The Secret of Enlightenment

September 28, 2007 By Tom

Here are two quotes that would’ve surely eased my soul a decade ago, when existential angst tormented me day and night (particularly of the “Why is there something rather than nothing?!” variety). Though separated by centuries, the quotes point to a dimension of reality that is eternally untouched by the torments of time, confusion, and duality…

Andrew Cohen (Nov. 20, 2005):
“Most postmodern men and women, who are products of a secular culture, are full of doubt — profound, frightening, and confusing existential doubt about the meaning and purpose of life. At the deepest level of our being, most of us have no idea why we’re here. The conscious experience of consciousness itself, which is what enlightenment is, has always been the ultimate answer to that question. There’s a sense of knowing, unequivocally, before thought, that I am. The question “Why am I here?” falls away. Before everything that was and before everything that is, I already am. This revelation is the ground of everything.”

Friedrich Schelling (c.1809):
“…that last question of the understanding which stands dizzily at the abyss of infinity, the question: why is there not nothing, why is there anything at all? This question is eternally banished by the knowledge that being necessarily is, i.e., by that absolute affirmation of being in knowledge.”

Amen.


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