What is Enlightenment? | Episode 67

Aion Farvahar  0:13
What is Enlightenment and What it takes to Achieve It
By Aion Farvahar
"There are two states of self-awareness. One is anchored around your ego and personality, and how you experience yourself in this life. The other transcends your ego and personality, 
and is anchored around the spiritual essence, who is experiencing your life. 
Enlightenment is a journey from one to the other, 
from who believe you are to who you really are."
Hi, this is Aion Farvahar. I am glad you are here.
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Today, we want to focus on Enlightenment, what it is, and how it feels to be enlightened. Enlightenment is the ultimate goal of Spiritual Awakening, awakening from a state of dream and illusion to a state of spiritual self-awareness. Enlightenment is not about seeking the spiritual light, but about noticing and liberating from what blocks that light, liberating from a set of beliefs that clutters our mind and closes our heart. Our beliefs about ourselves and the world are created by our ego and a set of our identities that separate us from our true nature and the divine light we all have emanated from. Enlightenment is a process of liberation from our identities that don’t represent who we really are. It’s about returning to our true nature, our Center, or our “Aware I”. 

Aion Farvahar  2:39
This presentation is meant to bring awareness about enlightenment, and what it means to become enlightened. It explains how ego and its identities block this process, and what one can do about it. We also cover the various levels of enlightenment, and how they relate to the openings of Chakra Energy Centers. More specifically we cover the following topics:
- What is Enlightenment?
- Enlightenment and its Relationship to Ego 
- Enlightenment and Chakra Energy Centers 
- Levels of Enlightenment (Heart, Third Eye and Crown Chakra Enlightenment) 
- Enlightenment and Metamorphism of Ego 
- And, the Journey of an Enlightened One (Bodhisattva and Private Buddha)

Let’s go over these. Please note that the information presented here are based on my personal experience and understanding, and are meant to be indicative and not absolute. 

Aion Farvahar  3:57
What is Enlightenment?
In simple term, enlightenment is a state of awareness that encompasses humanistic, philosophical, and spiritual aspects of reality. A truly enlightened individual is not someone who has read many books, listened to the wisdom of masters, or acquired magical or esoteric knowledge, but someone who has liberated oneself from the grip of ego personality and its identities. Enlightenment can be experienced at a personal and transpersonal level. The personal level of enlightenment involves dissolution of ego personality and the emergence of a higher level of self-awareness, also known as “Aware I”, Higher Self, or One’s spiritual center. Enlightenment can also be experienced at a transpersonal level, where the “Aware I” transforms to a transpersonal state of awareness, a non-dual state of Divine Unity, reflecting the Oneness of all that exists. Experiencing the state of non-dual Divine Unity is the ultimate manifestation of enlightenment. 
Enlightenment and its Relationship to Ego 
In this section, we want to focus on ego and how it relates to enlightenment. The term ego is a psychological concept and has different interpretations. Here, I refer to ego as a collection of personal identities. When we first come to this world, we are given a set of identities such as our name, our body, our family, our cultural background, and so on. As we grow up experiencing the world, we acquire more personal identities, through our education, skills, profession, possessions, relationships, and personal beliefs. Our self-awareness gradually becomes dominated by these identities, as we define ourselves through them, and find our sense of worth in them. For example, if one asks me to describe who I am, I may describe myself by my age, my background, my education or profession, or my beliefs or personal interests. Of course, these are all aspects of my life here in this world, but do they really describe who I really am deep inside? Probably not, because they are just a set of identities I am conditioned to accept and identify with. What is left out is who I really am, which is the spiritual essence of me, the one who is experiencing my life? 
Our personal identities are labels we happened to acquire in the road of life, like layers of garment that we chose to wear, garments that hide who we truly are deep inside. That is why most enlightenment practices and meditations require and call for separation and liberation from the state of ego and personal identities. The stronger our senses of identity, the harder it becomes for us to walk the path of enlightenment, because a true state of enlightenment is free from all identities. 
It’s important to note here that having Ego and Personal identities is a part of life, because our identities help us navigate and experience life in different dimensions, through our relationships, our family, our work, and so on. So, the problem is not the ego itself but when we identify with it and define who we are through it. When we strongly identify with our personal identities, we also subconsciously attach our sense of value and worth to them. And therefore, any dramatic changes in them, for example, a break in a relationship or loss of a job can take that sense of value away, causing emotional pain and suffering. That is why enlightenment is sometimes also viewed as a remedy for suffering, because the root of suffering lies in our ego and our attachment to our personal identities.     

