--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > For the record, this is not nearly as confrontational > > as you're going to imagine it is. It's just the result > > of me remembering a talk I heard once from a spiritual > > teacher, and tripping on it over coffee this morning. > > > > In a room full of a couple of hundred strong, ded- > > icated seekers, he paused in what he had been saying > > and looked out at the room and said, "None of you in > > this room are ever going to become enlightened. Not > > one of you." > > > > He paused to allow that to sink in and then continued, > > "No one can ever become enlightened. You can become > > *enlightenment*, but you have to leave your self behind > > to do it." > > Just to finish the story, and to avoid the > possible conclusion that what was said was > Just Another Intellectual Model
Unfortunately, nothing in the finish to your story leads away from that conclusion. , at that point > the teacher in question stopped talking and > launched into a two-hour comedy routine about > the Antichrist making the rounds of television > talk shows and being interviewed by Jay Leno, > *during which*, as far as I can tell from what > everyone in the room reported later, he somehow > managed to "take" all of us to enlightenment > itself, so that we could experience it for our- > selves, and thus more easily find our Way back > to it later, on our own. It doesn't make a bit > of sense, but it worked. Go figure. > > This is *not* an advertisement for that par- > ticular teacher (he's daid, and wouldn't appeal > to everyone if he were alive) or a particular > teaching, just to suggest that reading about > a "place" is not IMO the same thing as actually > going to (or, more accurately, becoming) that > "place." > > The other teaching I'm remembering this morning, > and pondering now over lunch in this cafe (having > pondered the remembrance above over breakfast in > a different cafe) is from Dr. Phil. Whatever else > one may think of him, he's got a pretty great one- > liner that he uses when dealing with someone who > seems to be expressing a particular approach to > their life that they have been following for some > time now. He just asks, "How's that workin' for you?" > > On this forum and several other spiritual forums, > I read post after post from seekers who are strong > proponents of the approach they've been taking to > the study *of* enlightenment for some time now. > In some cases that "some time now" covers decades. > And at the same time, these strong seekers say that > they have never personally experienced that which > they are seeking; their approach has helped them > to become more comfortable intellectually with the > idea of enlightenment, but it hasn't really ever > enabled them to experience enlightenment. And yet > they never seem to *consider* Doing Something > Different, trying another approach, just to see if > that might achieve a different result. > > In my experience, that process of Doing Something > Different contains a certain kind of magic, and > often results in long-time seekers having a strong > realization experience. The Something Different *per > se* does not IMO "cause" the realization so much as > it "allows" it. Choosing to Do Something Different > involves a kind of "letting go," and *that* seems > to trigger the realization. > > One dude I know -- a Buddhist monk I met in Holland > who had been celibate for over a decade without ever > having had a realization experience -- just got up > from his evening meditation one night and said "Fuck > it!" out loud and went out on a crawl of Amsterdam's > most lovely brothels. He boinked until he could > boink no more, and then, walking back to the rooms > that he shared with his fellow monks near the > university, he watched the sun rise over the canals > and had a Self Realization experience that has not > left him since. Go figure. It doesn't make a bit > of sense. But it worked. >
