Darkness to Light: You Are Not Alone

I find it always true to say that being a part of an Enlightenment Intensive Retreat is a blessing whose rewards are an experience of spiritual renewal. And of course it is also, at times, a very challenging experience. I often ask participants at the very start of the Enlightenment Intensive, "Who amongst you had thoughts of not wanting to be here, that is of wanting to leave even before you got here?" Most often about a third of the people admit that they had those kinds of thoughts. And often there's usually one or more participants who confess that after their last Enlightenment Intensive they said to themselves, "I'll never do another one again!" But alas, they show up again and again.

What is it in the human spirit that keeps one showing up to an Enlightenment Intensive even though it can be quite a difficult and rigorous challenge? Is it the experience that their suffering has been diminished by the process? Is it the experience that their mental and emotional obstacles begin to dissolve away? Is it their increased ability, capacity and expanded awareness to live life better in their own estimation?

As difficult as an Enlightenment Intensive can be, there is also the inevitable and incredible lightness of being that many people experience during and after the retreat.

But no Enlightenment Master will claim that an Enlightenment Intensive is without challenge. In fact the Enlightenment Intensive Technique is designed to bring about challenge and crisis. Sometimes the crisis is mental. Sometimes it is emotional. And sometimes it is physical. Sometimes it is a combination of all three. But the Enlightenment Technique is also designed to bring one through a crisis to the 'yonder shore of enlightenment.' As it says in a traditional yoga prayer, "from ignorance to wisdom and from darkness to light and from death to immortality."

Charles Berner, the originator of the Enlightenment Intensive, says that the enlightenment technique is designed to bring about a healing crisis in respect to directly knowing yourself. He wrote that "if getting enlightened were an easy thing any person who had very much interest at all would easily become enlightened and we wouldn't need to bother with an Enlightenment Intensive. But it's not an easy task."

He's right. Throughout history people have spent their entire lives striving for enlightenment. And they've done all sorts of things to achieve it including fasting and starvation, various forms of emotional and physical austerities like social isolation, sexual celibacy and all sorts of bodily mutilation. There is no end to the creative and sometimes misguided ways people throughout history on our planet, (and it seems mostly men) have used to find their true self. "But," notes Berner, "Only a small percentage of them ever got enlightened."  

The Enlightenment Intensive offers a way that in as little as 3 days you can experience enlightenment. It's the same kind of enlightenment that Buddha experienced. Your enlightenment experience may not be as 'deep,' as the Buddha's, but its the same kind. The same kind of enlightenment that Jesus came to know. The same enlightenment that has been experienced and written about for millennium. But it comes at a cost. The cost is a crisis of letting go of control. The cost is letting go of your suffering. The cost is giving up your pre-conceived ideas of who you are and what enlightenment is. The cost is your willingness to let go of everything you think you are and your willingness to be open and empty as you face your self. This is not necessarily easy because you find that you have investments in being the way you are. You have a reputation to protect. You want to be seen by others and yourself in a certain way. You may not want to let go of your suffering because you have invested a lifetime becoming comfortable with the pain. As painful as your suffering may be, to let go of using your suffering as a way to relate with others is frightening. And, at least you know your suffering. If you let go of being the way you have been... What then? The unknown can be very scary and uncomfortable. This is your crisis. The crisis of letting go of what you know as your self. And this is the cost of your enlightenment.

 

Fear is one of the many obstacles to enlightenment. Commonly, people have a fear of the unknown. They also fear that life will fundamentally change if they know themselves directly. They fear they won't be able to tolerate their job or their spouse or their family and friends. They are afraid that if they go any further down that path to knowing themselves, life will be different. They might go crazy or die. And possibly, even worse, they fear being wrong. They fear that all the suffering they held on to in their life was in vain. They fear that all their judgements about themselves and others have been wrong. It's not easy to admit to yourself that your life has been lived as a mistake or that your way of being in life has been unacceptable, shameful or disappointing to you or others. This is a crisis of identity and it often comes as you get closer to enlightenment and knowing yourself as you truly are.  