Aion Farvahar  9:08
Enlightenment and Chakra Energy Centers 
Enlightenment is not a sudden revelation of awakening, but rather a multi-level process. Chakra Energy Centers can best represent this process. Chakra system is originated in esoteric traditions in Hinduism, and is used in variety of ancient yoga and meditation practices. The system consists of several nodes or energy centers spread throughout the central axis of our body. The most common version of chakra system include seven major energy centers or nodes, representing various levels of human consciousness, starting from survival instinct at the root chakra, all the way to transpersonal unity with the divine at the Crown Chakra. The process of enlightenment can be viewed as the rise of our consciousness from lower to higher Chakras.  
Lower Three Chakras are known as Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus chakras. Impulses of these lower chakras are existential in nature, such as our instinct for self-preservation, procreation, self-gratification, validation, power, and domination, all of which are also impulses in animal kingdom.  
Middle Three Chakras are known as Heart, Throat, and Third Eye Chakras. The impulses of these three chakras are soulful in nature, and no longer as existential. They invite openness, expression, imagination, and creativity, all of which are expressions of our Soul as our spiritual essence.  
The highest chakra is the Crown Chakra. The impulse of the crown chakra is neither existential nor soulful in nature. It is rather mystical and about the experience of a transpersonal state of bliss that reveals itself as a non-dual Divine Unity in all things. Activation of Crown Chakra goes beyond personal experience of spirituality and leads to a mystical and transpersonal union with the divine.  
Among all chakras, the Heart, Third Eye, and Crown Chakras are most important, because they correspond to distinct levels of enlightenment.  

Aion Farvahar 12:03
Levels of Enlightenment (Heart, Third Eye, and Crown Chakra Enlightenment) 
As mentioned, enlightenment is a multi-level process. From experience, this process has three major levels. These levels correspond to opening of the Heart, the Third Eye, and the Crown Chakras. Let’s briefly go over the characteristics of these three levels. 
Opening of the heart chakra is the initiating step in the enlightenment process. Without an open heart chakra, our self-awareness is dominated by the existential impulses of the lower three chakras. Heart chakra represents the Spiritual Heart of an individual. When opened, we no longer feel consumed by our self-preservation or self-gratification needs. We no longer feel any desire to seek validation, power, or domination. We instead feel soulful and experience a sense of openness, calmness, courage, love, compassion, and creativity.
Opening of the Third Eye Chakra results in a personal level of enlightenment. It opens the door to a state of awareness that transcends our ego personality. This state awareness is sometimes referred to the “Aware I”, of in simpler term, the Higher Self, or the Center of one’s consciousness. The activation of our “Aware I” or Higher Self results in an unconditional sense of trust on our intuition and inner wisdom, as if we receive direct guidance from the divine, or an aspect of the divine, such as our Daimonion, Celestial Twin, or Guardian Angel.  The level of enlightenment experienced by opening of the Third Eye Chakra remains personal in nature, because there is still a felt sense of duality between an enlightened individual and the divine, or as Sufis call it, between the lover and “the beloved”. This duality and experience of the divine is mystical in nature and usually calls the individual to mystical admiration or worship of the divine.   
Opening of the Crown Chakra results in the highest and most transpersonal level of enlightenment. Unlike the opening of Third Eye Chakra, which manifests as a feeling of personal connection with the Divine, opening of the Crown Chakra is highly transpersonal and non-dual. In this level of enlightenment, our experience of the “Aware I” or Higher Self transforms to experience of Divine Unity and the oneness of all that exists. In this state of consciousness, there is no duality, no identity, no separation, no tension or conflict, even emptiness and fullness are noticed as one.  
For the Crown Chakra to be opened, one must recognize and reconcile all dualities within, before one can experience a state of non-dual Divine Unity. Recognizing and reconciling duality means that I recognize existence of dualities in me. For example, I have the potentiality to be a bad person, but I choose to be good, I have the potentiality to hate and I choose love instead, I have a potentiality to hurt but I choose to care instead. I can reconcile the dualities of good and bad, hate and love, light and darkness, only when I recognize and accept that they are all also potentialities within me. If I don’t recognize and accept that, I subconsciously project what I don’t identify with on others, and can never experience a state of non-dual Divine Unity. As long duality is not reconciled within me, the side that I strongly identify with, like goodness, love, care, and light can become inflated, and suppressing their opposites within me, creating tension that pushes me off center. 

