Pathways of Enlightenment

Enlightenment is the process of becoming light.
It’s a fickle subject with a lengthy history.
It can be difficult to speak about enlightenment because there is no clear definition that spans across all cultures. For some, Enlightenment is a title of an individual who has attained a certain level of embodied realization. But, then the confusion comes in as we must ask, just who is capable of bestowing this title upon themselves or another.

There are certain traditions that assert that their lineage and its unbroken chain is the only path to true enlightenment -or we may say salvation here-. Further, many traditions maintain that we are all enlightened at a certain level, or one can say, we have a Buddha Nature, and it is just that we don’t always act in accordance with our highest level of realization. There is much more than can be spoken to here about higher guides, ascended masters, samadhi, salvation, and a more in-depth analysis of what individual sects and traditions believe. But, my position here is not to create a complete expose of enlightenment history and the various schools; rather, I’m going to offer brevity and a general introduction to ideas so that you may consider what feels true for you. There is a certain risk when being brief on such in depth matters such as these, especially when speaking about the ideas and beliefs of other individuals, so please note that I am a human with a perspective, that is, like you, trying to figure out this great mystery – if it can even be figured out. So then, please drop into your contemplative awareness, and let us explore the journey of enlightenment and the many insights we can glean in our time together.

What is the process of Enlightenment?

Well……… once again, it’s hard to define it in a way that spans all cultures. But, let me try and build a practical pathway.

The enlightenment journey is the recognition that on a fundamental level the reality is made of vibration and light. Which is well documented scientifically at this point in history. Which means that at a certain level of analysis, we are all made of light, and we are light beings.

The light of the universe has different levels of vibration which give rise to different densities. The light can be more condensed or spread apart. There are lower dimensions and higher dimensions – lower does not denote lesser or anything derogatory here, we are all of the same light, it is all one…lower dimensions simply refer to a more stable manifestation of light. The realm of the earth, wind, water, and fire, which is our planet, and a part of our being, is a low density manifestation of light.

It is important to mention here, you are a fractal of the universe, and the same schematic of the universe is represented in all layers of your being. The ancient phrase, as above, so below expresses this most succinctly.

There are several ways of dividing the dimensions of light, but eventually we arrive at a 3-dimensional manifestation, – the humans on this planet all operate at this level (and higher levels).
What happens as one moves into higher densities of light? For one, their individual unit of consciousness begins to hold more light within it. So then, all light comes from one source, including the sun that maintains our planet, but, just as important as the sun is for survival, as is your connection to the light within -which is affectionately called the ‘light of a thousand suns’ by some. As an individual unit of consciousness, we can only know the sun’s light in a limited number of ways, we can’t even stare at it directly at it. But, the light within, that is the light for which we can find ourselves.

This journey into the light, is enlightenment, it is the pathway to knowing the True Self, our True nature, it is to know God, to be saved…it has many names and expressions, some seemingly contradictory to one another at certain levels of analysis.
The True Self is often written with a capital “S” to denote it as being a more inclusive way of speaking about the Self, as containing the whole universe…as opposed to the small self, which is your individual identity which is tied to your mindbody – note small self here is also not a derogatory term, or referring to anything lesser, we are all one light.

The journey of evolution in terms of enlightenment is to evolve through the various densities of light, to know the Self, and to embody more of the Light.

A few quick pieces:

You are consciousness. This consciousness is pure awareness. At its essence, it is one with the Light. However, we don’t always experience our consciousness as being pure awareness and light because much of our conscious awareness at a certain level of evolution is tied in with our individual and separate mind and body. As expressed, this is a certain level of evolution, which has a certain number of lessons tied to it, and when those are learned and when your individual unit of consciousness is ready it will expand itself and begin to transcend the limitations of mind and body.

For many individuals, they have realized their True Nature through an experience they had, perhaps organically, perhaps on a plant medicine. Because our consciousness is attached, but not tied to our mindbody, it can traverse the various densities of light (which also includes transcending time and space) and experience itself at various levels of its own evolution. Well, consciousness can experience itself as anyone, at any level of their evolution. And because the nature of the universe is not as linear as we perceive it in 3-deimensions, all realities, timelines, and futures are all happening simultaneously…we truly have access to everything we need to know at any moment.

For those individuals who have experienced and realised their True Nature, and they have chosen to pursue this pathway of the light, it will change their direction in life. Before, they may have been very much of the world, meaning their values and dreams, and intentions all had to do with worldly affairs, culture, and family.

