Perhaps it can seem to be terrifying to think of what one might need to sacrifice in order to “become enlightened”. With ego’s big ol’ basket of beliefs, particularly in regards to pain and suffering and its absolute inability to provide actual Relief, it is no wonder this is so. In a state of error, one might believe that one must lose everything, or worse, be destroyed in the event of ego loss; one might believe in the potential for disappearing into the nonlinear of the Unmanifest. Beliefs are countless and ideas surrounding enlightenment from misconceptions about what it is can appear to increase this fear. But here’s the spoiler: none of what the ego says “about God/Truth/Source” is contextually true. Everything heard by the unenlightened about enlightenment has been filtered through a kind of painful linearity by ego. To know God is to know nonlinear peace, and the ego knows nothing of the sort.
Stories about enlightenment, students of enlightenment or the bodies of enlightened beings have nothing to do with enlightenment’s Reality. All stories “about something” are just that – stories about something. Just like the ego and its whims can never substitute for Self-Love, stories can never actually be what they describe.
What can be described by the senses is but a story. The body’s eyes cannot see nor describe to the internal viewer the Reality of Self-Love. It is the Mind, not the body, that Knows Love, and the Mind needs no body to Know. Without corrected perception, the eyes see only the solid form of ego-imposed beliefs that serve to separate from Love. What is described “about enlightenment” brings up fear, because the ego, in its sticking to descriptions of everything but Love, can only bring up fear.
With enlightenment or loss of attraction to ego goes fear and in its place is only innate Knowledge of Love. In alignment with Love’s Will, one does not disappear; one is reborn in a blanket of peace. When the body has served its purpose, it goes back to the material it came from. Like a sculpted clay figure, it loses its shape with exposure to the elements. The body disappears when it disappears, as all bodies do. The timing of when it disappears does not matter in the long run.
“Enlightenment on Earth” brings one closer to Knowing Reality, but take heart that it is still a kind of universal kindergarten. The fear of enlightenment is no different than the five year old’s fear of the very first day of school, and it is no more difficult to transcend. Fear is always of the unknown, and like the kindergartner, the student of enlightenment has no real standing for what to expect; he has no frame of reference beyond what ego has provided. Yet neither student can be static like the fear that seems to hold them back; that is not how They were Created to Be, and thus it is only for a brief instant they will seem to move outside of their comfort zone. They are pleasantly surprised at the Comfort that awaits: “the scariest moment is right before you get what you want.” (Marshall Sylver)
Reality is not static, but dynamic, it is an ineffably glorious Love exchange that goes on forever between Creator and Creation. Students of enlightenment, eager to burst free from the limitations of perception, will be rewarded by their own faith, as it blossoms by the Power of Self-Knowledge.
Darcie French 