Aion Farvahar  17:06
Enlightenment and Metamorphism of Ego
As mentioned, the process of enlightenment starts with the opening of our Heart Chakra, signifying the awakening of our Spiritual Heart. But, for that to happen, we need to first dis-identify from our ego. If we view our “Aware I” as our Higher Self, then our ego or personal identities can be viewed as our lower self. Lower self is tuned in to our instinctual and animal nature, and our personal identities reinforce that connection. So, to open our heart chakra, we must first dis-identify from our personal identities, for example, realize that we are not our look, and our worth does not come from the level of our education, possessions, relationships, power, and so on. The process of dis-identification from our ego usually requires some Inner Work. Dis-identifying from our ego, does not mean we have to disown our personality and abilities, but rather honor them without strongly identifying with them or define our self-worth through them. So, what blocks the enlightenment is not the ego itself, but rather our choice to identify with it, and define who we are by it.
It’s important to note that Ego has metamorphism, meaning that it can manifest in different forms, and reemerge even in an enlightened state of awareness. This is because ego always looks for new forms of identification, and enlightenment is no exception. That is why some enlightened individuals gradually develop a sense of personal identity with their enlightened state of mind. When unaware, this gradually leads to reemergence of a new ego identity, but this time as an inflated Spiritual Ego that possess and separates the enlightened individual from others. Formation of Spiritual Ego disconnects the individual from the Center, and derails the process of enlightenment. All states of consciousness are prone to metamorphism and unconscious reemerge of Ego identities. Emergence of the Spiritual Ego can also be observed in shamanism. In shamanism, there are two types of shamans, white shamans and dark shamans or sorcerers. Dark shamans are possessed and inflated by their Spiritual Ego and power, while white shamans are centered and fully connected to their “Aware I’ and their Axis Mundi, keeping their Spiritual Ego at bay.        

Aion Farvahar  20:24
The Journey of an Enlightened One (Bodhisattva and Private Buddha)
Your path of enlightenment starts with the opening your spiritual hearts, or what is in Buddhism referred to as becoming a Bodhicitta, or an awakening mind or heart. Bodhicitta experiences a soulful state of awareness, filled with inspiration and spiritual curiosity. This is because opening of the spiritual heart also results in a direct or intuitive connection with our Soul, and its energy. With the opening of the Third Eye Chakra and the state of “Aware I”, Bodhicitta may choose to take the path of a Private Buddha, which calls Bodhicitta to deeper mystical experiences, ultimately leading to the opening of the Crown Chakra and the state of non-dual Divine Unity. Bodhicitta may also choose to take the path of a Bodhisattva, which is the one who notices the divine essence in all being, and choose to live a life that honors that, either through creativity, being of service, extending love and compassion to others, or sharing of experience and knowledge, especially with those in their path of enlightenment. 
In closing, remember that enlightenment is not about spirituality but about knowing who you really are. It is the process that leads you to your highest level of self-awareness, the spiritual birth of your “Aware I” and the experience of Divine Unity you are a part of. 
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Blessings.