 

These are not the only crisis and obstacles that you may face on a journey of enlightenment. There are many. Obstacles can be mental, physical, emotional or a combination of all three. It's important to recognise that you cannot avoid the obstacles and that you can get through them. In the scripture, folklore, literature and the myths of the world, heros and heroines find their way through the obstacles to the Promised Land. Historically, Buddha did and so did Jesus. The Greek gods Apollo and Herecles did; the Tibetan Buddhist, known as the mad princess, Laksminkara did; the Taoist Goddess of Mercy, GuanYin did. And in modern times, Neo, the hero of the Matrix did; Dr. David Hawkins did; Eckhart Tolle did; and so have thousands of participants of the Enlightenment Intensive process. 

Sometimes it helps to know that others have walked on this seemingly lonely and treacherous journey. If you look, you can see their their foot steps and the path they created before you. And if you listen intently you can hear their voices echoing, "Keep going straight ahead. Ignore the distractions. Ignore the bliss and the pleasure. Ignore the fear and the loathing. The mind is the Great Seducer. Keep dancing until it rains. You are not alone."
 

EI Teaching 1:

Dear Friends,
In a few weeks you will be participating in an Enlightenment Intensive Retreat. If you haven't already been doing so, may I suggest that you initiate a daily practice of meditation. Even a short meditation for only 10 minutes a day can be of value. If you already do so, great. Stilling the mind will serve you well at the EI Retreat and in your daily life.

Keep your meditation simple. You could use the breath to focus your attention and simply stay open to witnessing reality or existence just as it is. Just as you find it. There is nothing complicated about observing what you are conscious of. Simple observance without trying to do anything about it is the way. Yes, you may want to close your eyes. That's OK.

Alternatively you can keep them open and simply observe. It can help to be in nature. Like watching a sunrise or sunset. Or the ocean or a tree or the sky and clouds.

Breathe, relax, stay open and witness.

If thoughts arise, just witness as if they were the clouds passing in the sky. Non-attachment. You need not try to make the thoughts go away. Simply bring your attention to witnessing what you are conscious of. Let go of any inner struggle or anxiety of trying to make anything happen.
Breathe, relax, stay open and bear witness to the play of consciousness.

The self enquiry meditation that we use at the Enlightenment Intensive Retreat is either 'Who am I?' or 'What am I?'

The self inquiry 'Who am I' or 'What am I' is ultimately NOT A QUESTION.

At first it seems like it is because the first stages of self enquiry are intellectual. And an intellectual 'Who am I?' enquiry demands an answer. But there are no answers to this enigma.

The Enlightenment Technique of contemplation on 'Who am I' is the same as the ancient Zen Buddhist traditions of meditating upon a riddle or 'koan.'

There are hundreds of Zen riddles such as 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?' The zen riddle is meant to collapse or implode the intellectual mind. It brings you to your "original nature that cannot be understood by logic, spoken by words, explained in writing or measured by reason," writes Hui Neng, an enlightened master who lived hundreds of years ago.

In the same way, the Enlightenment riddle, 'Who am I' has no logical or intellectual answer. It's fulfilment is you consciously directly knowing who you are. And that is not intellectual, it is DIRECT and absolutely subjective. It is your personal truth.

You will make more progress if you do not 'think' of the contemplative riddle, 'who am I', as a question. It is a self-enquiry. A wondering into the nature of your self.

Breathe, relax, stay open and bear witness to the play of consciousness as you open to the wonder of self.


with love

Yoah

Yoah Wexler, PhD
yoah@selffoundation.com

EI Teaching 7: The Gateway of Stillness

A quarter of a century ago and more the word ‘enlightenment’ was mysterious and rarely used. It was not a common word in contemporary Western jargon in the way that it is today. At that time many people who heard the word thought it referred to a period of European history. And those few who understood it to be a state of spiritual awareness held the notion that it was rarely achieved except by a few fortunate and very persistent seekers of truth, who mostly lived a life of seclusion a very long time ago.

