The Religion Of Self Enlightenment

Carrick Ares grows up without any particular beliefs in anything. He is boring, and proudly so. Yet when he suddenly dies in a car accident, he experiences what he feels to be the afterlife. It then causes him to go through a huge existential crisis. The only person with whom he speaks about it is a psychiatrist, Paul Turnstone. They together explore the theories Carrick has about life. Carrick goes mad and thinks that he finds the truth of existence. Struggling to dress himself, hinders not his adamance that he knows the answers to the biggest questions of life. He produces a book, The Religion of Self-Enlightenment, which becomes the expression of his theories. It discusses exactly how to heal the crises which are now plaguing individuals and the wider world.

We have long been taught that the Enlightenment was an attempt to free the world from the clutches of Christian civilization and make it safe for philosophy. The lesson has been well learned. In today's culture wars, both liberals and their conservative enemies, inside and outside the academy, rest their claims about the present on the notion that the Enlightenment was a secularist movement of philosophically driven emancipation. Historians have had doubts about the accuracy of this portrait for some time, but they have never managed to furnish a viable alternative to it-for themselves, for scholars interested in matters of church and state, or for the public at large. In this book, William J. Bulman and Robert G. Ingram bring together recent scholarship from distinguished experts in history, theology, and literature to make clear that God not only survived the Enlightenment but thrived within it as well. The Enlightenment was not a radical break from the past in which Europeans jettisoned their intellectual and institutional inheritance. It was, to be sure, a moment of great change, but one in which the characteristic convictions and traditions of the Renaissance and Reformation were perpetuated to the point of transformation, in the wake of the Wars of Religion and during the early phases of globalization. The Enlightenment's primary imperatives were not freedom and irreligion but peace and prosperity. As a result, Enlightenment could be Christian, communitarian, or authoritarian as easily as it could be atheistic, individualistic, or libertarian. Honing in on the intellectual crisis of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries while moving from Spinoza to Kant and from India to Peru, God in the Enlightenment takes a prism to the age of lights.

What is spiritual enlightenment? You often hear the term "enlightenment" in deep spiritual discussions, but it is almost impossible to find anyone who can definitively say what "enlightenment," "awakening," "union," or "self-realization" actually entails. In fact, many religions differ as to their proposals for the highest state of spiritual attainment -- which is often called salvation, liberation or becoming one with God (union) -- that often do not even include enlightenment, or they may simply recognize it under a different name. Enlightenment is the direct realization of our self-nature, source essence, or true self. This awakening constitutes directly experiencing the source and essence of reality, the original dimension of equal identity where mind and matter are one because you have found the ultimate underlying, true nature of all things. Enlightenment means to directly, experientially realize that basic substance of cosmic life where matter and consciousness are the same substance, which then consequently opens up various powers and a universal visage. That transcendental source nature you discover is often called God, Ein Sof, Allah, Brahman, dharmakaya, fundamental nature, Buddha-nature, Tao, Emptiness or Self. Some of the secular designations include Pure Consciousness, pristine awareness, one mind, uncreated light, clear light or infinite universal illumination to denote the fact that It is the ultimate substratum that gives birth to the knowingness of manifest consciousness. The way to this realization is through meditation and other spiritual practices that teach you to stop clinging to states of consciousness. You must always allow consciousness to arise, but should not cling to thoughts to thus become a perfectly free, effortless, natural and spontaneous individual. As your thoughts quiet down because of this practice, your body's chakras and chi channels will open up (you will experience a kundalini awakening) and you will gradually stop identifying your body and mind as your self. In time you can attain a pristine realization of selflessness (a state absent of the ego, I-thought or sense of separate "I-amness") that constitutes enlightenment. Regardless of your religious tradition, when you diligently cultivate spiritual practice you will gradually pass through many transitional stages of progress and particular spiritual experiences. These experiences can include special degrees of one-pointed concentration (absorption) called dhyana and samadhi attainments, which prepare you for enlightenment if you cultivate far enough. Many religions, both Eastern and Western, describe these possible achievements in great detail, and many such experiences that are not enlightenment are analyzed within so that practitioners do not incorrectly assume they have actually achieved awakening when they have only experienced inferior attainments. The various achievement levels to this awakening of self-realization that are explained. This book is the first of its kind to collect not only the rare autobiographical and biographical accounts from many traditions of individuals who achieved enlightenment (because it is a non-denominational accomplishment), but also the relevant passages in each tradition's scriptures that reveal the characteristics of the original nature that everyone awakens to (such as perfect purity, changelessness, infinity, eternality, and bliss). The reader quickly comes to the conclusion that despite sectarian differences, everyone is actually awakening to the very same thing. It cannot be anything else The pathway to enlightenment is analyzed using many different religious paths and frameworks. Many common errors of spiritual practice and misinterpretations of spiritual states are also revealed to help individuals become correctly oriented so that they can attain enlightenment as well.

