What Got You There Won’t Get You Here

Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all. – A Course in Miracles

What seems to confound spiritual realization is a time and space paradigm that has us measuring progress across a continuum from where we “are” to where we aim to be. We come by this tendency quite honestly, of course, as we live in a world of materiality that gives credence to the apparent reality of time and space.

In this relative world, we take stock of where we are, when we are, and how we are from finite measures of physical location, time-based measures, and mental-emotional states. So, if you asked me at this moment to respond to these 3 questions, I would say I’m in Poulsbo, WA, at 9:50 am PST and I’m feeling contemplative and creative. If I wanted to change any of these conditions I could decide to travel to another location, which would involve the passage of time, and I could seek to change my mental and emotional state by pursuing different activities, objects, circumstances, relationships, or substances.

As human beings in a material world, this is how we function. In any given moment we can take stock of our state of mind, body, or emotions and if there are any unfulfilled desires, we can and most likely will take action to move toward our preferences or away from our aversions. And for most people, this is a nearly constant state of disequilibrium. Dissatisfaction is the norm for the one who feels he is a finite, separate self that seeks to manage life in an outside world. This has conditioned us to always be on the lookout for something more than this moment offers and protect ourselves from what can harm or diminish who we believe we are.

Given this deeply ingrained conditioning, it is no wonder that spiritual awakening or realization confounds our sensibilities with its unequivocal mandate that the requisite shift involves no change at all. The direct path of spiritual realization is actually not a path at all, it is merely a recognition, an awareness of what is already so. And what does time or space have to do with a recognition of what already and always is? Nothing. If we turn realization into a goal or an effort, we will miss it. Those who have awakened to their true, essential nature did not truly “attain” anything. The truth is formless. Pure consciousness is like empty space. One cannot see what is formless, nor attain emptiness.

Although I have been immersed in these teachings for decades, I somehow missed the plain reality of truth. I thought fervent study, devotion to truth, and deeper meditations would somehow take me “there.” But there is no there to get to. I allowed a belief in time and space to delay the realization of what has been, and always will be, here and now. Endless seeking, supported by the sense of being an isolated person, creates a perpetual seeker, that never finds. The absolute, divine, or ultimate reality cannot be discerned objectively since it is not apart from you or other than you. Therefore, it is not a state to be attained, nor a condition separated from you by time or space. That is why those of us who have pursued realization have been consistently frustrated and failed in our pursuit. Because it is closer than our very breath, as Jesus described it, it takes no time or effort. To apply human effort is tantamount to somebody telling you to stand up and walk toward yourself.

So if enlightenment is already what I am why don’t I experience peace and happiness? The simple answer is that we overlook it. We look at our experiences in life, and the content of experience, and overlook the consciousness that makes all experience possible. Without consciousness, without awareness, you would know nothing of experience. It is the light by which we know all that we perceive; the light that illuminates all experience and all that we know. Instead of focusing our attention on the content of experience, we must direct our focus on the consciousness that underlies all experience. When Jesus said, “I am (and you are) the light of the world,“ he was referring to this light of awareness which “enlightens everyone coming into the world.” This is the true enlightenment and if we are to awaken we must purge our minds of the false notions of being a body in a world with perceived limitations and endless needs, and bring our attention to this moment, and the ever-present awareness that pervades all experience. Here our search ends and we become candidates for Grace that will take us the rest of the way home to knowing ourselves as God created us, whole and free.

Namaste, Rev. Larry