Is Anyone Enlightened?
[This is the 11th in the series Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship.]
In the aftermath of movement politics, California was teeming with seekers after truth. More than a few political activists had replaced their concerns about social justice with a quest for personal enlightenment. I was skeptical but intrigued by rumors of a state of consciousness promising clarity of mind and perception.
I knew a number of high achievers in mathematics, physics, politics, and the arts, and I wanted to know if attaining enlightenment would be helpful in such fields. If enlightenment is indeed a state of exceptional lucidity, it ought to affect the quality of the work done by those who’ve attained it.
To check this out, I read widely (e.g., Jesus, Lao-tzu, Mo-tzu, Huang Po, Nisargadatta, Wei Wu Wei, Shunryu Suzuki, Hubert Benoit, John Levy, Erwin Schrödinger, Thomas Merton, Dalai Lama, Virginia Satir, Franklin Merritt-Wolff, Martin Buber, Atmananda, Joel Kramer, Robert Powell, Alan Watts, Heinrich Zimmer, Ramana Maharshi); and I attended talks, seminars, workshops, and retreats with a variety of teachers and gurus (including Jean Klein, Douglas Harding, Walter Truett Anderson, Jean Houston, Chögyam Trungpa, Gyalwang Karmapa, Ram Dass, Werner Erhard, Vimala Thakar, J. Krishnamurti, Muktananda, Carl Rogers, Fernando Flores, George Leonard, and Joseph Campbell).
I got to know several gurus personally, as well as some of their advanced students privy to what went on behind the curtain separating the novices from the gurus. How did these presumably enlightened masters act when they were not functioning in their role as spiritual leaders in front of a group of devoted followers?
Getting a close look at several individuals who were advertised as enlightened led me to conclude that there’s a lot of hype and hypocrisy in the business. A good many of them, not unlike a fair number of academics I’d known, seemed to me to be in it primarily for the lifestyle.
Many gurus are treated like deities and hold absolute power over their devotees. As “enlightened beings” they’re accountable to no one, and their foibles, appetites, and excesses are given a pass. Of course, there were some teachers who, as far as I could make out, lived exemplary lives. But lack of transparency and accountability ensnare leaders of all types in corruption, and spiritual leaders are no exception.
Fraud is a stranger to neither science nor religion. Its presence invalidates neither, but its ubiquity warrants skepticism. What I really wanted to find out was whether there were claimants to enlightenment who, unlike ordinary people, actually pass their days in a state of bliss and clarity. And, if attained, does enlightenment persist? Are the enlightened more creative subsequent to attaining satori, to use the Zen term for enlightenment? Are they kinder, wiser, or more creative than the unenlightened?
None of the teachers I asked gave unequivocal answers to these questions. Nor did any of them unambiguously exemplify the supposed benefits of enlightenment. Many identified with traditional religious rituals or techniques, and saw their job as grafting these onto contemporary American culture. The language of enlightenment tended to be esoteric, obscurantist, and elitist, and the teachings attracted more credulous dabblers than credible seekers.
In the end, I concluded that while certain people do attain an unusual degree of insight into the workings of the mind, their default consciousness did not seem different in kind from that of other extraordinary individuals who made no claim to enlightenment and indeed were skeptical about the idea.
During quiet moments, when our current identity is withdrawn, “off duty” as it were, we can see ourselves as nothing special no matter how grand our public persona, or nothing shameful no matter how lowly our social status. We just are what we are, unburdened of opinions, free of judgment and guilt, released from striving, perhaps inclined towards empathy, perhaps not. We take things in, and we witness ourselves doing so. We see the world whole and are not separate from what we behold. We may experience euphoria, or just tranquility.
Regardless, neither euphoria nor tranquility lasts. Presently, when the world calls us back to the ho-hum of everyday life, we have to assume a working identity because not to have one is to have no way to participate in the life game. Even gurus who style themselves as having no identity are assuming the identity of someone who fancies himself or herself to be egoless.
I’ve come to think that the eradication of ego is no more workable than doing without the other pillar of being—the body. Rather than downgrading either, it’s better to give them both their due by maintaining them in good working order. Take care of the body, and it’ll support your identity; take care of your identity, and it will support your quest.
In my quest, I did not come across anyone who could be said to dwell in a state of permanent enlightenment. No doubt, some gurus experienced bliss, but it was intermittent, as in other people.
The term enlightenment is sometimes used to denote the knowledge of the insubstantiality and malleability of identity and sometimes to refer to an experience of the insubstantiality of self. Knowledge may last, but an experience can’t be bottled. In this regard, enlightenment is like happiness: treasured all the more for its intermittence.
Enlightenment practices, not unlike mathematics and physics, are often obfuscated. A few centuries ago, reading and writing were such rare skills that possessing them set people apart. In the same way that literacy has spread, so too will people everywhere become conversant with experiences of enlightenment, recognizing them as the unmoored feeling of pivoting from an old model (which may range from a single belief to a personal identity) to a new one.
[All twenty posts of this series have now been collected into a free eBook which can be downloaded at Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship? Thank you for your interest in this series.]