A traditional understanding is that it took Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, a life time of effort and a final run of several years culminating in 49 days of intense and uninterrupted meditative concentration to achieve what was essentially the unattainable: enlightenment. And though the state of consciousness that Jesus Christ attained is not generally spoken of as enlightenment in Christian or Catholic terminology, Jesus’ awakening or ascension was achieved via a path of terrible suffering and the ultimate sacrifice of his mortal life.

So the path to enlightenment has not historically been described as an easy path to attain.

A quarter of a century ago most seekers of truth and spiritual awareness thought that the state of enlightened consciousness was unattainable and out of reach. That was a commonly held belief. After all, there is only one Jesus Christ who lived over 2000 years ago….and how could one dare compare their state of awareness to that of Christ. And the Buddha, who walked the earth over 2500 years ago and whom millions of devotees hold so reverential and dear … how could one ever hope to achieve such a state of awareness, known as Buddha-hood.

Today, in 2011, there’s been a few changes. The word enlightenment is more commonly used than ever. It is not an unfamiliar term in the contemporary jargon of modern spirituality. A quarter of a century ago it was rare to find it in the title of a book. Today it is not uncommon to find it written on the spine of dozens of books sitting on the shelves of public libraries or on book store display tables. Enlightenment; Touching Enlightenment; Spiritual Enlightenment; How to Attain Enlightenment; Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment; Everyday Enlightenment; Enlightenment Process; The Backdoor to Enlightenment; Instant Enlightenment; The Book of Enlightenment; The Stairway to Enlightenment. The list of books with the word enlightenment as part of the title or books about enlightenment is enormous. The internet book company, Amazon, lists nearly 3,000 products tagged with the word enlightenment. Google the word ‘enlightenment’ on the internet and you’ll find there are 26 million entries. Courses, workshops, retreats and spiritual paths dedicated to enlightened living and taught by gurus, monks and yogis from the Orient, as well as home-grown Western teachers are continually sprouting in western cities.

Movies, tv dramas, and television talk shows highlight and reflect the growing public interest in spiritual awakening and enlightenment. Opera Winfrey, the queen of daytime talk shows in America introduces Eckhart Tolle and his enlightenment teachings to the world. The Spiritual Circle Cinema sends spiritually inspirational movies to your home each month. The movie capitol of the world, Hollywood, produces films that point you toward awakening with The Matrix, What Dreams May Come, The Celestine Prophecy and more.

Today there certainly is a greater interest and understanding of enlightenment than ever before. If the number of times the word enlightenment appears in contemporary society is any indication then the state of enlightenment is very much more easily attained today than it has been for the last several thousand years. And maybe there is a case that can be made for this.

But I wonder if that is really the case. There is certainly more public awareness of the word. Butt does knowing the word lead to the state of consciousness that the word refers to. One could say it is a step in that direction. And does knowing what the word means and having a clear understanding of its meaning mean one has achieved that state of consciousness? No. Does understanding the life of Jesus Christ and the meaning of His ascension mean that one has, themselves, in fact, ascended or risen to the highest spiritual heaven. Of course not.

It just means one has a clear understanding; a good definition.

Let’s not be fooled. There are many ways that the word enlightenment is used in the literature. With Google’s 26 million entries for the word enlightenment, there will be many ways that the word is used or defined. And not all the ways are referring to that traditional state of consciousness that Buddha was referring to when he spoke about ‘bodhi,’ the Sanskrit word for enlightenment or knowing.

The path of enlightenment is fraught with many difficulties. It always has been. Confusion and preconceived ideas being just a couple of them. It was a difficult path to pursue 2500 years ago when Buddha was alive and it still is today. Hearing the word enlightenment uttered in a talk or reading the word enlightenment in a book or seeing it on the internet is a first step. It is like a seeing a road sign that reads, “San Francisco:1800 Kilometers.” The sign let’s you know you are on the right path. But you would not mistake the road sign for the city of San Francisco. In the same way, even a correct definition of the word is not the thing itself. A clear understanding of what the word means is a very good first step.

