What Is Enlightenment?

Though enlightenment and/or self-actualization is an experience, it is not a concept. Is there a description of enlightenment that could describe the experience of enlightened moments? Come explore the profound nature of enlightenment in this talk.

Please note, this is a talk, not a guided meditation.

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast. I'm Dr. Robert Puff. Enlightenment. What is enlightenment? We may have images of a Hindu guru sitting on top of a mountain contemplating the universe. Or we may have an image of a Buddhist monk living in a monastery meditating every day. Or perhaps on our own journey in life we've had experiences that are so mystical, So incredibly intense that we feel we've touched the enlightened life. If only for a moment. Perhaps the wisest definition of enlightenment comes from Lao Su who wrote the Tao Te Ching. He would reference enlightenment as the Tao. And he writes, The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. But if you decided to listen to this podcast, Then you're probably wanting to know more than what it isn't. What is enlightenment? Well to start with, In the west we would probably call it self-actualization instead of enlightenment. But whichever verbiage we use, The ultimate understanding of enlightenment is that it is the highest level that we can reach as humans in our lifetimes. Whether it's our own experience where we're just living at such an exquisite level, It's beyond words, Or we've met someone or read about someone who seems to really just be flowing with life and again living at a truly magnificent level. But again, These experiences that we just talked about can seem vague or unclear. Is there perhaps a definition of enlightenment that I can grasp and understand and look for that when I see it, I know that I perhaps am having the moments of an enlightened life? I actually do think Lao Tzu was correct. You can't actually describe it. But perhaps we can paint a picture of it. For example, A person can go to the Grand Canyon or they can go to the Grand Canyon and paint a picture of the Grand Canyon to show others. And that I think is what we're going to do today is paint a picture of what enlightenment is. And like the Grand Canyon, Enlightenment is huge. It is truly infinite. So whatever is said is only going to be a reflection of what is enlightenment. But perhaps this painting that I'm going to paint today for us may give us a slight clue as to what enlightenment is. Well, In my journey through life, Here's what I found as a beautiful definition of what enlightenment is. Enlightenment is the radical acceptance of what is. So what does that mean and how would it look in my life? Well, Let's start with the question, Why do we struggle? We struggle because we're fighting against what is. We don't like what's happening in our lives or in the world right now. And so that causes us to struggle. We have expectations, We have desires, We have fears about the way things should and shouldn't go. Our ego, Our eternal thinking has expectations about the way our lives are supposed to go. And when our lives don't go that way, We get upset, We get angry, We get sad, And our inner peace and tranquility gets disturbed. And so what happens is when life goes away that we don't like, That we wish we're going a different way, That we're upset at, That doesn't seem fair. There's discord, There's disharmony inside of us and we get upset. And that upsetness takes away from our ability just to flow with life. Because after we've done everything we can to effect change and life says, No, That's not what's going to happen, Then we're at that crossroads which we get to face throughout our day. Are we going to be at peace and accept what is or are we going to fight what is and struggle? So our radical acceptance of what is is something that we get to encounter throughout our days. And whichever path we choose, One of acceptance or one of fighting what is, That's the path that's going to create either discontent or enlightenment or at least enlightened moments throughout our day. Let me now go through a series of examples between what I'll call enlightened moments and unenlightened moments to illustrate how we can use radical acceptance to help our lives go better throughout our days. Let's say we wake up in the morning and we didn't sleep well at all. We tossed and we turned and our typical eight hours of sleep seems like it was only two, If that. Now a fighting life would be, Oh my goodness, This is horrible. I'm going to have a headache all day long. I'm going to be tired. I'm going to be exhausted. This is going to be a horrible day. On the other hand, Radical acceptance would say, Oh, I didn't sleep much last night. I wonder what today will look like. Well, It's time to get up and start my day. We'll see, But I'm okay right now. So let's focus on this moment. And as we continue along in these examples, I'm going to make them a little bit more intense as we go to help illustrate what radical acceptance looks like. So as we're on our commute to work, There's a really bad traffic jam on the freeway and we realize we're going to be late. Fighting life would say, Oh my goodness, Am I going to get in trouble? Why is this happening to me? This is so frustrating. I hate this. And we may get on our horn and start blaring away saying, Move, Move it. Again, A radical acceptance would say, Oh, Looks like I'm going to be late. Well, I now have an extra maybe half an hour or hour to sit here. How can I use that time