Uncrossing the Wires of Enlightenment and Self-realization

            In the past several articles, I’ve been drawing a picture, one that is clear to me now but was not always. As truth rises to conscious awareness it affects ego and the two become blended and it is difficult to sort them out. Especially as ego is not motivated to do so. It will use whatever comes to conscious awareness to validate itself, its reality. Of course it does, it knows nothing else. The spiritualities it finds acceptable always include some version of itself, subtle though that might be. Its idea of heaven, of the “real world” in A Course in Miracles’ terms, is some version of what it wants to be true.

To help uncross the wires—sort out ego from truth—I’ve been using the distinction between enlightenment and self-realization because these goals are not the same but are often confused. And what occurs when these goals are confused is spiritual bypassing that does not address dysfunction and/or inevitable disappointment after years of trying to reach a goal that is never to be attained but comes about if it is to come about.

Not all spiritual teachings teach the same thing. Sometimes this is obvious. No one would confuse fundamentalist Christianity with Advaita Vedanta. But sometimes this is not so obvious, and the Course is a good example of this. Because its ontology is nonduality and it uses the word awakening many think it should be in line with, say, Advaita Vedanta. But its stated goal is a “better way”, which puts it firmly in the self-realization genre of spiritual teachings. Which, by far, most teachings are.

Before the term nonduality became popular, Liz here used to say the Course is “Eastern religious philosophy in Christian language”. That’s because that’s what it was for her. Nondual teachings come from those who have experienced enlightenment. The nonduality in the Course resonated with Liz because mystical experiences revealed truth to her. She saw, even if only briefly, what those who experience enlightenment see. But in practicing the Course, Liz was “working on” ego, she was pursuing self-realization. This changed when The Enlightened Mind—the awareness of truth—came to stay in her awareness. After that experience, her point of view shifted, though she didn’t see that until years later when she read back in her journal. It was an expanded view, a “higher” and “wider” view. But something else changed, too. Really, it was forgiveness. She was no longer “working on herself” as she had done before. Instead, she was accepting the person as she was (“don’t squash the human!”); she accepted ego and the person were not going to change. They didn’t have to. Truth was here and they had no effect on truth. They weren’t real. It was a much lighter way to be! She was a little baffled by not being able to “work on herself” as she had before, but overall she was happier seeing that nothing occurring had any effect on truth.

This was an unrecognized shift from a path of self-realization to the living experience of nonduality—one truth. This happened organically. It did not come about because Liz read in a book that nothing appearing is real and thought, “oh, then, I don’t have to work on my stuff.” That would be spiritual bypass (repression). Nor did it come about by Liz “working on herself”. Liz did not do anything to bring truth to conscious awareness. It happened because it was to happen. It was not attained or achieved.

Enlightenment cannot be attained. Yet, many do state this as their goal and this is something they will learn, usually painfully. In the meantime, they practice either spiritual bypass or self-realization. Self-realization happens as an effect of truth rising toward conscious awareness whether enlightenment eventually occurs or not. And this is why for some the wires remain crossed. They think the work on the ego that they feel motivated to do will lead to enlightenment. They may even think a self-realized ego is enlightenment.

Some who practice spiritual bypass think they are enlightened because they “get it” when they read or listen to teachers of nonduality. For those teachers, ego is gone (enlightenment has occurred) and there is nothing to do any kind of work and nothing to work on. But the spiritual bypassing student has not experienced that shift and though their pain is real to them, they don’t address it in the belief that they have transcended the need to.

The expectations students have, of themselves and others, is that those who have experienced enlightenment will show up a certain way. They will exhibit no fear, they will be loving, they will be compassionate, they will never get angry or be selfish, etc. But that is the goal and outcome of self-realization, an ego scrubbed of its more painful parts. Those who have experienced enlightenment do not necessarily show up this way as there is nothing to work on how they show up. Consciousness does not evaluate what appears, even ego, as it is only an appearance. Consciousness knows itself and that is all.

How do you recognize these crossed wires? Aside from the personal work of self-realization that is not there when enlightenment has occurred, here are some differences to recognize:

 

Ego, the “I”, falls away when enlightenment has occurred. In self-realization, the “I” grows stronger and healthier, more meaningful and purposeful.

Enlightenment reveals the world as only an appearance. The world is the self-realized ego’s reality even when there’s an awareness of truth.

Enlightenment ends all sense of learning for growth. Learning means only receiving information. Self-realization is all about learning for growth.

Enlightenment results in happy detachment. Self-realization leads to healthier, more meaningful personal relationships.

Enlightenment accepts what appears because it is only an appearance. The self-realized ego works on changing what they can about themselves and the world and accepts what they cannot change.

In enlightenment, there is no sense of choice or purpose. It is recognized that what appears is predetermined—and is only an appearance in any case. The self-realized ego has a strong sense of will, responsibility, and purpose as part of a greater whole.

Enlightenment is a state of wholeness. Nothing is needed, so nothing needs to change. A path of self-realization is one of always reaching to make whole (heal).

 

You can see by this list that enlightenment arises of itself, it is not attained or achieved. And the path of self-realization is one of learning and growth, so it can be taught. But while these are not the same, they are confused because as enlightenment approaches, the process can look like self-realization. And there can be a long period of overlap where much that is seen after ego falls away comes to awareness while ego is still the dominant consciousness.

What I want to get across here is to not push away the movement you feel within to improve the person, the ego, the “I”, because you’ve read or heard nondual teachings and you want enlightenment, not to improve the ego. That movement is truth rising to conscious awareness and in ego it is a gift that mitigates it. And it may be that truth eventually bumps ego out of the center of consciousness and enlightenment occurs. But also, save yourself some pain by not confusing the process of self-realization with enlightenment. I hear from long-term students of the Course or other nondualistic teachings, “I have been at this for decades and it (enlightenment) still hasn’t happened!” No, but I bet a lot that has improved your experience has occurred. Be grateful to be aware of your own mind and how it shapes your world, to be conscious, to know what you do know. Look around you. It’s a lot better than walking around in the dark. 

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