On a personal note, this post will briefly explain my position and motivations for doing this work with The Unity Project, and why I created it.

On occasion, when speaking with people about The Unity Project, I realize that sometimes they assume that my motivation for studying enlightenment, epiphanies, and awakenings, is so that I can get information or ideas to help ME achieve enlightenment.

It is a natural assumption. However, that is not the case.

There are several reasons that “I am NOT seeking enlightenment”:

1.  I am not really motivated to achieve enlightenment.

I am not unhappy with my life at all, and am not “driven” in any way to change my outlook at this time. I might say, that I am a “truth seeker”, in a way. That is, I am driven to find out about things, and to uncover the true nature of life and the universe.  I love to always learn, and broaden my outlook and understanding of life. So, you might say that I am driven to learn and grow, but not from pain or negativity, only from curiosity and love of life. It may sound funny, but there is no deep motivation for me to fundamentally change the way I am now.
( Some others I know might disagree, but I won’t go into that now!)

2.  To “Seek” enlightenment would block any chance of it happening.

This is what I have heard referred to as “the paradox of spiritual effort”. 
Nitin Trasi, in his book “The Science of Enlightenment” sums this up well;

“Actually it is not very surprising that Enlightenment should occur so rarely.
Enlightenment, as it has already been explained, is the actual perception or realization
(not belief or mere intellectual understanding) that one is not a separate entity. 
Therefore, the very pursuit of this as a goal to be ‘attained’ by a ‘me’ will be counter-productive,
because the very effort will reinforce the conviction in the existence of a ‘me’ as a separte entity.
As this is the exact opposite of the result desired, the aspirant will be moving around in circles.”
The Science of Enlightenment, p. 38.

In many cases, it is when a person “gives up” on “spiritual pursuits”, that they make the most progress. I am not motivated to achieve enlightenment, and if I were, I would realize that to “seek” it would be to destroy my chances of achieving it.

Eckhart Tolle, in a video online titled “Enlightenment”, says this;

“You cannot make – whether you call it the ego-less state, or whether you call it enlightenment – you cannot make it into a goal.  Goal implies future. Because the very entry point into the ego-less state, or the enlightened state, is the present moment. If you make it into a goal, that you want to achieve, you MISS the entry point, because you’re looking to the future, because “goal” implies future. That is the dilemma of all spiritual seekers.”

 3.  I am open to enlightenment, awakenings and epiphanies.

Though I am not actively “seeking” enlightenment, I am fully open to the possibility that it COULD happen to me, at any time.  This is also true for any other awakenings or epiphanies. (In fact, I have smaller level epiphanies quite often.)

This is part of ideas I have developed in The Unity Project, relating to the following items;

• You would likely never achieve enlightenment, or awakenings, if you actively thought that you were NOT capable of it, or if you thought that it would never happen to you.
• You must entertain the possibility that enlightenment could happen to you. That is, you must not actively “block” your possibilities by your attitudes.
• To be open to experiencing awakenings and epiphanies, at any time, is necessary. Even though you are open to the possibility of it happening, you must also be open to it happening AT ANY TIME. Some may believe that they could become enlightened, but that it would happen “out there”, sometime “in the future”, or even in “another lifetime” etc. What I mean here, is to be open to these experiences at any moment.

WHY STUDY ENLIGHTENMENT, EPIPHANIES, AND AWAKENINGS?

Though I am not actively seeking enlightenment myself, I am still extremely interested in these subjects.

Enlightenment, awakenings and epiphanies are extremely interesting to me for the following reasons:

* They involve a “sudden” insight that has the power to transform our lives.
Unlike an automobile accident, or winning the lottery, this sudden transformation comes from within. When I refer to “enlightenment” and “awakenings” or “epiphanies”, what I am generally referring to are experiences that are PROFOUND… potentially life changing.  What interests me is how our consciousness could create a situation where an entirely new perspective is experienced, where our life is profoundly changed in a positive way. HOW does this happen, and WHY?

* There is a “light switch” character to these transformations.
There most often seems to be a strong distinction between the moment BEFORE an awakening or epiphany, and the moment AFTER. In addition, once this threshold is crossed, there is no going back. This is fascinating to me. How does a permanent change in our makeup take place? What happens in the brain, and in our mental makeup, to have a shift like this possible?

* This is the cutting edge of consciousness studies.
Enlightenment, awakenings, and epiphanies are unique phenomena. They are dealing with the highest levels of brain functioning and mind, and their relative rarity makes them even more important to study. I have found a fairly wide crossover of these topics with other studies involving ESP, Near Death Experiences, and the mystery of sleep. So these phenomenon can point to areas of understanding that may have applications in other aspects of consciousness studies.

* There might be a way to facilitate the occurrence of these experiences.
Aside from Buddhism, there doesn’t seem to be much practical advice one can take to learn how to have, or to facilitate these experiences. I know that, as far as enlightenment is concerned, there are some who will say; “Just practice Buddhism, this will lead to enlightenment”. While I agree that practicing Buddhism has that potential, I think that it is, what I have termed, “The Long Hard Road” method of doing it. I believe there may be OTHER ways of achieving enlightenment today that are more conducive to our modern way of life and thinking. It seems that a new, fresh look at this whole topic is in order.

* Studying these experiences will likely lead to unexpected surprises.
Focusing in on awakenings, epiphanies, and enlightenment will likely lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of consciousness, and perhaps even lead to practical applications that can actually make a difference in people’s lives. What IF there were methods available that could facilitate profound awakenings or epiphanies? We don’t know what we will find in these studies, but I believe that, due to the profound and complex nature of these phenomena, that we will find something very important – something that could potentially change the lives of many people in a positive direction.

* Awakenings and epiphanies are linked to creativity.
I think that it is likely that the findings of these studies will improve the odds of people being able to make huge leaps in creativity. Most profound insights lead to renewed energy and excitement, and are often followed up by healthy and joyful activity. Renewed creativity and quantum leaps in insight could have exponentially large positive outcomes. For example, if that creativity were to result in things like new answers to energy problems, environmental issues, and  other major life factors for the future of our planet and our species.

All of these points are inherently fascinating to me.

I would study them even if there were no chance at all that I would personally reap the benefits in practical terms. Just the sheer enjoyment of studying and learning about these experiences and how they are possible is motivating enough for me.

In fact, I HAVE thought about the dilemma of actually achieving enlightenment, or a profound awakening in my life. I have wondered how that might change my study of these issues.

It seems, at first, that it would be a very strong advantage to actually experience these things first hand before writing about them. But I am not so sure about that.

I think what I would prefer is to study as much about these topics as I can for some good period of time… and THEN experience a profound awakening.

That way, I could put the “icing on the cake” and tell what could not be told before, about the actual experience.  In addition, if these studies lead to methods that could facilitate an awakening, I would need to be able to experience THAT process in order to know it from the inside out.

Another way of putting it, is that sometimes I think I need to “think like an unenlightened person”, in order to develop what will work for everyone who IS unenlightened. I am fairly sure that there will be many people who disagree with me on this point, thinking even that it is a logical inconsistency.

But let me just say, that since I am in no big hurry to experience enlightenment or an awakening, I can use this time to delve as deeply into it as I can… from the perspective of an ordinary, “unenlightened” individual.

I better get back to work on this project… if I become enlightened too soon it could ruin the whole thing!

I might just turn into one of those people who say; “you can’t talk about it”, “it is something that words just can’t describe”, “you can never get there by thinking about it”, etc.  – I might just turn away with a blissful look on my face and say; “this study is ended”.

In Unity,
AJ