When I first started thinking about enlightenment I had some general, pre-conceived ideas that I picked up along the way in my reading about Buddhism and spirituality in general.
I thought that enlightenment was something that somehow a relatively small number of people could achieve… not necessarily as a goal, but that it could happen to them in the course of their spiritual activities.
I quickly found that there were problems that I had not anticipated in thinking about this issue of enlightenment .
The main problem is the words.
As I thought about enlightenment, I realized that what I think my idea of enlightenment was, was really more like satori.
So, I looked up the definitions of enlightenment and satori and compared them.
Instead of answering my questions by trying to define these terms I only found more perplexing issues being raised.
Then I decided I needed to know how other words related to enlightenment might be defined; words like awakening, epiphany, and insight.
The bottom line here is that, to even think properly about this subject of enlightenment, I needed to get some clear definitions.
But the definitions didn’t really clear anything up… they defined the words, but obscured the real underlying issue. I began wondering if there really is such a thing as “enlightenment”, because these definitions raised more questions than they answered.
I will discuss all of these over time, but for now I will finish by saying that, one of the elements that I will bring to this issue of enlightenment and awakenings, is the attempt to be clear in the definition and usage of the relevant words.
Here is the main part of the vocabulary that will be contemplated in the future:
- Enlightenment
- Satori
- Awakening
- Epiphany
- Insight
- Revelation
- Nirvana
- Unity Consciousness
Each of these has a separate and different definition, and this seems to lead to further complexity, not clarity.
Having said that, I hope to stay on target in discussing subjects in the future, without devolving into archaic hair-splitting over subtle nuances that don’t help to clarify.
My initial foray into this subject led me into a wide field of similar and related concepts… all the while suggesting only complexity and subtlety that would not be answered in simple terms.
“Language is not simply a reporting device for experience but a defining framework for it”.
Benjamin Whorf
