Saturday in Circle we were studying the 4th Interior Star - the heart. We ended up talking about enlightenment and what it means to be realized. It was a great discussion.
As many of you know, the point of the Sophian Tradition is enlightenment and liberation of all beings. This is our end goal - not by conversion, but by our own path and being there spiritually and physically for others. Enlightenment is somewhat catchy because as more become enlightened, the easier it is for more and more beings to be affected.
One of the things that is really important to understand is that we are already realized beings - we have already have unity with God and pure spirit, but we just haven't actualized it because of the illusion of separation. It is this separation that gives us individuality and ego, but also the thing we must eventually break through to remember who and what we trully are.
Something else that is extremely important is to understand that we do not become someone else when we are enlightened. We have this misconception of an enlightened being having no emotions, wearing all white, and sitting in a lotus position in a cave. This is not the reality and something we need to disengage from. It keeps us believing that we can never reach this state. Enlightenment is actually a process of becoming; an unfolding of onesself. We actually become MORE of ourselves, not less. We lose the facad that is created by fear, anger, and separation to become who we trully are in God.
The key is to join everything to the Heart. Practice meditation, study, but most importantly love. Learn to love yourself and others unconditionally and try to put that first and foremost in everything you think an do. I'm not saying this is easy, but it is the road to your true nature and eventually enlightenment.
Blessings!
+Yonah
