Thank you for your very interesting post Valentine.
I am coming to this topic from a quite different viewpoint than most of the comments I read (did not read them all). That is because I believe I know exactly what you are talking about due to having this experience myself. Nevertheless, I think you are mistaken to call it enlightenment.
The base of what you are describing as ‘Looking’ is that there is a different way of perceiving the world. Something like a separate perceptual channel or mode. This concept and its various distortions can be indeed found in all the mystical traditions as well as in all kinds of gurus, cults and New Age formulations.
If you study primary material more in depth you will find a good description of the phase you are (to my estimation) in. You got a glimpse of something existing and you try to teach it. This is analogous to understanding that something called number 1 exists, ignore the rest of mathematics and try to convince others of the existence of the number 1. This is very common when people have what can be called a ‘mystical’ or ‘religious’ experience through drugs or application of certain exercises without prescription. What is called in some systems the ‘commanding’ or ‘lower’ self consumes the experience as a status/ego inflating mechanism. Jung encapsulates this issue in his warning to “beware of unearned wisdom”.
My suggestion would be to study the works of Idries Shah. Not skim, study. Start from the more psychological books like Knowing How to Know and Learning How to Learn. Most people will not read his writings because they refuse (for good rational reasons) to entertain the hypothesis of extrasensory perception. But since you are accepting the hypothesis, I guarantee you that you won’t find a more lucid exposition of what the mystics refer to as ‘the science of man’. Just a warning though. You will have to let go of the conviction that you have already achieved something, together with its associated positive feelings. That is the minimum sacrifice you have to make..
Let me know what you think of all that :)
P.S: Concerning your attempts to communicate your experience you might be interested in my description of the problem in my post Too Much Effort | Too Little Evidence
You will have to let go of the conviction that you have already achieved something, together with its associated positive feelings.
Gut reaction is confusion. I’m watching myself able to do things I couldn’t do before, and I understand both why I can do them now and why I couldn’t before. That seems… incoherent to “let go of”.
…but I’ve learned enough to know that clinging to that kind of thought usually just gets in the way. So, I am sincerely listening. I will look where you’re pointing.
I second the recommendation of Idries Shah. with the caveat that while I believe he Had Something, I have always been unsure just how much of a charlatan he also was.
Thank you for your very interesting post Valentine.
I am coming to this topic from a quite different viewpoint than most of the comments I read (did not read them all). That is because I believe I know exactly what you are talking about due to having this experience myself. Nevertheless, I think you are mistaken to call it enlightenment.
The base of what you are describing as ‘Looking’ is that there is a different way of perceiving the world. Something like a separate perceptual channel or mode. This concept and its various distortions can be indeed found in all the mystical traditions as well as in all kinds of gurus, cults and New Age formulations.
If you study primary material more in depth you will find a good description of the phase you are (to my estimation) in. You got a glimpse of something existing and you try to teach it. This is analogous to understanding that something called number 1 exists, ignore the rest of mathematics and try to convince others of the existence of the number 1. This is very common when people have what can be called a ‘mystical’ or ‘religious’ experience through drugs or application of certain exercises without prescription. What is called in some systems the ‘commanding’ or ‘lower’ self consumes the experience as a status/ego inflating mechanism. Jung encapsulates this issue in his warning to “beware of unearned wisdom”.
My suggestion would be to study the works of Idries Shah. Not skim, study. Start from the more psychological books like Knowing How to Know and Learning How to Learn. Most people will not read his writings because they refuse (for good rational reasons) to entertain the hypothesis of extrasensory perception. But since you are accepting the hypothesis, I guarantee you that you won’t find a more lucid exposition of what the mystics refer to as ‘the science of man’. Just a warning though. You will have to let go of the conviction that you have already achieved something, together with its associated positive feelings. That is the minimum sacrifice you have to make..
Let me know what you think of all that :)
P.S: Concerning your attempts to communicate your experience you might be interested in my description of the problem in my post Too Much Effort | Too Little Evidence
Mmm, thank you. I will take a look.
Gut reaction is confusion. I’m watching myself able to do things I couldn’t do before, and I understand both why I can do them now and why I couldn’t before. That seems… incoherent to “let go of”.
…but I’ve learned enough to know that clinging to that kind of thought usually just gets in the way. So, I am sincerely listening. I will look where you’re pointing.
Thank you.
I second the recommendation of Idries Shah. with the caveat that while I believe he Had Something, I have always been unsure just how much of a charlatan he also was.