What is your personal definition of "enlightenment?" Where did it come from? I would suggest that these two questions are inexorably linked, and some thought can be productively given to that link.
In another spiritual tradition, albeit a short-lived one, the definition of enlightenment given to students was "The ability to manifest golden light, and be funny." Not coincidentally, the teacher who proposed this definition was capable of producing the reality of or the subjective impression of golden light, and was pretty damned funny. To this day many of his students consider these two qualities to be THE definition of enlightenment. Some of them throw into the mix, "Does he drive a Mercedes?," but the two biggies are golden light and funny. This has always struck me as being similar to Barry Bonds declaring that enlightenment is defined by the ability to hit 762 home runs during one's career as a major league baseball player. Bzzzzzt. Maharishi was a big one for definitions. He proposed many such definitions of enlightenment. Were they true, or were they him parroting what he'd been told by his own teachers? I personally don't think we'll ever know, but it has not escaped my attention that many people believe that his definitions of enlightenment were 100 percent accurate, because -- of course -- he was enlightened, and thus knew fersure. Some former Rama students feel the same way. I am less than convinced, which makes me somewhat of a heretic with regard to their teachings. Both of them. I have no earthly idea what "enlightenment" is fersure, and I certainly don't take either of their definitions as to what it is as gospel, or as truth. These days I don't even CARE very much about the buzzword "enlightenment," or about assigning it to anyone. It's just a buzzword, a pseudo-definition of something I am not convinced can ever be defined. Does that make me a Bad Person?
