A Spiritual Journey

[Tom Church]

Has anyone had any experience with a spiritual journey of any sort?


I'm beginning to be slightly attracted to the idea of becoming enlightened...Just that ultimate feeling of inner-peace. No worries, no distractions, no petty thoughts...just pure spiritual wisdom.

[uziel]

I won't call myself a buddhist or anything, but I read a lot about it and it do is one of the fundations of my own philosophy in life.

I remember reading about buddhism about 6 years ago, and it really changed my life. There are a lot of interesting points and directions how to (without any religion) be enlightened. Find some books by the Dalai Lama. They are great.

Yesterday I thought of looking into Scientology. Never really had any interest, but I found some information and watched some youtube videos, and I think they have some interesting points too. You might dig into that too.

Both believe in an everlasting soul, and that it takes a new body everytime the body dies. I don't believe that, but you don't have to if you want to get into those things.

Some other books/audiobooks I recommend:
- Stephen R. Covey: The 7 habbits of highly effective people
- Eckhart Tolle: The power of now

These books just inspire you and give you new ideas, and that's the best feeling you can get. The feeling of progression.

What is enlightenment?
A question you might ask yourself is WHAT IS enlightenment. I think it's pretty hard to reach the buddhist Enlightenment. Maybe even impossible.

For me, enlightenment is not a goal, but the way towards that not-existing goal. Everytime I realize something about myself and the world and how I and others think, I feel a moment of enlightenment.

Past
I remember when reading about buddhism when I was 18, I realized something when reading in the bus home, and deciding I was going to get my happyness from helping people and NOT from the recognation people would give me for it. So the happyness would be something I could control. Just when I decided to do that, I felt so enlightened. I've never experienced something like it anymore. I just stood up in the bus and wanted to hug every single one on that bus.

hmmm
Maybe enlightenment is about knowing what your goal in life is and enjoying that path towards it. And to know that that goal is something YOU can achieve without needing others to do it. Choosing what you want to life for and doing it, and enjoying every single moment of it.

Once you know what you want and you realize you don't need anyone to achieve that, you can have no worries and are fully spiritual in your beeing.

[Nicholas Fahrenheit]

I've acquired the ability to block out anger or malintent recently.. If someone does something stupid, yeh tell them what they did was wrong, it might stop them from doing it again.. But getting overly angry is just adding a new problem to the pile. The event has happened the fact you get angry wont fix that. Seneca was the one who spearheaded this idea. Ramses didnt listen!

Like the example I used when talking to my friends about it the other day is that show the amazing race, one member of the team will fuck up and read the map incorrectly, and other one flips out and starts calling them an idiot.. Your in a foreign country with no idea where you are, and you've just isolated yourself from the one person that is on your side.. great work jackass.. See anger and contempt just adds a whole new uneeded problem to the equation.

[Tom Church]

Enlightenment to me is a sheer sense of awe of the universe. An understanding of how everything and everyone is connected. An understanding of the principles of Karma, and actively participating in my every action good deeds.

Nick, I think you are 100% correct. Anger is used too easily. It isn't controlled enough, however I won't say it's a weakness because sometimes we need it to survive. In the sense of a fight or flight senario.

Uziel, I recon you've hit the nail on the head for me (that means 'given me the answer' just in case you haven't come across that phrase before). It's not just about recognition, but actually taking action. We know the world is facing an environmental crisis, but few of us truely take action. I came to the same conclusion a few months ago, to help people. My GF's aspiration in life is to help people, always has been. And she got laughed at throughout her school career.

For me, a spiritual journey won't involve religion as such. There are over 7000 different Gods being worshipped around the world, I don't want to believe in a single entity. Rather, i want to look at everything as a whole, a magnificent interconnected universe. This is my goal.

I think I will know that I have reached this goal, if I manage to rid myself of all prejudices, and I find that I never think negatively about anyone or anything. Once I can do that, I will die a truely happy man.

Thanks for the book advice, i've written them down. I'll have lots of spare time in my Gap year, starting in 2 months, so I'll read them then. There is no rush, this is a life time ambition.

[uziel]

Hm I just remembered something important.

I think a state can not give you the feeling of enlightenment. It CAN enhance a happier life and stuff, but the best feelings you can have are those in progression. it's just like relations and stuff. Beeing on a plateau together, doesn't work (they say). there have to be spikes and lows. Although I'm never angry and judge no-one, it doens't feel like enlightenment. Only progression or realisation feels like enlightenment.

Any thoughts on that?