But it may be foolish to believe everything you read or hear or see without discrimination. I was taught to test the validity of my spiritual experiences by comparing them to two other sources…. my teacher’s experiences and to the experiences written about in the scriptures of the world. That’s good advice.

When my brand new GPS car navigation system told me to make some turns that I was uncertain about I could have double checked them against the map I had in the car. But I didn’t. The GPS sent me on a ‘long and winding road’ through some back country mountain roads. There was beautiful scenery and I enjoyed the drive, but its not what the GPS was told to find and to where I wanted to go. A crisis was brewing …. I was extremely low on petrol with no service station nearby. In a similar way, there are many spiritual experiences on the path to awakening. Some of those experiences are potent, powerful, mystical and ecstatic. But are they enlightenment? Maybe and maybe not. It is easy to lose one’s way traveling on those high mountain plateaus where thin air can make you feel silly and giddy and the beauty of mountain peaks capped in snow that seemingly go on and on forever and forever intoxicate the senses. The high snow capped mountain ranges are after all the terrain and abode of Shiva, the yogic god and lord of transformation.

Many who begin the pursuit of Truth or God or Enlightenment abandon their journey along the way. But whose to say whether it is abandonment or simply a well deserved rest. It is of course, a very high mountain that one must climb to reach the final high peak called enlightenment On such a long journey, distractions, whatever their nature, can grab the attention and lead one astray.

The Buddha who walked the path of enlightenment over two millennium ago experienced and knew that the path to enlightenment was fraught with painful and pleasurable difficulties. That’s why he said that it was rare to be born a human being, rarer still to to have heard the truth about enlightenment and rarer still is to pursue it.

There are blessings and realizations that are yet to be revealed to those of you who walk the high mountain road and tread the path of awakening. “If you are reading these words,” your traveling companion, Huang Po, whispers in your ear, “Recognize, that full understanding comes only through an inexpressible mystery. It is not until your thoughts cease, not until you abandon seeking for something, not until your mind is as motionless as the mountain that you will be on the right road to the Gateway of Stillness that I call enlightenment. Recognize that your awakened mind comes in a flash and is the Buddha itself.”

What Is and Is Not Enlightenment.

Charles Berner, the originator of the Enlightenment intensive gave this talk at the Enlightenment Masters Training Course in 1977. This is the first 10 minutes of a 60 minute audio lecture. I added the vision. To order the complete audio cd lecture and many others, contact: www.selffoundation.com

Enlightened Living Program

Enlightened Living Program
Lesson 3
FAQ: What is Enlightenment?

The Aha! Experience
It is the direct experience of the absolute truth. It has been described as the experience of union or oneness. People awakened by a direct experience exclaim, "Aha!" or "This is It!," or "OH my god!" or "I'm never going to forget who I am."


A Dictionary Definition
The dictionary says the word enlightenment means 'to illuminate,' or 'to comprehend the truth of something you want to know'; or 'to free yourself from a state of ignorance.' If you ask 1000 people on the street about enlightenment, you'd get 1000 different responses ranging from ignorance, uncertainty, preconceived ideas to presentations filled with clarity, truth and direct knowing.

Satori & Instantaneous Awakening
The Japanese word 'satori' has been translated into the English word enlightenment. Satori means 'instantaneous awakening'. It's the elevated state of self realisation that zen meditators and Enlightenment Intensive participants aim for. Zen masters poetically describe enlightenment as 'Opening the Minds Eye' or 'Awakening to your True Nature.'

People around the world who have experienced enlightenment call it by many different names depending on their language and traditions: direct experience, self realisation, god consciousness, kensho, reality, tao, truth, samadh, moksha, etc.







