What Does A Real Spiritual Enlightenment Feel Like?

10 years ago I woke up.

I wasn’t handed a letter of congratulation or saw any flashes of light.

I did, however, have a beautiful moment that brought me to tears. That moment was the beginning of my journey into experiencing life, as it is.

“Enlightenment” is not as you think it is. It is amazing and yet the simplest occurrence.

I am no priest, guru, or master. I am you.

How Enlightenment Actually Feels Like

When I was 18 I was casually reading some stuff online and I read a question.

It was fairly simple:

“Are you your next thought? Are you thinking or is just thinking just occurring?”

I pondered for a few seconds and it felt like a “click” inside the mind had gone off. Initially, I didn’t feel anything and moved on.

The next few days I started to feel a shift in my perception, it almost felt like I had started experiencing delusions.

Then, boom, it hit me.

It felt like I had found the secret to life itself. It was incredible, to say the least. (And still is!)

It felt strange and yet, familiar. I had returned the source of love, from which I had never left. I had realized that “I” was not separate and recognized the connection with every atom in the universe.

I never even took a second to think about my “spiritual path” or “releasing the ego”. To tell you the truth, I was more interested in playing video games at the time, but that’s the thing right?

Life doesn’t care if you are ready or not, if you’re brave enough to face your true nature you will awaken.

Life started to feel as a movie was being watched. There was no observer any longer, no “I” to attach to.

It was simply consciousness experiencing itself as it is. That’s what enlightenment is. Seeing through the delusions of control and returning to a perspective of observation occurring, with no observer insight.

My Spiritual Enlightenment Experience

After the first taste of spiritual enlightenment, all that joy, happiness, and bliss started to fall away.

Enlightenment put up a mirror for me to see. Reflected were all of my internal struggles, doubts, and thought patterns that were not destroyed when I had woken up. Work is still required unless you are the lucky few that have an instantaneous, full, enlightenment.

I dropped out of college and sunk deeper into depression for what felt like an eternity. Peace was still within, and yet I couldn’t escape from the blanket of heavy emotions that were following my every move. I felt void of any self-love.

My enlightenment was rather destructive as my ego hadn’t entirely left me during the initial awakening. It took years of meditation and self-care to start letting go of my previous identity structures.

How Does an Enlightened Person Live?

I’ve been awake for 10 years. It’s difficult to remember how it was before. It did truly feel as if I woke from a dream.

Can you recall every instance of every dream you’ve once had?

I don’t think about it that often, how long it’s been or what it was like before.

What I do know now is that the mind can be so, so quiet. Living happens on its own. I do not think about what I will do during the day, the day lives through me.

Imagine your mind is like a forest. Inside that forest, there are many different plants, animals, insects that move around and create noise. Those are your thoughts.

What happens in between all the life moving about?

Silence.

It’s just silence. You come to understand that you don’t need to be thinking all the time and that thinking is rather a tool that is utilized throughout our waking period. For most people, it’s the other way around, constant thinking and never any silence.

While it is silent I still some days feel “sad”. It is a bit of a misunderstanding though because “sad” for me is the same as “happy”. It’s all the same, it’s all on one spectrum. You can’t have one without the other. Yin and Yang.

I go with the flow. I understand to not ask questions. I let life LIVE through ME. I don’t live life myself. There isn’t anyone here inside of the mind, it’s space watching life being lived.

I tend to not worry about things and it drives most people nuts. It’s actually quite comical if you’ve ever been in a relationship with a control freak and you’re the polar opposite. It’ll drive them mad at how carefree you can be.

Does Spiritual Enlightenment Bring You Closer to God?

God is a funny word. Is God a character human beings came up with or is it the all encapsulating feeling that has birthed the universe and beyond?

Regardless, the awareness that is experienced within this consciousness is able to be experienced by any human on this planet. I am no different.

Everyone and everything was born from the source, the void of humanity, and returns back to where it came from.

I wouldn’t say that anyone who has awakened has any special powers, in fact, they don’t have anything at all. Awareness doesn’t speak, it just is. The state of spiritual enlightenment is not hidden knowledge, it’s the true nature of reality.

Moving Forward

That’s really it, you know. Living a normal life and trying to help people. Chop wood, carry water. It’s the same before and it’s the same after, only with a different perspective.

My awakening has given me tools that I must give back to the world and that’s why I’m writing this blog, to finally help people.

What is your real purpose in life? You’re reading this, so I’m sure you’re interested in spirituality. It might be ready to start your spiritual journey if you haven’t already.

About Roy Cohen

Hi there! I'm the founder of Claiming Clarity. My passion in life is helping people live better. If you'd like to learn more, check out the about page.

2 thoughts on “What Does A Real Spiritual Enlightenment Feel Like?”

  1. Thanks for putting the time and effort into writing this article. I feel like I am on the same path. Two and a half years ago I woke up. Life felt like I had the blinkers on until that day. Life is very peculiar when you don’t take it for granted anymore, and I try not to grasp it. I think that can be a huge obstacle for many, trying to use their mind to grasp the world around them. I suppose that is impossible because that would mean using already preconceived notions of the world, or using labels and symbols to define things that just cannot be explained with language.

    I am not enlightened whatsoever, actually life seems pretty tough at the moment, but that’s the fun of it right now. I definitely see that sadness is not negative anymore, and just a part of the spectrum of being. To feel sad means you must know what happiness feels like.

    If I were to give a feeling of what enlightenment feels like, it’s as if the world is a perfectly synchronised dance. The birds, the trees and the wind, blades of grass, people, the sun reflecting off a lake. It’s a hard one to describe, but it certainly feels like life is a show that is being put on display.

    Reply
    • Hey Daniel, thank you so much for stopping by!

      To be honest with you, I don’t entirely like the word “enlightenment”. It comes off as something to be gained, but the truth is the only thing that’s happening is seeing through the illusion of self. For most, they won’t be fully free of their past conditioning even after awakening. I’m not 100 percent free of conditioning and won’t pretend to be. I also have difficulties in my life! It’s not as easy as the word makes it seem :).

      And you’re right, the entire thing has to be seen through a different lens of reality that most aren’t accustomed to seeing. It’s difficult because we’ve grown to perceive through our logical mind, and to unlearn how you think takes a while. That’s why I hardly talk about it in real life because it’s not something you want to drop out of the blue on someone’s head!

      You know, the more I grow, the more I realize that all of this doesn’t really matter. Even after seeing through the illusion, life still goes on. You’re still human. Pain, love, death, etc. It’s all apart of the human experience. Seeing the true nature of reality doesn’t suddenly make you more than human – if anything you’ll be more in touch than you were before.

      I hope that your journey is easy on you. The past year has been rough not just on myself but for everyone involved.

      Reply

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