11/14/07

enlightenment doesn't = intellectual superiority

just as a highly developed intellect is not a requirement to realize the simple, natural truth of being, enlightenment doesn't mean that all of the sudden you understand everything.

you don't have to understand anything, in fact, with your mind to recognize truth, and you don't have to be enlightened to be an intellectual giant.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

intellect = cognitive stuff. enlightenment is more to do with an emotional outlook/attitude?

Anonymous said...

......and the two could be inhabiting a parallel universe or if one is lucky, an overlaping one.

nerodha said...

i have no idea about parallel or overlapping universes.

i wouldn't say that enlightenment (at least the way i understand it) has more to do with emotional stuff than intellectual stuff.

as i see it, enlightenment is something that is before, within, without, after, above, below, beyond, inside, outside, beside... mental and emotional events or any other event.

mental and emotional events happen within the context of truth. if your mind or emotions change, this has no effect on the truth.

one emotion or another or one mental outlook or another is not a prerequisite for experiencing this truth, or cannot be the causes that generate the effect of truth, because truth is already there and not the effect of anything.

Anonymous said...

the lower the ego the lower the obstacle to enlightenment?

ego is there to protect us emotionally.

it has no particular link with the size of our intellect. i think!

nerodha said...

i agree that we hide in ego because we think we need to protect ourselves.