What Does Enlightenment Mean? This is What 7 Well-known Experts Say

What does enlightenment mean? Well, that depends on who you ask. Let's take a look at what some well-known experts say.

Quotes are from AZ Quotes, Good Reads and Headless.org.

Enlightenment according to Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle is the author of popular books such as The Power of Now and A New Earth. Here are some things he's said about enlightenment:

"The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being."

"So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger. One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it."

"Enlightenment means rising above thought, not falling back to a level below thought, the level of an animal or a plant. In the enlightened state, you still use your thinking mind when needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before."

So, enlightenment is about experiencing yourself beyond thought. It's about not getting your sense of self from your thoughts, and not taking your thoughts seriously.

There is a problem with this, though. What is it that is or isn't taking the thoughts seriously? More thoughts, of course! So, should one then not take those thoughts seriously either? I suppose there are different types of thought. Are some thoughts more worthwhile believing than others?

But it seems there is more to enlightenment than this, as Tolle also says:

"If there isn't an emanation of love and joy, complete presence and openness toward all beings, then it is not enlightenment."

So, it's not only about rising above your thoughts. It's about consistently rising above your thoughts until:

• you are always present,
• you feel love and joy,
• and are open to everyone.

But it must be impossible for anyone to be in that state all the time, right?

Enlightenment according to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created Transcendental Meditation. His take on enlightenment seems to be a bit different:

"The goal of the Transcendental Meditation technique is the state of enlightenment. This means we experience that inner calmness, that quiet state of least excitation, even when we are dynamically busy."

So, it's about getting to a point where we always experience a state of calmness. Even when we are doing things, there is still an awareness of this inner calmness. It's always beneath everything else.

This fits with what's said in the TM introduction video:

So, the mind is like an ocean. When there are storms and big waves on the surface, the bottom of the ocean is still calm.

Enlightenment according to Deepak Chopra

Author and meditation teacher Deepak Chopra goes a bit further with his definition:

"According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don't bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous."

So, according to him, it's not only about rising above thought and feeling calm. It's also about life becoming more meaningful and miraculous.

The difficulty with this, though, is it's subjective. If you're feeling calmer and happier, you might start to notice positive things in your life more. Things might seem more meaningful and miraculous, but are they objectively so?

But then we are talking about an inner subjective experience anyway. So maybe it doesn't matter?

Enlightenment according to Adyashanti

Adyashanti is a spiritual teacher who teaches non-duality. He has written several books such as True Meditation and Emptiness Dancing. And this is where things get interesting because he has a very different definition:

"Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretence. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true."

So, according to him, enlightenment won't necessarily make you happy. It won't even necessarily make you a better person. It's actually just about becoming fully aware of how things really are.

To a certain extent, this does tie up with what Tolle says about rising above your thoughts. You become aware that your thoughts are a facade, a pretence. But that in itself might not necessarily lead to a positive mental or emotional state.

Enlightenment according to Rupert Spira

Rupert Spira is another nonduality teacher. He has written books such as Being Aware of Being Aware and The Nature of Consciousness. He says enlightenment is about the vanishing of our feeling of being a separate self:

"Our self - luminous, open, empty Awareness - cannot be enlightened. It is already the light that illuminates all experience. Nor can a separate self be enlightened, for when the separate self faces the light of Awareness, it vanishes, just as a shadow does when exposed to the sun."

"What remains when we have let go of all thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, perceptions, activities and relationships? Our self alone remains: not an enlightened, higher, spiritual, special self or a self that we have become through effort, practice or discipline, but just the essential self or being that we always and already are before it is coloured by experience."

So, it's about what remains once the false separate self has disappeared. It's not about becoming something better. It's about discovering what has always been beneath everything else.

Enlightenment according to Sam Harris

Sam Harris is a philosopher and neuroscientist who has written books such as Waking Up and Free will. Here, he makes enlightenment sound more realistic and attainable:

"In my view, the realistic goal to be attained through spiritual practice is not some permanent state of enlightenment that admits of no further efforts but a capacity to be free in this moment, in the midst of whatever is happening. If you can do that, you have already solved most of the problems you will encounter in life."

"The ultimate wisdom of enlightenment, whatever it is, cannot be a matter of having fleeting experiences. The goal of meditation is to uncover a form of well-being that is inherent to the nature of our minds. It must, therefore, be available in the context of ordinary sights, sounds, sensations, and even thoughts. Peak experiences are fine, but real freedom must be coincident with normal waking life."

So, it's not about achieving a state of perfection where normal life is now irrelevant. Quite the opposite. It's about being able to experience well-being within everyday life.

Extraordinary experiences may sometimes happen as a side effect of your spiritual practice. But these are not the goal. The goal is to be okay even when you're not having extraordinary experiences.

Enlightenment according to Douglas Harding

Douglas Harding is the creator of The Headless Way. Here he describes his own enlightenment experience as a vanishing of the sense of self:

"The 'me', such I had known it before, had quite literally vanished and in its place was suddenly a seeing that came from nowhere, belonged to nobody and gazed upon the Unknown. From that time, a mystery is alive in the heart of our being: the Void. It becomes impossible to perceive the 'me', to see oneself. Enlightenment is the end of a journey, the end of a quest because the searcher no longer exists. It's exactly the same as waking up from a nightmare."

So, according to him, enlightenment is the end of the quest for enlightenment. Once the separate self dissolves, there is no "me" to become enlightened.

This is the true irony. Enlightenment comes with the realisation that enlightenment isn't actually required. Because once the self disappears, who is there to be the enlightened one?

The tricky thing here is that you can't have your cake and eat it. You can't become enlightened and remain the "you" that you were before. You either keep yourself or you become enlightened. You can't have both.

So, what DOES enlightenment mean? 

(Concluding thoughts)

So, it seems that there are several main definitions to enlightenment:

• Rising above your thoughts and perceiving them as not being you
• Feeling a sense of well-being, or a connection to your inner calm, in all situations
• No longer feeling worry, and feeling more joy and meaning in your life
• Seeing the truth of reality, even if it doesn't make you happy
• Realising you're not a separate self

But we can boil these down further to what they are really about at their core. Then they can be broadly grouped into two main categories:

• Feeling good
• Seeing the truth

These each have their problems.

If you're feeling good, there's always the possibility you might one day not feel good. You may have achieved some profound state of perfect spiritual bliss. But that doesn't mean it will always be there. It might suddenly be gone tomorrow.

As for seeing the truth, that might not lead to happiness or calmness or peace. You might indeed realise that there's no separate "you" there. But this could cause anxiety or leave you feeling unsettled or ungrounded.

I've experienced both to some degree. I've had beautiful "peak" experiences that were temporary. I've also had "no-self" experiences which caused me to panic. I've suddenly thought, "Who is experiencing this? Maybe nobody!" It can be scary sometimes.