Is it true that enlightenment happens once in a lifetime?
Here I have read quite a lot of people who claim that they had an experience of enlightenment, all-union. But no one wrote about whether they achieved this experience repeatedly. I mean, once received, did someone achieve the same effect again?
It all depends on what exactly you call “enlightenment.” There is a category of believers who call their every significant spiritual discovery this way. It is obvious that they have hundreds, if not thousands, of such enlightenments, and this makes their life path look like a roller coaster. For others, this concept is associated exclusively with the initial conversion to God, repentance and baptism, when they realize the essence of being and the meaning of their own life. Such events really only happen once, which is exactly what makes them valuable.
I didn't understand: if you are already enlightened, then why should you be enlightened again?
And if you are “enlightened” but waiting for re-enlightenment, then no enlightenment has happened to you.
It's obvious!
Enlightenment is actually a much less mystical experience than is commonly believed.
It is a vision of who you truly are, of your true nature.
Once you find it, or more precisely, remember it, because you have never lost it, then more enlightenment cannot be achieved.
There is a greater embodiment of what we see in everyday life, when instead of the usual, stereotyped behavior that we have been accustomed to since childhood, we begin to live out of this space as What We really Are and behave differently.
But enlightenment cannot be lost, because you are It.
You cannot find God, because you are God.
We achieve enlightenment or awakening by letting go of the illusions of who we are NOT. That is, it is not a process of adding, but, on the contrary, removing what is illusory: erroneous identification with the ego, body, life situation.
Once the illusion is recognized, what remains?
Truth.
For example, how many times do you have to try to see a young or old woman again after you've seen both of them?
It may be difficult at first, but once you recognize the illusion, it will be much harder to forget about it.
The fact that we think about ourselves most of the time is the same illusion.
You are not your thoughts, feelings, memories.
More precisely, they too, but also something much more, the very experience of life, Life itself, the screen on which the dance of thoughts, feelings and memories unfolds like a shadow dance in a movie theater on the screen.
The shadows, the movie, changes, but the screen is always untouched.
He is not in danger of anything that would not happen in the plot of the film. When the movie ends, the screen stays on.
Your body will die, but you will live. You will never die, because there is nothing else but You. Where can you disappear to if it's just you?
Talking about enlightenment is just as useful as describing a sunset to a blind person – no matter what words we use, you need to experience it yourself.
If you feel the urge to remember Who you Really Are, you can start with one of the books on this site, read this article, or write to me and I'll try to help you.
A person who has achieved enlightenment begins to divide his life before and after. It's like a kind of rebirth of consciousness. What would be easier to understand-people who reach spiritual enlightenment, their consciousness rises to a higher level and they are already a priori can not fall to the original level. In simple terms, it's like forgetting to speak, read, or write. If we are talking about a conscious life without injuries.
Enlightenment is not only all-seeing, it is also all-knowing and all-hearing. Not literally, of course. But to be aware and understand what is hidden from others. Hear and understand when you are being broadcast from a higher level. And of course, wisdom.
As an Orthodox Christian, I will say that people come to God in different ways. I can't say that I had it once. From time to time there were doubts, new proofs of his existence were required. So I ascended to God as if in a spiral. First purely on faith. Then I needed new evidence through nesk. for years, I rejected what was before, but then again made another turn and rose a little higher, and with a slightly new knowledge base. Already on the 3-4-th turn, I knew that by rejecting the old, I would gain something again and rise a little more. And one day it happened that I understood a purely mathematical interpretation of the existence of God. In addition, it agreed well with other formulations. And since then, I no longer needed to search for more and more evidence.
Yes, that's right.
Enlightenment, like any other understanding, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
For example, if you understand that two times two is four, then you don't have any chance to understand it again.
In the future, you will remember this understanding of yours, maybe all your life, but you will not be able to understand it again, just as you will not be able to part with your virginity a second time or learn to ride a bicycle.