How to Deal with Enlightened Beings

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I Like It!

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I don’t know anyone personally who claims to be enlightened, but I’ve certainly come across plenty of written accounts of people who say they are awake to the ultimate truth. My reaction to such claims is always one of skepticism. I won’t just dismiss what they have to say outright, but it puts my bullshit radar on high alert.

I believe that there is ultimate truth out there, but I’m not convinced that any human has ever experienced this truth– I’m not even sure if it is possible for a human to experience it directly. I can never be sure, but my gut reaction is that people who claim to be enlightened are either deluded or lying.

The Problem with Enlightenment

I can’t understand how anyone who can claim to be 100% certain about anything, but this is what enlightened people are claiming. They believe that they have seen the truth and that anything other than this is a lie. By this admission, the person is saying that they were once deluded but now they are free of delusion. What I don’t get is why these people never seem to consider the possibility that they have left one delusion only to enter a more convincing delusion. If the universe has fooled these people once, why can’t the universe fool them again? I suppose the fact that these guys are so utterly convinced may mean that they have seen the truth, or it could mean that they are more trapped in delusion than they ever were. How can the rest of us tell which of these scenarios is the right one?

It could be that enlightenment is a clever trap. The person who has achieved this state may have spent years working towards it. They have then taking the huge step of proclaiming to the world that they see the truth that nobody else around them can see. If the person later begins to question this realisation, how likely are they to publicly admit that they were wrong? How likely are they to tell their students that it has been a case of the blind leading the blind? My guess is that the majority of them would never admit to such doubts, even to themselves, and this is why enlightenment could be a clever trap. Admitting that you have awakened to the delusion of reality means you are a spiritual warrior, but to admit that you have awoken to the delusion of your enlightenment is a bit embarrassing – not even worth considering.

The thing is that it is way too easy for people to claim enlightenment – especially for the non-duality crowd. All you have to do is learn a few buzz words, and speak in very vague terms about what you have experienced – the vaguer the better it seems. If anyone questions your enlightenment, there is no need to provide any proof because there is no proof. We don’t have a quality control watchdog for enlightened beings. Again, I’m not saying that these people are all frauds, but there is no way for me to tell if they are or not.

How to Deal with Enlightened Beings

In a recent post I discussed my enjoyment of the books of Jed McKenna. He does claim to be enlightened, but I don’t take this claim too seriously. There is just no way for me to tell, but I’d be surprised if it turns out that he is enlightened. I see Jed as a type of spiritual entertainer (I believe Alan Watts invented this term to describe himself), and so I take everything he says with a pinch of salt. One of the most powerful lesson he provides is that we need to keep pushing further – for me this means an endless battle against my beliefs – I fear that by claiming enlightenment, Jed has ignored his own advice, but who knows. I like his books but not because I believe he is enlightened.

It could well be that I’m the idiot for not throwing myself at the feet of the local enlightened guru. That is just not the path that I choose to follow. I’m convinced that all the answers I need will find there way to me – and these answers are as likley to come from the local som tam seller, as they are from a spiritual master. I’m interested in what the enlightened people have to say, but I no longer approach these people looking for answers or in the hope that they can fix me. The best they have to offer me is their words, but if words were all that were needed, we’d all live a perfect life already.