Enlightenment is a state of being.
It can never be explained. It is in no way a tangible rational entity. It can perhaps be described as the development of un-doing.
By gradually unknitting the ball of long knotted string that is 'Who I am' and asking the question - 'Who am I?' the puzzle gradually reveals itself.
It is as if the hardened shell of Who I am needs the constant drip of Who Am I? to wear away at it until through persistent repetition it allows gradually the light to filter in. This reveals through the release of restlessness, a deepening silence - the still point of being.
In his years of teaching yoga and running enlightenment intensives, Elahn Keshava, a modern mystic and facilitator, whose modesty would refrain him from describing himself as such, masters The Enlightenment Intensives in South West. England, U.K.
Let Elahn take it up:
"...It is clear that more than ever before in recorded history, humanity is engaging an evolutionary event which spans all spectrums of the human experience through the scientific to the spiritual; indeed the line of definition between these two worlds becomes thinner each day. It could be said that organised religion is on the decline though spiritual experience is peaking and finding free expression throughout the world's media. Awakening is in vogue.
Over the past hundred years or so the West has been given direct access to the mysteries of the East, and after an eventful and steady integration period we are beginning to see the possibilities emerging from the chrysalis; the alchemy of opposites where East meets West. Heaven and Earth come together.
Like many newly developed programmes for human consciousness evolution, the Enlightenment Intensive has drawn substance from both Eastern and Western influences. For 35 years this powerful process has proved itself to be consistent in facilitating consciousness transformation, often giving participants profound experiences of their True Nature that permanently changes the way they perceive themselves, life and others.
What is an Enlightenment Intensive?
The Enlightenment Intensive structure was conceived and developed by Charles Berner, a pioneer in the human development field, who noted that people who do not 'know' who they are make relatively slower progress with self development techniques than those who do. He had worked extensively with groups in the 60's and developed what has become known as dyad communication. This is a technique where two people sit opposite one another taking it in turns to both speak and listen without interruption nor evaluation. In 1968 the basic idea for the first Enlightenment Intensive dawned on Berner, and he invited a number of his students to join him in this experiment in consciousness transformation. To his surprise this experiment yielded excellent results.
The Enlightenment Intensive was born. Over the next 10 years he experimented extensively and developed the final format having mastered 99 Intensives. Although Berner has long since retired, Intensives continue to be well respected and are being utilised with powerful and profound effects. Throughout the world thousands of ordinary people have been graced with enlightenment experiences using this formula which is based primarily on Zen Sesshins. These are supervised contemplative retreats found traditionally in Japanese Zen Buddhism. The Enlightenment Intensive format is a radical development of the Sesshin which incorporates dyad communication alongside intensive contemplation. In itself, the Enlightenment Intensive is not aligned to any particular spiritual school, it is simply devoted to offering the participants a powerful forum for the realisation of the Truth as It Is.
What Enlightenment Is
In this context the Enlightenment referred to is the same as that which, amongst others, the Buddha or Ramana Maharshi attained. It is not an idea, a belief, an insight, or any type of mental construct, nor is it an intuition or a feeling. It is simply Being established in the underlying reality which exists in unbroken stillness prior to any notion of anything or anyone. It is a direct experience of Absolute Truth, or Reality as it Is. It is a state of conscious union, where the experience of duality or separation ceases and there is no longer any sense of an individual self. There is no perceiver, perception, nor anything to perceive. It is beyond definition. It simply Is.
"Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished."
The Buddha
