Brian’s Reflection: The Weekend, Sat, April 25, 2009

"All things must end. Work hard for your own enlightenment".

- The Buddha (Siddharta Gautama)


I hesitate to say this, but, on the other hand, I believe in humility as correctly understood: so, (a) I believe that Enlightenment is like Freedom – it comes and goes and has to be constantly recaptured, and (b) I am Enlightened. This is nothing different than saying, if one is a Christian, (a) I am “saved”, and (b) I have to “work out my salvation in fear and trembling”.

Somewhere along the way in the Journey of my Life, I either grasped or was “gifted” with the understanding (or maybe it’s always both) that I am utterly integrated with All Being, human and non-human and – if there is such a thing – all things Divine. (My views on “divinity” have certainly expanded over the years!) I came to realize this from the comment that a friend and former parishioner made recently. She asked about my “childhood spirituality”, and its place in my Journey.)

I have “known” since I was a small child that I am utterly part of Nature. And part of “God”. I knew then that there was no separation. As I became involved in “organized religion”, my convictions began to be shaken. Christian teaching often tried to teach me that my being was somehow “broken” with Nature and with “God”. I struggled with it, but the essential Oneness that I experienced in my childhood never left me.

As I age, the sense of being woven into the connection of all things is reestablishing itself more and more powerfully and surely and confidently. Now, whenever I am accosted with religious principles or teachings which attempt to establish my estrangement from All Being, I smile and firmly but gently put them aside. I know who I truly am - and this I understand as “Enlightenment”. It is as an enlightened being that I engage with Life (though not always!).

“All things must end”, says the Buddha. Profoundly true. At this moment, as I gaze about our World, I realize that what must end is the fallacy of brokenness with each other and with Nature and with all the deepest Mystery that encompasses Life, including our body and sex and fun and pleasure.

I suspect that many of you comprehend that you are Enlightened. I encourage you to live it.

Brian+