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If you are searching for enlightened “guru” types, try the Self-Realization Fellowship based out of LA. I worked for them for a number of years and was very impressed with many of their monks and nuns. A lot of very selfless and humble people in that organization, not to mention highly intelligent. I was never a follower, but I respected their beliefs.
I agree there are lots of ‘spiritualized egos’ that use the light to booster up the small self… it happens now and it has happened for thousands of years in all religions… do not see this as unique to the West Coast.
Dr. E here at The Moderate Voice sums it up in a clear voice; ” Like all other lonely or hungry things, ego loves the light. It sees light, and the possibility of being close to the soul, and it creeps up to it and steals one of its essential camouflages. In a hunger for soul, our own ego-self steal….
Simply put it is what the ego does in its hunger…. we see a hungry child and our heart is opened with compassion… i wonder what our world would be like if we could recognize soul hunger as at least pointed in the right direction with all of its unseemly self entanglements?
I have been blessed in knowing unenlightened ‘guru’ types and ones that i see as ‘enlightened’….I am one that believes that we learn through the direct experience of it all… i have a tendency to hold life as the true teacher….I find the world ‘enlightenment’ is an overused and misused word it has lost concise meaning.
My own definition of an ‘ enlightenment ‘ has changed through the years… i have little need for perfection in myself or in anyone else, and do not use whether someone is in sustained bliss at all the times as a condition of ‘enlightenment’…..
When i think of enlightenment and discernment i go back to the words of Jesus….” You will know them by their fruit.” …do they walk their talk and is their life their greatest message.
I know some of ‘enlightened’ ones…. One elderly man was in the Navy in War War II and while he was mopping the deck he was struck by lightening.. The strike from left him neurologically ‘tweekie’ and with a pure gentle soul…the prior dark was overcome by the light.
He works as a janitor , and every moment of his life is one of extending compassion and service to others… I see him as an ‘enlightened soul’….
I am also a follower of Mata Amritanandamayi…..And after many years of being under her guidance, i continue to hold her with honor…
There is a short list of some of Amma’s charities…
Amma Charities Short List
Amma Charities Short List
Empowering Women–100,000 Women with vocational training and start up capital.
Education for Everyone–100,000 Scholarships for Children of Farmers in Crisis,
100,000 Scholarships for Children in Poverty, Industrial Training Center,
School for the Hearing and Speech Impaired, Outreach to Kerala’s Indigenous.
Disaster Relief–Over 50 million dollars in disaster relief in the past five years.
Japan Earthquake/Tsunami, Haiiti Earthquake, Tsunami, Cyclone-West Bengal,
Katrina Hurricane, Kashmir Earthquake, Mumbai Floods, Gujarat
Home and Slum Renovation–To date, more than 40,000 homes have been constructed
in more than 60 locations across the length and breadth of India. Second goal has been
announced to build an additional 100,000 homes for the homeless throughout India.
Care Homes for Children–Currently 500 children are in Paripally India and 100 are in Nairobi.
Where 1 of 3 go on to get a college degree.
Fighting Hunger–In India a child dies of hunger every 30 seconds. Amma feeds more than
two million people annually throughout India. In North America 73,000 meals a year are
are served to the homeless and hungry each year in 40 cities.
Healthcare &Nutrition– AIMS a 1300 bed tertiary care hospital in Cochin,
Kerala is a premier hospital in South Asia as well as numerous Satellite Hospitals,
Aids Care Center, and Cancer Hospice. Over 50,000 U.S. dollars have been
given for free care and more than 1.2 million have received completely free treatment.
Community Outreach–Care Homes for the Elderly, Sponsored weddings for the poor.
Financial Aid for Widows and Victims of Poverty and Disability, Hospital Visits and
Meals on Wheels, Circle of Love Inside- Prisoner Outreach, Service-oriented Youth
Groups, Fee Meditation Courses for Soldiers, Prisoners, and the General Public.
Green Initiatives–In the last ten years has organized the planting of over 1 million
trees, Self-reliant Village Project, The Plastic Project, GrowIn-One Seed at a Time.
Research–Through Aims, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics and satellite-enabled software solutions, the projects share a single goal: to harness the power of modern technology targeted to aid communities and individuals in crisis.
Public Health–Amala Bharatam Campaign (ABC) this program started in 2010 aimed
at improving public health and restoring India’s physical beauty. Amma calls on all citizens
to embrace clean public spaces, promote health hygiene, sort garbage, recycle and properly
dispose of waste.
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This latest campaign of cleaning up India— Amma, the senior swamis, the ones that follow her are out in the most unsanitary muck cleaning it up….it has turned into an amazing attempt to clean up the physical…
So i guess the ‘enlightened’ teachers for me are the ones that have taken on in whatever capacity granted them, to clean up and sanitize the mess that we have all made together…
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There have been enlightened ones like this with us, they have served and taught, and given selflessly …And everyone of them have been ridiculed and discounted, but one of the things i learned long ago… Anytime someone is leading a pack there are going to others nipping at their heels… That is just what egos do…..
Thanks for reminding me of “You will know them by their fruit.” That sums up what I have to say on enlightenment most succinctly. It could serve as the perfect epigraph for the article.