Hellbreaker Exclusive!! ---Enlightenment Is Dead!
Spiritual Enlightenment is dead. Haven’t you heard? It had a long life but it finally expired, leaving us a bit sad but mightily unburdened.
Enlightenment lived a long time. We are not sure just how long. Sources say it was born in the East somewhere around the time of Buddha or the Upanishads, some 2500 to 3000 years ago. When that other enlightenment—the one of Locke, Descartes and Newton—finally kicked the bucket in the 20th century (at only several hundred years of age), the old Enlightenment, our recently expired friend, waited respectfully for a short period of mourning, and then moved in to fill the gap.
Some mourn Enlightenment’s passing, but let’s face it. Enlightenment was in bad health for a long time. Finding itself defenseless and weakened by illness and disappointment, pretenders, toadies and sycophants misused it. Everyone dropped its name to buy themselves influence and fame. Some claimed they were its only friends, even though Enlightenment didn’t know them. They wrote bad checks on Enlightenment’s account, and enlightenment got a reputation it could never live down.
When Enlightenment withdrew, so that no one could find it, many produced an imposter and called it by the same name. When they would sit in front of the hopeful and talk about it, some would say Enlightenment was there. They would see a radiance and feel a presence, not knowing that that was not Enlightenment, but only the reflection of their own desire and expectation. Some would even say that the reflection of one’s own desire is Enlightenment, but Enlightenment would have none of it, and made itself scarce from such domains. When the radiance and the feeling would subside, folks would try to explain this in creative ways, but no one could really come up with an answer as to how Enlightenment, once there, could just disappear without a trace.
When Enlightenment heard of such goings on it just got sicker. Beset with a bad cough, misused, abandoned, misunderstood, and alone in its rented room, Enlightenment finally gave up the ghost. How sad.
Or is it sad? Enlightenment was a bit of a burden, after all. Fickle, promiscuous, yet haughty, you never knew who it would bestow its favors on. Some who worked so hard to be loved by it never had a visit. Others, who seemed as though they couldn’t care less, won its devotion. What kind of friend is that?
In the end we all felt that nothing we could do was good enough. Despite our best efforts, Enlightenment never came calling. We looked everywhere, but Enlightenment hid its face. We grew bored and listless with life as it was, yet our hope for Enlightenment was never fulfilled. We thought we saw it, but it was just a mirage. We came to suspect Enlightenment was a phony. Enlightenment was playing games with us! The game wasn’t fun. It spoiled our appetites and disturbed our sleep. If you ask me, Enlightenment got what it deserved, and we’re better off without it!
When God died, it took awhile for most folks to realize. He was absent so much of the time that his death almost went unnoticed. Our friend Nietzsche had the good taste to let us in on God’s demise, and to suggest that not only might this not be a cause for grief, but it should be an occasion for joy. With God dead, Life could live, unburdened by something that worried and detested it. But then Enlightenment came over, and, filling God’s shoes, gave Life a good kick! Now that Enlightenment has finally kicked its last and kicked the bucket, Life can breathe freely again.
Let’s not mourn Enlightenment’s passing, after all. Let us instead have a wake, with drink and dance, and song, and a jolly good time!
Enlightenment lived a long time. We are not sure just how long. Sources say it was born in the East somewhere around the time of Buddha or the Upanishads, some 2500 to 3000 years ago. When that other enlightenment—the one of Locke, Descartes and Newton—finally kicked the bucket in the 20th century (at only several hundred years of age), the old Enlightenment, our recently expired friend, waited respectfully for a short period of mourning, and then moved in to fill the gap.
Some mourn Enlightenment’s passing, but let’s face it. Enlightenment was in bad health for a long time. Finding itself defenseless and weakened by illness and disappointment, pretenders, toadies and sycophants misused it. Everyone dropped its name to buy themselves influence and fame. Some claimed they were its only friends, even though Enlightenment didn’t know them. They wrote bad checks on Enlightenment’s account, and enlightenment got a reputation it could never live down.
When Enlightenment withdrew, so that no one could find it, many produced an imposter and called it by the same name. When they would sit in front of the hopeful and talk about it, some would say Enlightenment was there. They would see a radiance and feel a presence, not knowing that that was not Enlightenment, but only the reflection of their own desire and expectation. Some would even say that the reflection of one’s own desire is Enlightenment, but Enlightenment would have none of it, and made itself scarce from such domains. When the radiance and the feeling would subside, folks would try to explain this in creative ways, but no one could really come up with an answer as to how Enlightenment, once there, could just disappear without a trace.
When Enlightenment heard of such goings on it just got sicker. Beset with a bad cough, misused, abandoned, misunderstood, and alone in its rented room, Enlightenment finally gave up the ghost. How sad.
Or is it sad? Enlightenment was a bit of a burden, after all. Fickle, promiscuous, yet haughty, you never knew who it would bestow its favors on. Some who worked so hard to be loved by it never had a visit. Others, who seemed as though they couldn’t care less, won its devotion. What kind of friend is that?
In the end we all felt that nothing we could do was good enough. Despite our best efforts, Enlightenment never came calling. We looked everywhere, but Enlightenment hid its face. We grew bored and listless with life as it was, yet our hope for Enlightenment was never fulfilled. We thought we saw it, but it was just a mirage. We came to suspect Enlightenment was a phony. Enlightenment was playing games with us! The game wasn’t fun. It spoiled our appetites and disturbed our sleep. If you ask me, Enlightenment got what it deserved, and we’re better off without it!
When God died, it took awhile for most folks to realize. He was absent so much of the time that his death almost went unnoticed. Our friend Nietzsche had the good taste to let us in on God’s demise, and to suggest that not only might this not be a cause for grief, but it should be an occasion for joy. With God dead, Life could live, unburdened by something that worried and detested it. But then Enlightenment came over, and, filling God’s shoes, gave Life a good kick! Now that Enlightenment has finally kicked its last and kicked the bucket, Life can breathe freely again.
Let’s not mourn Enlightenment’s passing, after all. Let us instead have a wake, with drink and dance, and song, and a jolly good time!
posted by laffnowl at 11:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home