well? Perhaps I'll listen to a podcast. Perhaps I'll just enjoy listening to some beautiful music while I'm sitting here. Then we get to work and our manager wants to talk to us. So before the meeting, We're very nervous and our minds start creating all these stories of why he or she wants to talk to us. And some of them are horrible and terrible and even fearful. And then when we get to the meeting, We learn that we've been laid off. The company is having a rough year and they don't need our services anymore. And then we go into panic mode. We think, Oh no, What's going to happen? Am I going to lose my house? Am I going to be homeless? Will I ever find work again? And again, That mind just races with all the stories of why this isn't fair and what could happen. And the endless cycle of fear, Anxiety, Sadness, Anger kick in. But the person who experiences life through radical acceptance hears about the meeting and thinks, Oh, I wonder what that will be about. And then they just get back to work. And when they go to the meeting, They hear that they have been let off. And of course they're sad and they're angry, But they think, Well, That's something that I will need to address. But right now I need to pack up my stuff and head home. Today's okay. I have enough to pay my mortgage, My rent, And I'll start looking for new work. I don't know what I'm going to find, But this could be a new adventure. But this is what's happening. There's nothing I can do. I will work towards finding something new so I can take care of myself and my family. But right now, All I can do is pack up and head home and enjoy this day. And then when we get home, There's a note on the table and a lot of the furniture and the stuff around the house is gone because the note says our partner doesn't want to live with us anymore and is filing for a divorce or moving out. And of course this would be horrible. This would be terrible. And the person though would be so panicky and so afraid because of all the possibilities that lie before them and most of them incredibly negative because right now they've been hit in the stomach with pain, Severe shocking pain. They lost their job and now their relationship with their partner is precarious and perhaps ending. This news may be so horrible that a person may contemplate killing themselves or drinking themselves into oblivion because they just can't handle it. There's a rejection of what is. This is wrong. And at this point, Radical acceptance is going to seem very hard to swallow because what radical acceptance would look like in a person is they would come home to that note and the tears would flow and they might even get quite angry and upset. And then they would take a deep breath and say, Wow, Life is going differently than I thought it would. I don't know what's going to happen, But right now I'm going to focus on this moment. And though I realize there's many things ahead for me that I have no idea what's going to happen, I can do what's before me right now. And that might mean making a meal for myself. That might be calling up a friend and going for a walk to share with them my concerns or just being with a person who loves me for who I am right now. When we radically accept what is, It's not fighting life. It's flowing with life. And sometimes life just doesn't flow the way we want it to. It's not a state of passivity. We don't do nothing. But after we do what we can do, We do our work well and they let us go. We love our partner well and they decide to leave us. After we've done what we can do and then life takes a different course, We take a deep breath and say, Okay, I can do this. I can work with this. I can accept this and make this work. Whatever this is, It is a radical acceptance of what is. And when we stop fighting life so intensely and work towards accepting life after we've done what we can, But when we've done what we can and life says, No, It's not going to go that way. It's going to go this way. Then we take a deep breath and say, Okay, I'm going to go down that path and it's going to be well because I'm going to flow with life, Whatever life gives me. And when life presents opportunities, Perhaps to rekindle my love, Perhaps to even get my work back, I'll go in that direction. But when there's a locked door there and it says, No, That door is not going to open today. Then we say, Okay, That door is not going to open. What door? Well, I'll go through that door, Whatever that door is. Again, Radical acceptance is just that. It is very radical because of our desires and our fears. We have strong expectations for life to go a certain way and when it doesn't and when we fight that, Which is going differently than we wanted it to, Then we suffer. Instead, If we can begin to find moments of radical acceptance of what is, Then we'll find that yes, Life can be a roller coaster with its ups and downs, But we can ride that roller coaster and even get to the point where we enjoy the ride because we're radically accepting what is. We're not fighting what is. And when we don't fight what is, Something beautiful happens. We begin to experience life with this deep sense of peace. We're at peace with the world, With the universe, And with everything that's happening in our lives because radical acceptance at its core generates this beautiful peace inside of us. And we can look out to our world and say, All is well. Thank you for joining me on the happiness podcast. Until next time, Accept what is, Love what is.

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