I’ve been thinking about the eastern concept of enlightenment lately and it’s brought to mind an old read. A few years back I read Jed McKenna’s Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing and in it he proffers his take on what enlightenment really is. It’s not a mystical union with the all-soul, or a blissed out oneness, it’s simply a realization. The realization that life as we know it is just a game, a ride, a rollercoaster if you will. It has it’s ups and downs and can be both exciting and terrifying.
Enlightenment is coming to the realization that life is just the rollercoaster and in realizing this we flatten the ride. No more ups and downs. No more excitement or fear. It all just “is.” But in the end, we are all destined to leave the carnival, so is it worth chasing this non-duality just to ruin the fun while we’re here?
If “all the world’s a stage” then isn’t playing our part the actual meaning of it all? Are we supposed to leave the Matrix early if we’re all destined to die and leave it anyway? In other words, is enlightenment and non-duality just a form of toxic spirituality ruining the fun?
For me I guess it all comes down to whether a given spirituality is life affirming or life denying. If Jed’s take is correct, and it feels reasonable, then chasing enlightenment feels pretty life denying to me. As always, happy to be proven wrong about this.