Download PDF - Stillness Speaks

(40)One symptom of enlightenment sickness is the belief that desiregratification can enhance the bliss of Self-Realization, but indulgencedepends on the feeling of separation from a desired object. The enlightened,however, see no distinction between the Self and objects. Becauseeverything is already accomplished, enjoyment is one’s nature, not asensation arising from the interaction between a subject and an object."Churning the lower with the higher mindignite the fire of Knowledge.It will consume the fuel of ignorance."(41)The "Grace of God" school (which attracts underachievers) argues thatenlightenment "just happens." A man was sitting under a tree thinking aboutnothing in particular when a coconut fell on his head and split open. God,who’d been incarcerated for eons, popped out, touched the man’s third eye,and presto-chango - “enlightenment.”On the other side are the classic overachievers, who think nothing ofcharging four hundred dollars on Visa for a weekend satellite video"enlightenment intensive" with a fashionable guru expecting to pick upTranscendental Bliss before showing up at the office on Monday morning.Like the author in his misspent youth, the overachiever will abandoneverything and rush off to the Himalayas to “find God” at the drop of a hat.Twisting the body like a pretzel, eating alfalfa sprouts, chanting mysticsyllables and gazing at the yin-yang superimposed on OM while a guru, whohas compassionately relieved the devotee of all discretionary income, beatsthe soles of his/her feet with a cactus to remove egoism, seems a sensiblepath to the goal. The overchiever’s god is "doing" and no doing is toofarfetched. Genius is not required to see that such behavior is motivated byignorance and will not produce Enlightenment.Because the Self is self-evident and already realized, neither doing ornon-doing is going to produce the Self. However, a judicious program ofaction and non-action can “ignite the fire of Knowledge,” i.e. createconditions conducive to meditation and Self-Realization."Churning the higher and lower self" will remove most of the effects ofignorance - desire, fear, negative emotion, delusion, attachment, etc. but notthe cause; only knowledge removes ignorance. The verse is saying that since78