What is this obsession with enlightenment and the fear of falling into a sad existence?

by Vic Shayne
author
The Self is a Belief

Here is a common question pertaining to enlightenment: “Enlightenment sounds like a bad tragic thing; it sounds like the end of fun and joy and life, so why do so many people seem to think that spiritual enlightenment is a good thing?”

I would venture to say that most people have no idea what enlightenment is, and therefore they base an opinion upon what they have heard or read. To make matters more confusing, there are many self-proclaimed gurus (making a profitable living with big followings) who lecture about enlightenment, and yet it is clear by what they say that they are way off the mark. In addition, New Age, positive thinking, and “spiritual” teachers also spread an erroneous message, as do well-meaning Buddhists.

Enlightenment is simple and not mysterious
Enlightenment is a very simple idea, not a dogma, an event or an experience. It’s not even a good word, because it implies something that is impossible. Enlightenment, according to the sages of the oldest traditions out of India, is merely an awakening to the realization of what you are at the core. It is a certain kind of knowingness that comes with persistent observation of the sense of self without judgment. It is the realization that you are not the doer and never have been, and therefore it becomes clear that this sense of self — the egoic mind, or what is called “I,” or “me” — is just a belief that has never been “in charge.”

The egoic self is you as the persona
I have written many times about what the egoic self is, but it always bears repeating. The egoic self, the “I,” is nothing more than a belief that comes about by an accretion of thoughts. And these thoughts come from psychological conditioning, especially in early life. The mind is influenced by parents, teachers, religious leaders, schools, relatives, the media, society, culture, and so on. All of these influences impress themselves upon consciousness so that there arises a belief that we are separate from the whole of consciousness, the wholeness of life. And, this egoic self identifies with actions, phenomena, possessions, other people, ideas, memories, the body, the mind, and so on.

Who is really sad?
Any sense of sadness or the destruction of joy and fun is the effect of this egoic mind and not reality. The egoic mind fears change, the unknown, and annihilation. This is why those who just get a whiff of the idea of enlightenment are quick to recoil and fear the loss of something they never had, which is doership.

So who is the doer?
The egoic self believes it is the doer, the one who takes actions and makes decisions. But you are more than this. Prior to this shadow, this belief, that is the egoic mind, you are an expression of consciousness along with other people, nature, objects, phenomena, thought, and so on. It is consciousness that is the doer and the decider, but when consciousness is fixated on the sense of the egoic self then it cannot see the big picture. It cannot see that it has always been the doer.

So, to be clear, as consciousness you are the doer, but as the egoic self you are not the doer.

If anything, there is far more joy that comes once you are aware of what you are at the core. Sadness, joy, fear, depression, anxiety, elation, and suffering, etc., comes from the egoic mind, and it exists within a perpetual a cycle as the ego spends its time pursuing pleasure and trying to avoid pain. Enlightenment breaks this cycle simply as the result of becoming aware of what is going on.