–but the itch would go unscratched, the core problem would remain. If I did use a substance to “treat” my problem, then, of course, when the fix had worn off, I’d be left with the mess that any form of addiction leaves in its wake.

I claim (probably too often) that, when conflict arises, my mind is trained to perform an action of forgiveness.  These times are where the rubber meets the road.  I’m in a bind.  If I validate my brother’s ego by trying to soft-pedal the situation and console him somehow, I’m buying into the reality that I’m at fault because of my inability to predict what he would have found as acceptable behavior and tailoring myself to, at best, an inauthentic expression of myself.   I now will be verifying insanity, both in him and in myself.  This I know I cannot do.  But, that still leaves me feeling unloved.

And there it is.  I feel unloved. An old wound in myself has surfaced in the form of an attack which only seems to be outside myself, coming from someone else.  I now can hear my own call for love, for healing and for atonement. And, since there is no sense in the wounded ego trying to figure out a way to fix itself (being unreal), I turn to the Source of Love.

Sitting silently, for a moment, I open myself to the Holy Instant.  It never fails. He never fails.  I need only trust my little willingness to be healed completely of this insanity and this ancient wound.  I call upon my brother’s spirit and the Holy Spirit simultaneously and await the imminent transmutation of fear and hurt to love and forgiveness.

“Lord, Thou who are merciful unto me, into Thy hands I place my whole Self, trusting in Thee and in Thine unfailing Love. Forgive me, Father, for attacking my brother and for all unloving thoughts and actions.   Glory be to God, the All-Merciful, the All-Loving, the Ever Forgiving.”

The Instantaneous Process of Healing

Sometimes the healing of the mind is experienced instantly, sometimes gradually, sometimes I feel like I’m having a mind-storm.  This is a mind-storm moment.  A flurry of related thoughts fly through my mind, mostly crazy and mean thoughts, in rapid fire.  As each one surfaces, I let it slip past with a quiet, “Not this.”  If I get stuck on one, I see if I need to feel something and let that happen–without indulging, and then flow past it until I am emptied out. This process, can be quick or it can go on for days.  But if I am, at least somewhat vigilant against trying to solve the problem by myself, i.e. without Help from above,  healing always happens.

And now I rest in God.  I have done my part and I trust my brother will do his.  I do not have to fix him, or try to correct his behavior or blame or figure anything out.  I don’t even have to talk to him about anything.  The fact of my singularity is what heals… for…

“When I am healed, I am not healed alone.”  ~A Course in Miracles

Peace,
Oraea

Seeing Past the Veils of Mortal Sight to True Vision

True Vision and Remembrance

Did you know that its really effortless to “see”? Seeing, or more accurately, corrected, spiritual vision, is a natural outcome of an assemblage point shift, or a shift in the way you have organized your world view.

That shift in perception is toward a more subjective, deeper view. This deeper view can show you, in less than the twinkling of an eye, what you have forgotten.

The body’s eyes do not “see”. Vision belongs to the realm of the Light from which it extends.

“The retina of outer vision, though sensitive and delicate may nevertheless be a hindrance to the inner eye which alone can perceive…The bestowals of God…are sometimes hidden by intervening veils of mental and mortal vision…but when those scales are removed..the great signs of God will become visible and he (man) will witness the eternal light filling the world.” (Abdul-Baha’, BWF, p.263)

And what is it that you have forgotten?  Everything of importance. Like this:

“God is in everything I see. Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed.” (A Course in Miracles, L56)

The knowledge that you possess has never left you, but the world has momentarily blinded you.  Only momentarily–as the pace of the old-world breakdown quickens, it is becoming harder to not remember, to stay blind, is it not?

This reminder from the mind training of A Course in Miracles, may help to loosen the knot of the blindfold you have been wearing:

 “Above all else I want to see. Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. As it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me.” (A Course in Miracles)

But the blindfold that shows you the world of everyday things and events, has been in place so long, that you have grown accustomed to wearing it…everyone around you agrees that this is the way that it is and there are rules that the world obeys and so you must obey them as well.  To suddenly stop- to “stop the world” as Carlos Castaneda suggested in his books from the 1970′s, may seem fearful at first.

 “Human beings are perceivers, but the world that they perceive is an illusion: an illusion created by the description that was told to them from the moment they were born.” (Carlos Castaneda)

You are living in a dream, a dream figure being dreamed by the world.  This can never content you. Open you eyes…you will find that you are not alone and abandoned.

 “The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing bearing the semblance of reality.””Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.”

There is a real world.  It is your native home, you know the way back.  Open your eyes…and see.

Note:  The ideas expressed herein are based solely on the author’s experiences are are not intended to represent any official Baha’i viewpoint.

The Beholder’s One Good Eye

It is said that it is impossible to see two worlds.
Now I’m supposed to choose.

One eye is open on the world of Maya,
What I see makes me crazy, makes me weary.
Incarcerated by imagery, artifice and false hope…
I serve a prison sentence for dealing in lies,
hard time.

The other seems crusted shut, so long disused,
…while the promised land lies just behind it’s atrophied lid.

But…once, when it opened suddenly and for no reason,
I caught a glimpse of that sweet land
and cannot forget
what I saw and loved so completely that it can’t be spoken.
Eternity shone there. Ecstasy saturated every atom.

Meanwhile…something… keeps vigil while I
while away.
My chains are familiar now,
their heaviness accepted as inevitable.

Still…a small bird chirps a reminder,
a blown flower-petal wafts a beckoning,
a faint melody, almost heard sounds the silent calling:
“Come home…I’m here”.

My world-eye is afflicted.
It needs shutting.
It wants rest.

I have only one good eye -
It’s sight forever unimpaired.
If I close the one, the other might just open.

It is said that it is impossible to see two worlds.
Now I must choose.

   ~

Radiant Hearts

This, a blessing from Abdul’-Baha’, is a balm to the soul and an inspiration to the mind:

“ I ask God that His confirmations may encompass you, that your hearts may become radiant, that your eyes become illumined through witnessing the signs of God, that your ears hearken to the anthems of heaven, that your faces be set aglow with the radiant light of the Word of God. May you all be united, may you be agreed, may you serve the solidarity of mankind. May you be well-wishers of all humanity. May you be assistants of every poor one. May you be nurses for the sick. May you be sources of comfort to the broken in heart. May you be a refuge for the wanderer. May you be a source of courage to the affrighted one. Thus, through the favor and assistance of God may the standard of the happiness of humanity be held aloft in the center of the world and the ensign of universal agreement be unfurled.” (Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 425)

May we all follow the light of these words of wisdom.

Peace and love to you, my friend.- Oraea

A Solitary Bird

A Solitary Bird