Enlightenment (concept)

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For other uses, see Enlightenment. For other views or essays on enlightenment, see meditation, mysticism (ancient to contemporary).

Enlightenment (or Brightening) broadly means "the acquisition of new wisdom or understanding". However, the English word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religious or spiritual enlightenment (German: Erleuchtung) and secular or intellectual enlightenment (German: Aufklärung). This can cause confusion, since those who claim intellectual enlightenment often reject spiritual concepts altogether.

In religious use, enlightenment is most closely associated with South and East Asian religious experience, being used to translate words such as (in Buddhism) Bodhi or satori, or (in Hinduism) moksha. The concept does also have parallels in the Abrahamic religions (in the Kabbalah tradition in Judaism, in Christian mysticism, and in the Sufi tradition of Islam).

In secular use, the concept refers mainly to the European intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment.

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Enlightenment in Eastern Traditions

Symbol

Nelumbo nucifera, commonly known as the Lotus.

Nelumbo nucifera, commonly known as the Lotus.

The lotus flower is sometimes used as a symbol of enlightenment.

The lotus has its roots in the mud,
Grows up through the deep water,
And rises to the surface.
It blooms into perfect beauty and purity in the sunlight.
It is like the mind unfolding to perfect joy and wisdom.

Buddhism

Main article: Bodhi

A Buddha, or fully enlightened one, is regarded as a sentient being who has developed all positive qualities, and has eradicated all negative qualities. According to the Theravada tradition, full enlightenment of a Buddha is not achievable for most; instead one strives to become an Arhat and achieve liberation from the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth and to achieve nirvana. This achievement is also called "enlightenment". In contrast, according to the Mahayana traditions, every sentient being is regarded as having the potential for achieving full enlightenment and Buddhahood.

Hinduism

Main article: Moksha

Enlightenment in Western Secular Tradition

In the Western philosophical tradition, enlightenment is seen as a phase in cultural history marked by a faith in reason, generally accompanied by rejection of faith in revealed or institutional religion.

Kant's definition of "enlightenment"

In his famous 1784 essay What Is Enlightenment?, Immanuel Kant described it as follows:

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is the incapacity to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. Such tutelage is self-imposed if its cause is not lack of intelligence, but rather a lack of determination and courage to use one's intelligence without being guided by another.

Kant reasoned that although a man must obey in his civil duties, he must make public his use of reason. His motto for enlightenment is Sapere aude! or "Dare to know."

Adorno's and Horkheimer's definition of "enlightenment"

In their controversial analysis of the contemporary western society, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer developed a wider, and more pessimistic concept of enlightenment. In their analysis enlightenment had its dark side: while trying to abolish superstition and myths by 'foundationalist' philosophy, it ignored its own 'mythical' basis. Its strivings towards totality and certainty led to an increasing instrumentalization of reason. In their view the enlightenment itself should be enlightened and not posed as a 'myth-free' view of the world.

Enlightenment in popular syncretic spirituality

Another western description of enlightenment popularized more recently is that of the first-hand realization of the experience of a transcendent Self that is pure intelligence and pure creativity without beginning or end (also described in physics as the grand unified field,) and that we human beings are that self in a localized and limited expression. Views associated with this concept of enlightenment include the idea that every person is their own "creator" and can create a new reality by deciding to hold new, more interesting beliefs as true until manifested.

People who have been said to be enlightened

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Many individuals have claimed to reach a state of enlightenment, including many famous yogis and meditation masters from well-known spiritual traditions. Mahatma Gandhi was said^{[Please name specific person or group]} to be an enlightened seeker of truth. Siddharta Guatama, the Buddha, was said^{[Please name specific person or group]} to have reached the "ultimate state of enlightenment" or "pari-nirvana."

Nārāyana Guru (1856 to 1928), the prolific poet, philosopher and social reformer is believed to have attained enlightenment, i.e. an absolute state of wisdom, after his several years of education in languages, the scriptures of the different religions, yoga, and experiences with ascetic life, culminating in his long and meditative recluse in Maruthwamala hills in South India. Nārāyana Guru’s philosophical masterpiece “Atmopadeśa Śatakam” (one hundred verses of self-instruction) is primarily the Guru’s poetic expression of his philosophy of universal love, emanating from his experienced state of primordial knowledge of the Universe, and his consequent ability to view the human race as one of a species, in unqualified equality and without any racial, religious, caste or other discriminations whatsoever.

Jiddu Krishnamurti is said by some^{[Please name specific person or group]} to have attained Enlightenment under a pepper tree in Ojai, California in the 1920s.

Dr. Richard Bucke, in his 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness [1], names a few dozens of people who, in his studied opinion, had experienced some degree of enlightenment, including Walt Whitman and Blaise Pascal. Bucke also attempted to analyze what commonalities these personalities shared. His study has become part of the foundation of transpersonal psychology. There are some thinkers such as U. G. Krishnamurti, who refute any existence of the very concept of enlightenment.

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