2) A sagacious being would never promote himself or herself as enlightened, holy, wise, ... or even claim to be. Many may honor the Light, but the Light does not praise Itself; It only shines.
3) The being would be one of compassion for all beings, human and otherwise.
4) There are no short-cuts to a deeply-felt, thoroughly-lived spiritual wisdom. There are esoteric, psychic experiences - these some may call mystical experiences-; this is not the Way. These fireworks will likely, indeed, lead one to claim being more evolved than is correct. Likewise, one is likely to seek them over and over, becoming a spiritual-trip junkie. When one cannot get the next fix quickly enough on his or her own, there will always be someone to promise instant gratification with a return visit to happy delusional land. This is egoic child-play.
5) Seek guidance from persons who are grounded in a proven, wise path of spirituality. The guide may not be in a particular religious or spiritual path at present, however. Some persons may become interspiritual and detach from following one path, yet received prior grounding in a tradition of wisdom.
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Who, or what, can be enlightened, or awakened? Only the sense of self, or person, can experience awakening. The Self, or core, beyond experience, for outside time-and-space, does not need to be enlightened, awakened, made holy, ... The self is awakened by Grace to itself being in and deriving existence from the global Presence.
In devotional spirituality, in which one sees oneself in the Divine, the lover of the Beloved experiences awakening to the One by Grace. The global Presence is often called God, or another word denoting the same Presence universal. The Quran, Al-Fatihah 115, reads:
The East and the West belong to God. Whichever way you turn, there is the Face of God. God is all pervading and all knowing.
"Face" is a concrete use to speak of the abstract "presence." The words lead us into a mystery, the Ineffable that is not only at someplace, for everywhere.
And words from the beautiful Psalm 119 in the Hebrew Bible; verses 7-12 read:
Where could I go from Your spirit? Where flee from Your face? If I ascend into the skies, You are there, and if I lie down in the world of the dead, see! You are there, too. If I take the wings of the dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, and Your right hand will hold me securely. Were I to say, "Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light far from me," even darkness is not dark to You, and light is as bright as day - darkness and light are alike to You.
Continued... |