What is 'Enlightenment'? Options

[Shawn]

It's certain that enlightenment means different things to different people, and so I'm curious what it means to other people, and also to throw out a few questions to provoke thought.

Is Enlightenment an experience, process, realization, way of living, or what?

Is Enlightenment a multi-faceted word that is context-dependent and relative, or are there absolute truths that are invariably associated with any type of Enlightenment?

What are the 'truths', if any, that would invariably be realized/experienced thru Enlightenment?

Is Enlightenment an all-or-none experience (AHA experience) or is it a gradual accumulation of wisdom?

What is the relation of Enlightenment to mystical experience?

Please note that the above constitutes a partial list and is not meant to exhaust the range of questions that could, and should, be asked.

Personally, I believe the statement, "We are the Universe conscious of Itself", is on a par with Buddha's "All that we are, is the result of what we have thought" from the opening of the Dhammapada, and that both constitute part of a collection of truths that are invariably experienced during what I think many would call Enlightenment.   The task at hand, though, is to clarify this notion of Enlightenment to the best of our abilities thru mere verbal communication.  Is anyone up to this challenge?

[synchronox]

Joe,
Have you ever been to India?  I have.
5,000 years of Brahmin control, the highest ruling cast.
The filth, death in the streets, hunger and poverty are overwhelming and you have the audacity to dismiss what has happened there with the below tripe.   The belief system is useless with out the action to carry it out. You are a wind bag.  Shame on you.
Joe said:



John's Quote:Read what I actually said, not what your clever mind leads you to believe.  I was talking about your desire not your ability to change me.  In the future, I will stop responding to this child like way you have of distorting what I have said to you.  You are only interested in your own music.  



".......You may do something you think to be noble to change the outside of ones environment but if the subtle self defeating programs that created the environment in the first place are not changed then the poor self deluded person that has not the will to stand up for himself or try, will suck off of the person or persons who feel sorry for their disposition and expect more from the world and do less for themselves. You use India as an example and you have overgeneralized the spiritual process of meditation and religions and applied your lack of knowledge and interpretation to what I am. How could you hope to help anyone from a position of extreme prejudice and ignorance.
Have you ever studied the process of meditation from anyone? Ever made any comparisons of the different methods? Do you know of the different processes, like the hair shirt approach, the sitting in a cave approach or the natural process of the inward movement of the mind that expands consciousness in the self and everyone around you?
Would you give the hungry man a meal and leave with him no hope or would you give him hope so that he may get up and try to create his life anew? What would you think to be the most enlightened approach?
Giving things away to the undeserving ungreatful will do nothing to help them rise above self defeating thoughts. The American welfare system is full of underachieving coniving people that will milk the system for all its worth so they will not have to do anything.
You will have to do better than try and use the Indian people and your interpretations of what you think they represent in your comparisons to religions, meditation and you own frustration with me and you inability to take the time to really understand what is happening here for you.