--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> I think there's a lesson in the Harry Potter books for those > who wish to spread the concept of enlightenment. So many > people paint enlightenment as a panacea, something...uh... > magical that happens and then everything is different, perfect. > In my experience, that scenario is not only not true, it undercuts > the point, which is to spread the dharma, and let more people > know about enlightenment. Why would they be interested in > something that is portrayed in such glowing, obviously unreal- > istic terms? The way enlightenment is described by many > teachers and many traditions, it's *obviously* a fantasy; it > just couldn't exist like that. > > And, IMO, it doesn't, and never has. What the world needs > is a book or set of books that does for enlightenment what > the Harry Potter books have done for magic -- make it ordinary, > everyday. Because it is. It doesn't *replace* everyday life, with > its trials and tribulations and pettiness and glories. It merely > adds to that life, supplements it. > > The most valuable teaching about enlightenment I know of > is, "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water; after > enlightenment, chop wood and carry water." Enlightenment > changes nothing. But everything is changed, because enlight- > enment is added into the mix. I suspect that if more teachers > talked like that, instead of putting the enlightened up on a > pedestal, and the concept of enlightenment up there with it, > more people would actually become enlightened. > > Unc
Perhaps this will be the next wave of knowledge commonly available. Maharishi did a lot of this, by making a powerful technique for transcending commonly available, and as he said, for householders. (Careful, Unc, you may just end up the next in line of Maharishi's holy tradition of masters...;)) On the other hand, with enlightenment hiding in plain sight, without all the superlatives, who would want it? People chase enlightenment because it is always said that we are suffering, and that enlightenment will end our suffering...and it does. The funny thing is, the suffering doesn't end, we do!! How do you explain *that* to people? To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
