Walking by the river yesterday I had a thought.

In Buddhist terms, “enlightenment” is the result that happens when a person’s subconscious mind absorbs and works with the content of Buddhism, and then “solves” that problem, or comes up with a solution to the “riddle” in the form of a sudden realization of what all that prior information means.

I have been wondering lately, “Can one experience enlightenment WITHOUT knowledge of Buddhism?”. It occurred to me that, it is most likely that enlightenment is the RESULT of a thorough understanding and absorption of Buddhist thought… I know that sounds obvious, but I am talking about something deeper than the surface relationship. Study of Buddhism and meditation etc. prepares the mind for enlightenment… just like study and immersion in a specific area of scientific research could prepare one for a breakthrough insight relating to that discipline.

What I mean is that, you don’t just study Buddhism and then, by chance, experience enlightenment that may, or may not be related to what you studied… the enlightenment that you experience will be exactly predicted by the precise information that you fed into and absorbed in your mind.

And further, other epiphanies in general, are the direct result of the ruminations of the subconscious mind. The specific nature of the input determines the exact nature of the output.

I thought of this in regards to the concept touched on earlier in this blog, that perhaps awakenings take place shortly after the subconscious mind had a chance to work on its own without interference from the conscious, rational, mind – i.e. awakenings often take place in the early morning around the time of recent sleep, or a lack of sleep, depending on the circumstance.

I began to think about this because it occurred to me that many scientific discoveries and insights must happen in a sudden, satori like manner. It seemed to me that the subconscious mind must take the massive amounts of information that a scientist puts in his brain about his area of interest… and the subconscious mind then puts it together into a whole. When the scientist realizes the picture, or concept, of the whole, they have a sudden burst of insight that makes everything become clear.

Any “problem” can be solved by the subconscious mind. I don’t know how, and that is not the purpose of this inquiry at this point, but it seems like input goes into the mind, and a sudden burst of insight comes out as a result.

I think nearly everyone can relate to this experience if they think about it. After thinking about something over and over, looking at it from all angles, dwelling on it, focusing on it… obsessing over it even in some cases, suddenly a flash of insight about the whole thing comes to you.

You might be standing in the shower, washing your hands in the sink, brushing your teeth, any kind of activity where you are NOT actually thinking about the subject… and BOOM! There is the answer!

Back to enlightenment. It seemed to me logical that, if you input enough information, enough examples, enough explanations and visualizations… if you meditated enough and absorbed enough of these ideas, concepts and experiences relating directly to the Buddhist teachings… that in the end, if you stand back and let it do its work without interference, that the subconscious mind will kick out the “answer” or synthesis of the totality in the form of enlightenment.

And to the second part, awakenings and epiphanies of any kind seem to happen when you “step out” of the picture and let your subconscious mind do its work, AFTER you have given it sufficient information and experience to work with.

The key here for me is the relationship of epiphanies, awakenings, and enlightenment, to the age old process of “feed the mind information, let the subconscious do its work”.

So, in a sense, I am saying that, awakenings may be the result of giving the mind the proper information and/or experiences, and then standing back while the subconscious mind gives you the resultant epiphany.

Feeding into this process, and part of it, is the expectation that your mind will do this for you. You hold a belief that this is bound to happen at any time, because that is the way your mind works.

Looking at it from another angle, it is the process of giving the left brain enough information that it needs, and perhaps stimulating the right brain in an appropriate manner at the same time … and then give it a chance to fuse everything into one, interconnected whole, that emerges as a sudden “flash” of insight.

When this happens, it usually seems like it came from nowhere, or “out of the blue”.

It just popped in “on its own”!

So, when the two parts of the brain work together in an optimal manner, it can produce an outcome that far transcends the original information and experience. Or, in other words, the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

And finally, it dawned on me that, this insight I experienced today, this most recent synthesis of my ideas and knowledge about awakenings, epiphanies, and enlightenment… this latest insight of mine is ITSELF an example of this process!

Walking by the river, out of the blue, this insight hit me. I have been thinking about these issues, studying them, experiencing them, and living with them for some time now. As I talk and think about them I file them away in my brain.

Later, while entirely absorbed into another experience, a sudden insight into the nature of these things occurs to me. Watching leaves fall into the river and float away, my subconscious mind was doing it’s work!

As to the point of ”expectation” playing a role in this overall process, let me just say that my walks by the river to experience the fall leaves and the beauty of the water… are not an accident.

I have known about this process for some time, but only today did it intuitively tie into everything I have been talking about and considering here in this project.

In the past I thought, “that’s great, but this process leaves the whole thing to chance”. I knew that you could feed information into your mind and stand back and let it process that information, but I thought, what’s the use? You can’t really control this process. What if you don’t give it enough information? What if you don’t wait long enough? What if the information isn’t the right kind?

Those kinds of questions made me think that this process was too indeterminate, not controlled enough to be of practical, reliable use.

Now, I am thinking differently. Now, I am thinking that it may be a key factor in a more “controlled” process.

I believe this principle will be folded into, and be part of much of what is to come in this project.

Two more key factors are added into the mix here:

1.  It is probable that a balance between the two sides of the brain may be important in this process.
2. Part of the process may be in standing aside and allowing the subconscious mind to synthesize the information and experiences for you, into an overall, organic whole… where the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

Add to this some of the other factors I have mentioned in the past and you have the shape of things to come.

Other factors that may be important:

• an expectation that an epiphany or awakening will occur
• using a “trick” or koan like device to sidestep the rational mind
• location and surroundings may be part of the catalyst
• the “process” that leads to awakenings can be understood and utilized
• epiphanies and awakenings transform the individual, and the world

My thought today was that enlightenment doesn’t happen on it’s own. It may not be some mysterious, unpredictable phenomenon that defies all logic. In a simple sense, it is the result of proper preparation in the left brain, coupled with appropriate utilization of the right brain and the subconscious mind.

Many questions still remain, but it seems that the type of enlightenment that can be experienced is the direct result of the input fed into the mind. This would also explain the wide variety of different types of enlightenment, and also explain that certain types of Buddhist enlightenment are fairly predictable.

If you are deeply schooled in Buddhist thought and meditation experiences, you should directly experience the resultant enlightenment, which is clearly classified in the literature.

But this is also true for ANY kind of epiphany.

Somehow this all seems self evident when I write it, but I believe that the underlying principle is key.

I will have more on this topic in the future. For now, I will get ready for another walk by the river today…

In Unity,
AJ

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