That’s Interesting Helcat

He also suggests that anyone claiming to be enlightened is not, as ego is what claims enlightenment.

I used to joke that their was a moment in my youth when I was Hip (I’m old) Only the moment I thought I was Hip I no longer was. I feel the same way about those who use the word Woke (the new word for Hip. Nothing new under the sun) 🙂
Didn’t take long for the word Woke not to mean anything and become a divisive label

For many the practice detachment has been a about detachment from desire. No desire = no suffering. Probably true only I don’t see how such a practice of detachment would not end in indifference and or unconsciousness.

For other the practice of detachment is a detachment from ego or negation of ego. In the east their is a tendency to negate ego/individual  and in the west to over identify with ego/individual.  I think the idea of a detachment from ego is really difficult due to language. Try expressing a experience to yourself or others with out a concept of I.
I would argue that the ego plays a important role in the experience of a moment. When we nullify it we lose that and suffer, when we over identify with it we suffer.  I prefer the word identity to ego for that reason. I get to engage the moment while avoid attaching it to my identity and add unnecessary karma. (I have had moments where I can do this though,,, but if honest I suspect consciously and or unconsciously there are times when I want to attach and experience the energy that creates. But that might be my karma) 🙂

viewing emotions without judgement or thought

A healthy detachment from emotions without judgment makes sense. To feel what you feel and letting them flow vice clinging to them and adding unnecessary karma. When you make judgments we tend to attach the judgment to ego/identity so  I might go a step further then Jiddu definition and say enlightenment is the art of viewing the moment as it is, which includes the emotions without, attachment of judgment. Without attachment to identity and or sense of self while fully engaging with Life.

“To joyfully participate in the sorrows of the world“. So far every wisdom tradition I have come across asks that question. Can you engage fully in life, as it is, the wonder and the horror joyfully? Can that be Love? My intuition is that a experience of enlightenment would involve such a realization.

What is the ‘I’ that could experience such a no-thing, perhaps no ‘I’ at all.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Peter.