The decisions to follow the path of their True Nature begins a process of refining their consciousness, loosening their attachments, letting go of desires, healing karma, trauma, and previous conditioning that keeps their mindbody from acting in unconscious and in a direction that is unfruitful for their new destination and goal. – note: this does not necessarily mean they will lose connection to their family, culture, worldly affairs, though some do.

I will say, there comes a point when enough of the mindbody karma and trauma has been healed, and the dedication of the individual unit of consciousness is confirmed to be orientated towards the light within and helping others (which is opposite of seeking outside of oneself, for oneself), where they will wreach a dimensional shift, which will alter perception, and the DNA at a fundamental level, which I will call the 1st level of enlightenment.

Before this point, enlightenment was far off, and it was an effortful process to orientate to, or to show up to whatever spiritual path or practices you had been working with. But then, it’s like someone pulled the plug on the sink and all that karma and the process of releasing becomes accelerated. I like the metaphor of the sink being plugged, it works for some, but not for everyone, because everyone moves at different rates and has their own experience. But, for myself, it was as though I was efforting efforting efforting, and after one breakthrough expansion, it was no longer a doing, but a more effortless process of being, there was no shrinking back to the small self, the bondage and barrier was broken and my consciousness was freed.…but still, all the release, and the water draining at an increased rate was a wild ride. It was no longer an effort to raise my vibration, my process turned into one of just trying to hold on and stay grounded as lifetimes of blocked energy would leave the body, and my consciousness began to free itself, finding new expression, new desires, new loves, new ideas…it was a chaotic period, as well as dismantling, fragile, and empowering.

When one’s consciousness has transcended the 3rd dimension they open their awareness to new realities. At a fundamental level, their being is different, and evolving, as is their understanding of the cosmos and their particular path. When one transcends their personal reality, their life becomes more inclined towards service to the all, and thus, their new mission in life becomes centered around understanding the spirit of all things, developing their gifts to offer, and living in harmony with all things – internal and external.

Note: there are ways in which to develop and embody more light and with that comes power, and this power can be used selfishly and to serve the self.
Note: Some individuals don’t merely transcend to the next level of enlightenment when they receive their on-off dimensions shift, they may move up several octaves – depending on several factors, such as their previous lifetimes of spiritual evolution. Individuals who reached a higher level of enlightenment in a previous lifetime will often become interested in spirituality early on, or even choose a traumatic or challenging home, to initiate the appropriate catalyst to wake themselves back up, and they may leap back to where they were in previous life, and then continue the work from there.

In discussing the various densities of embodying light it is important to understand the process is one of becoming one with the Source Light, or the divine. In that process, one loses their individual identity, and begins to take part in the hand of God, so to speak. That comes with knowledge, wisdom, power, capacity, and creativity.

The next few densities of light imbue an individual with the capacity to think thoughts (intentions), and call them into manifestation. At a certain level, this means if you have a project you are planning, you can speak it, trust it, repeat it, and it will manifest. At another level, you an speak the words of healing, and your body, or another’s body will become healed.

So then, now that we have gotten this far, we can create a malleable and practical definition of enlightenment, and what the process entails.
Enlightenment is the process of embodying more light, and becoming realized in one’s true nature, and expressing their authentic Self. The embodiment is key. Many realize their true nature or have had experiences, and they have yet to fully embody their divinity. True wisdom is that which we are capable of embodying, rather than preaching or speaking about.
But, I don’t want to get too far into the conversation of who is enlightened, because on a fundamental level, we are already our fully evolved and enlightened self. If one is seeking out a teacher, then yes, it can be important to assess their degree of enlightenment to discern whether they are a good fit for your path. But, most of the conversation surrounding “is this so-and-so enlightened’ or the self judgements of “am I enlightened”, and “how enlightened am I?” are just that, judgements of the small self who wants to create a dualistic scenario, or to create a hierarchy so it can determine its or another’s worth and ranking. Which is absurd when you consider that all realties are happening at once, and time is cyclical and not linear, and we are one.

The conversations I love to hear involve a simple checking in with one’s highest Self, and determining where they are at, and where they need to go. Not in relationship to a timeline of needing to get somewhere to achieve the goal of enlightenment, or needing to place oneself on the hierarchy. As above, so below, it is our mind that is being projected inward and outward to create our perception of self and other.
The higher teachings of enlightenment involve spiritual values, such as love, truth, and gratitude. This seems like a good place to pause for part 1.

An encouragement to reflect on what was written here and connect with yourself and your path.

Are you on the path of enlightenment?
What lessons are you learning right now?
What are your Values?
Are you stuck anywhere?
Do you work with higher guides?
What is your relationship to spirit – your breath?

Many blessings.
Aya.