Pointing at the Moon
Zen masters also like to say 'pointing at the moon isn't the moon.' By this they mean that the idea of enlightenment shouldn't be confused with the thing itself. To know what enlightenment is, you have to directly experience it for yourself because words are inadequate to convey the meaning of enlightenment.


Chuang-tzu
A Chinese master of enlightenment, Chuang-tzu, lived several hundred years before Christ. He said, "Were language adequate, it would take a day to fully explain enlightenment or tao. Not being adequate, it takes that time to explain material existence. Enlightenment is something beyond material existences. It cannot be conveyed either by words or by silence."


Enlightenment is Direct Experience
The originator of the Enlightenment Intensive Retreat, Charles Berner, says, “Enlightenment is the direct experience of the truth. In the case of self enlightenment, it is the direct experience of the truth of you. By direct experience is meant by no way or no via. Not by seeing, thinking, believing, deciding, reasoning, feeling or not by any other way. Direct experience of the truth is enlightenment.”



If you’re hungry, why eat the menu?
Reading the menu in a restaurant never fulfils your hunger. To satisfy your hunger you have to eat real food. At the Enlightenment Intensive Retreat the enlightenment experience is always the main feast on the menu. Why eat the menu when you can eat the real thing?



Assignment
The Assignment Questions and Activities are to help you digest and understand the information in the lesson. You are not required to do the assignment. It is your choice to do or not to do any of it. You will not judged or graded. You may like to write the thoughts and feelilngs that arise within you from reading this lesson in your personal spiritual journal or share some of your thoughts with all of us on the Enlightened Heart Forum.

Questions from the Lesson above:
1 What does the dictionary say about enlighenment?
2 What is satori?
3 What does openning the Mind’s Eye mean?
4 Can you name 5 words that mean the same as enlightenment?
5 Is Direct Experience the same as Direct Knowing?
6 Who is the originator of the Enlighenment Intensive?
7 What does the zen masters mean when they say, “pointing at the moon is not the moon”?
8 Who is Chuang-tzu?

Extra Activity
9. Write a paragraph or two, in your personal spiriutal journal or on the Enlightened Heart Forum about what you discover from the your own self refelctions, asking questions, researching using books, the library or the internet about:
a. Who Chuang-tzu was.
b. What satori is.
10. Using The Enlightened Heart Forum, tell me what you became conscious when you had an enlightenment experience.

Tell me who you are. Animation

Tell me who you are.

This four minute creation of a "Tell me who you are" Text animation and "Surrender Your Love" song compostion was written by Yoah Wexler and sung by Melinda Blair Patterson. Yoah is also singing and playing guitar. The art work is by Melinda. Yoah did the editing.

Surrender Yoga Meditation Workshop

Last week, 10 April through 12 April 2009, I organized and facilitated a 2 1/2 Day Surrender Yoga Workshop followed by a 2 1/2 Day Enlightenment Intensive Retreat. The purpose of the Surrender Yoga workshop was to practice and teach more about Surrender Yoga to those who already practice it and to introduce Surrender Yoga to those who want to learn about it.


The event opened with the communal creation of both a Mother Goddess alter and an alter to the elephant headed god, Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Following an invocation invoking the support of the divine realm and a Ceremony of Initiation, the practice and teaching of Surrender Yoga began.

The weekend training was a combination of Surrender Yoga practice, Tantric Communication Exercises, Yogic healing processes, lectures, discussion and group sharing.

I began the first lecture by showing a short video clip I created for the training entitled, Origins of Yoga, Part 1. In this video clip I propose that the origins of Yoga was inspired and originated by the creative power of the Feminine whose ecstatic impulse toward Union birthed all of creation.

In another lecture, I introduced several practical steps that one can use to enter into Surrender Yoga Meditation that are based upon Patanjali's 8 Steps of Yoga. He called those 8 Steps, Ashtanga Yoga and he wrote about them in the second chapter of the book, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Here is a video summary of that lecture.