The Enlightenment That Forgets Life – You Won't Find It With Us

Over the years we have met many people who are interested in spirituality, awakening or enlightenment. Many of them have had wonderful realizations. They have experienced that they are not their thoughts, not their stories, not their fears, and not the person they have taken themselves to be all their lives. For many this is a moment of great relief, because suddenly something falls away from the burden that was constantly trying to control life, improve it or arrive somewhere. A spaciousness, a stillness and a sense of freedom arise that have often been sought for a long time.

And yet, at the same time, we have seen again and again that something strange happens at exactly this point. Even though people have recognized something true, their lives don't necessarily seem to deepen. Sometimes it even looks as if they are moving a little away from life. Feelings become secondary. Relationships lose their significance. The challenges of everyday life seem like distracting background noise on the way to truth. Suddenly, being human becomes something to be overcome.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest misunderstandings of many spiritual paths.

Because the realization that we are more than our person does not automatically mean that the person becomes meaningless. The realization that we are more than our thoughts does not mean that thoughts are wrong. And the experience of spaciousness does not mean that feelings, body and humanity suddenly become unimportant.

On the contrary.

The deeper we look into the nature of life, the clearer it becomes that life itself doesn't make this separation at all.

The tree outside the window is not separate from the whole, and yet it remains a tree. It doesn't disappear into oneness. It doesn't lose its form. It doesn't stop being an individual expression of life. And it is exactly the same with us human beings.

We are expression and oneness at the same time.

And embodied awakening only begins where these two truths are no longer played off against each other.

The mind loves clarity. It wants to know what is right. It wants to take a side. First it identifies with the person, and later it may identify with space, with awareness or with oneness. But in both cases it is really doing the same thing. It creates a position and tries to find security in it.

Life itself, however, doesn't seem to take any position.

It excludes nothing.

It embraces stillness as much as movement. Oneness as much as individuality. Joy as much as sorrow. Meditation as much as a conversation over coffee. Deep rest as much as the aliveness of a child running laughing across a meadow.

That is exactly why we often distance ourselves from spiritual concepts. Not because they are wrong, but because they often describe only one part of the truth.

The other side of the truth is life itself.

Life expressing itself as a human being.

For us, feeling is therefore not the opposite of awakening. It is one of the most direct ways to experience oneness at all.

Because while the mind can think about connectedness, feeling can experience it directly. Our nervous system is constantly in relationship with everything around us. It responds to people, to places, to moods, to nature, to touch and to countless pieces of information that go far beyond what the mind can grasp.

Perhaps this is exactly where a step of development lies that has received little attention in many spiritual traditions.

Not awakening away from life.

Not leaving our humanity behind.

But recognizing that the same stillness is also present in every feeling, every encounter, every challenge and every expression of life.

And suddenly it becomes visible that the aliveness of life is just as sacred as the stillness from which it arises.

Perhaps this is the enlightenment we need today.

Not an enlightenment that separates us from life.

But one that finally allows us to take part in it fully.

Love,

Pratibha & Kareem