Enlightenment Will Not Come From Others Nor Youtube Gurus

Does anyone truly know what the term “enlightenment” means or where it originated?

Enlightenment: a philosophical movement of the 18th century, characterized by belief in the power of human reason and byinnovations in political, religious, and educational doctrine. An intellectual movement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked by a celebration of the powers of human reason, a keen interest in science, the promotion of religious toleration, and a desire to construct  governments free of tyranny. Some of the major figures of theEnlightenment were David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Locke, the Baronde Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire.

(Buddhism) the awakening to ultimate truth by which man is freed from the endless cycle of personal reincarnations to which all men are otherwise subject

(Hinduism) a state of transcendent divine experience represented by Vishnu: regarded as a goal of all religion

Today, New Agers (defined as: an eclectic group of cultural attitudes arising in late 20th century Western society that are adapted from those of a variety of ancient and modern cultures, that emphasize beliefs such as reincarnation, holism, pantheism, and occultism outside the mainstream, and that advance alternative approaches to spirituality, right living, and health) have watered down the term and definition to what one could call both a cultural and eclectic group of people who have twisted the definitions to suit their own ideals or ideas.  In a sense, it has become a form of a modern-day “cultish” type of thinking.

One need only wander the book aisles of any bookstore or for the modern day techies, browse the electronic book titles, labelled under “Self Help” or watch YouTube videos to find a plethora of differing New Age method written books to lull people into thinking that one can attain whatever one wishes in Life by following their practises.  Each will differ slightly in their methods with varying degrees of differences in approach or ideology.  What they all have in common is the idea that Life is under our control at all times.  Should we fail to get what we wish or have problems, it’s because we either haven’t followed their particular method closely enough or, because we haven’t tried hard enough.

There are those who feel that because they have followed someone they have idealized that they are “enlightened” enough to tell others that those people are un-enlightened.  Either they will attempt to proselytize others into their belief patterns or will condemn them for their non-conformity to that line of thinking, calling them “the unenlightened”.  Some of these people will call those who don’t subscribe to their form or method of what they perceive to be “enlightenment” names, curse, swear or disguise a put-down upon that person as though believing that they have reached a level beyond the person they are condemning with such put-downs.

No matter which way one is to look at this situation, those who do these types of things are as un-enlightened as they come because enlightened people don’t feel the need to condemn those who don’t believe who or what they believe.  They simply, are and they exist as they do.

Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth.

In the past few months, I’ve written a couple of pieces about enlightenment and what it does not mean.  I’ve also written a couple of pieces about a YouTube “Guru” where I’ve had everything from swearing to threats and everything in between because I exposed my personal thoughts on Ralph Smart (Infinite Waters Diving Deep).  In effect, I was expressing my own opinions with research to back those thoughts and therefore, become “enlightened” towards the truth of who this young man is and what he is doing.  Unfortunately, those who haven’t become “enlightened” at all, disagreed and proceeded to tell me such in not so flattering ways toward themselves, their own “enlightenment” nor, in doing Smart any favours.  It simply showed me and other readers simply how un-enlightened they truly were as well as how well Ralph Smart had reached in “enlightening” his viewers.  The anger, hate and resentment that these readers showed, exposed to not only me but, other readers how unenlightened they truly are.  Their words said one thing but, the tone of their messages, said quite another thing.  As a mater of fact, their voices came across as the complete opposite of what they claim Smart was teaching them and rightfully so because Smart, after my research, is no more enlightened than any other ordinary person walking this planet.  He’s learned “street/Life smart” but, not true enlightenment and it’s that advice that he doles out to viewers who were and still are, sending me hate filled, angry, bitter or disillusioned messages and comments.

Enlightenment has a different meaning than what New Agers have given to the term.  There are very few, if any, people on this planet who will be able to reach the type of enlightenment that New Agers have defined within their parameters for being embodied makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible for one to raise their awareness to levels to that of the disincarnate.  Even devout monks who have spent years in caves with no to little possessions, spending most of their waking moments in meditation and have yet been able to reach the levels that these commenters feel that they and Smart have reached by watching electronic versions of Smart, preaching eating habits and street-wise tips to them has reached.

It’s hardly rocket science to see that those who have spent their lives devoted to only the cloth on their bodies, living in squalor conditions, un-distracted by modern conveniences or other people are having a hard enough time in attempting to reach this level that Smart lovers claim they are at or heading towards while citing what they consider to be my un-enlightened state of being.  It’s a far reach for one to imagine that someone like Smart who lives with all of the modern conveniences while making a living that not only covers his monthly bills but pads his pockets further by proclaiming to know how to live life, has been enlightened to any degree above those who have spent their lives attempting to do so while living in caves with only the bare necessities of Life.  Anyone watching him, swallowing his every word or nearly all of them and perhaps, eating Vegan while partying and going about their daily lives as normal the rest of the time is as far from enlightenment as Smart is.  It’s all illusional and in a high number of cases, desperation induced delusional.  The same holds true for other YouTube Gurus like Teal Swan (seen in Smart’s videos as well).   She’s another one that I have less distaste for because she’s not as transparent as Smart is about making money off of those who watch her.  While mono toned in her videos and almost expressionless, she at the least, backs up some of her explanations with either metaphysical or semi-Quantum physics.  Still, neither of them are any closer to being enlightened than the next person.  They’ve simply become good at drawing in subscribers.  In that point, I will give them both the thumbs up.  They are enlightened on how to draw in subscribers to their channels and make viewers believe that they know how to live Life.  I won’t take that away from them and kudos to them for that much however, neither is as enlightened as they’d want viewers to believe and, in that sense, I am more “enlightened” than those who send me nasty, hate-filled comments about Smart because I’ve dared to see the “truth” in both of these people and their motives.

I will leave this here with the quote above by Hanh to ponder and meditate on.  His quote says it all.

From my little corner of life, enlightenment is simply knowing “the truth” and nothing more.  We cannot know the truths about other realms or worlds until or unless we are in them.  That includes other people’s minds, lives and shoes as well.