This book also includes, The 4 Stages of Soul Evolution. If you prefer to take charge of your own destiny instead of being a follower. If you like to think and feel your way through life. If you want to find out what's under the surface, what's the real meaning of things instead of what's being pushed by the mainstream at any one time. If you dust your belief system from time to time and reevaluate your likes and dislikes. If you have managed (or seriously trying) to undo your childhood programming. If you're hungry for wisdom and to push yourself higher at all times. Then this book is for you. For those focused on mental and spiritual growth and breaking personal barriers, there has never been a better time. We're living in an era of accelerated experiences and heightened reality. The holy grail of personal growth, spirituality and yoga is self-realization. For those truly seeking self-empowerment there is no greater mission. It is the intention and the mission of this book to cut through centuries old haze of disinformation that has existed about the power of real spirituality and to inspire, guide and help you to keep on expanding and ascending.

Beyond Self-Realization In his previous book on philosophy (The Spontaneous Self), the author argued that the concept of free will is an illusion while detailing what it might imply for our thoughts, feelings, and behavior to dispel that belief. The present volume takes the argument further. With equal emphasis on theory and practice, it illustrates how giving up one’s identity as a free-willing inner “I” can serve as a stepping stone to the state of enlightenment. To experience enlightenment, we have to go beyond self-realization, and that can happen only if we change the way we define ourselves. Given the ubiquitous value placed on the self in our Western culture, that is not an easy task. If the path to enlightenment can be envisioned as a trail leading to the top of a mountain, the self can be seen as a large rock blocking the way. To get to the top, we have to either blast our way through the rock or go around it. Most spiritual traditions opt for the latter. In Beyond Self-Realization, the author lays out a plan for blasting our way through. The plan consists of two steps: first, a gradual shrinking of the self-illusion and second, a total uprooting of the self-tree. The techniques used include meditation, contemplation, linguistic exercises, and group work, in which members look for signs that the self-illusion is present in their behavior. Once a sign is detected, the other techniques are brought to bear on removing the “rock.” When applied with persistence, the practice is designed to release one from the cage of quiet desperation, in which most of us are trapped. Once released, we are free to discover who we really are.

Celebrating 25 Years as a New York Times Bestseller — Over 16 Million Copies Sold It’s no wonder that The Power of Now has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, “the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Featuring a new preface by the author, this paperback shows that only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment.

A MASTERPIECE of illuminative writing, Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing is mandatory reading for anyone following a spiritual path. Part exposé and part how-to manual, this is the first book to explain why failure seems to be the rule in the search for enlightenment, and how the rule can be broken. :: Book One of Jed McKenna's Enlightenment Trilogy. Contains Bonus Material.

Reflexive Religion examines the rise of alternative spiritualities of the self in contemporary Brazil. Combining late modern theory and multi-site ethnographies of the New Age, it explains how religion is being transformed under globalization, reflexivity and individualism processes.

Whether we seek better health, soulful sexuality, wholesome relationships, inner peace, exquisite happiness, or material comfort, the solution is spiritual. Worldly limitations are caused by misalignment with inner virtue. When we are right in thought and action, all barriers fall away and life becomes legendary. But how do we embrace virtue in our challenging world? The Be Your Greatest Self guidebook debunks vast myths that prevent us from realizing our potential. It teaches how we embrace peace and bliss as our life experience. It also provides innovative strategies to heal our pasts and be our greatest selves. The uplifting book is a direct path to enlightenment; it redivines life, exchanging suffering for happiness. Follow this inspiring path and be physically, emotionally, and spiritually revitalized. Realize such overwhelming delight that you describe life with words such as "I'm blissfully happy and there's nothing I can do about it!" Learn the ancient wisdom and be your greatest self. Claim your legendary life. The Be Your Greatest Self guidebook is book 1 of a two book set in the Enlightening Strikes series. Advancement is optimized when it is combined with Be Your Greatest Self: Enhanced Personal Journal. Book #1 - Be Your Greatest Self: The Guidebook to Enlightenment and Realizing the Legendary Life Book #2 - Be Your Greatest Self: Enhanced Personal Journal About the writer: If you had a friend who traveled from hell to heaven and beyond, what would you ask? This has been the glorious life of Chris Terai. From homeless and lost to the richness of legendary life and a love wider than the sky, his adventure has been both vast and diverse. Among his gifts have been several conversations with divinity. Ask Chris what it is like to author this work and he'll tell you the wisdom is not his. It is instead, the essence of faith, knowledge of our one source, not the words of a man but the truth for all humanity. May the depth of what he shares redivine your life as it did his.