Enlightenment Intensive: Who Am I: Pondering the Conundrum

Who Am I: Pondering the Conundrum

Pondering the existential conundrum, 'who am I' is a part time interest for some but a full time occupation for many others. Some of the great thinkers and sincere seekers of truth born on planet earth over the last several thousand years have been pondering this conundrum. And though the self reflective questioning 'who am I' has been undertaken by many whose names we may recognize because they have left their mark on literature, science, spirituality, theology or philosophy, there are many more not-so-great-or-famous individuals who have held that noble self reflection close to their heart.

Today we are most certainly living in a Renaissance of Awakening Heart and Mind. There are more people than ever interested in personal growth and spiritual reality than ever before. This is occurring not only in the English speaking world but throughout modern western influenced societies. Google the word 'spirituality' and you'll get 129 million hits. Google the word 'enlightenment' and you'll get 34 million hits.

The Enlightenment Intensive with its contemplative focus on uncovering / discovering what has been called the non-dual SELF is one of those personal growth tools and spiritual development methods that has been embraced by a world wide community of seekers. The Enlightenment Intensive can be found in dozens of countries beyond Australia. England, France, Yugoslavia, Germany, India, America, Indonesia, Canada, Iceland, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico and more have their own Enlightenment Intensive communities.

Charles Berner

Charles Berner
The Originator of the Enlightenment Intensive

The first Enlightenment Intensive was held in 1968. And it's been going strong and growing stronger ever since. I remember talking with Charles Berner, the man who created the Enlightenment Intensive, Charles was saying that if the Enlightenment Intensive is still part of spiritual practice after one hundred years, then it will have made its mark on the history of self discovery. Of course, for those of us who have participated in an Enlightenment Intensive and have come to experience its rewards directly then it has already left its mark.

Enlightenment is the direct knowing of your true self.

The moment of enlightenment or realizing who you actually are is like waking up from a dream that you didn't know you were dreaming. And when you wake up from that dream ...you find other people around you are still dreaming even as they go about their daily life. It's like they are sleep walking and they don't know they're in a state of dream. And you too didn't know it either until you awoke because the moment before you awoke from the dream into the Enlightened or awakened state, you too were sleep walking but weren't consciously aware of it.

Are you dreaming your way through life and don't even know
you are sleep walking?

Here's the experience of a sleep walker who awoke. He wrote this to me following an Enlightenment Intensive: "Its slippery, this sense of myself, like a super particle, it can shift from one place to another. I chased it like a cat chasing a ball on a string. And when I grabbed it, the embrace was only for millisecond.
"And I realised that I AM HERE! I am here and there is no better company than my self! I had no choice but to giggle. My body moved automatically to show its gratitude to the world. My eyes widened. My mouth slipped into a smile. My muscles relaxed and I felt light. And I felt a desire to give my love to others. To bring light to them. I felt like I could connect with any soul on the planet. And connect so deeply, that the other would be injected with my wonderment and joy."

Another past participants of the Enlightenment Intensive wrote, "It's like I've awoken from a dream. My life has changed dramatically. I met ME, the true me, for the first time. Now I just enjoy every moment that I have and I am grateful to share the truth of me with all living things. All my relationships have improved, especially with my family."

The experience of waking from a dream is not an uncommon way of expressing the shift in consciousness from the un-enlightened state to the enlightened state. It is a profound experience that puts you firmly on a path toward changing your life for the better. It inspires you to improve your life and the way yo relate to the world and those around you.

Dr David Hawkins

David Hawkins, a psychiatrist and modern spiritual adventurer has written several books on consciousness. In his book, The Eye of the I, Hawkins writes that it's "as though one had forgotten and now awakened from a dream. All fears are revealed to be groundless; all sorrows are foolish imaginings. There is no future to fear nor past to regret. There is no errant ego self to admonish or correct. There is nothing that needs changing or bettering. there is nothing about which to feel ashamed or guilty. There is no 'other' from which one can be separated. No loss is possible. Nothing needs to be done, no effort is required, and one ifs free from the endless tug of desire and want."

Chuang Tzu

The Chinese Taoist sage, ChuangTzu, also used the metaphor of a dream 2500 years ago in an effort to communicate his experience and understanding of Reality. He explained that he had a dream in which he experienced himself as a butterfly flittering here and there. He had no conscious awareness of himself as ChuangTzu in the dream. When he suddenly awoke, he found himself not a butterfly, but ChuangTzu. He wondered. "Am I a butterfly dreaming I am a ChuangTzu? Or am I ChuangTzu dreaming I am a butterfly. During our dreams", he wrote, "we don't know we are dreaming. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. And only after the Great Awakening will we realize that this is the great dream."

The spiritual renaissance that is bursting forth and flowing into and through popular culture is found in today's Hollywood movies. Here's a few of the many movie titles that weave the metaphor of the dream with stories of spiritual awakening: Inception; The Matrix; Vanilla Sky; What Dreams May Come; Peaceful Warrior

Now instead of me continuing to wax lyrical singing the beneficial praises of enlightenment and the Enlightenment Intensive, here are two things you can actually do to gain more ability and capacity to recognise and hold the truth of who and what you are.

Who Am I
Meditation Exercise

1 SELF INQUIRY
The exercise is simple. Stay open to knowing who you are by setting your intention to stay open to your true self. Do this during the course of your ordinary daily activities. It may be while you are walking down the street, or waiting in a queue or driving to work, exercising or washing the dishes. Do it every day, several times each day. Holding the meditative intention, 'who am I' in your daily life aligns you to truth and reality and with tens of thousands of individuals who have pondered this conundrum for millennia.

In modern times, the 20th Century spiritual teacher, Ramana Maharshi, persistently encouraged others to self inquire, who am I.

He said, "By inquiring 'Who am I?'. The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts, and like a stick used for stirring the burning funeral pyre, it will itself, in the end get destroyed. Then, Self-realization will arise."

Self inquiry is the main focus at an Enlightenment Intensive. One of the jargon phrases that is used at an Enlightenment Intensive is to "continue contemplating." That jargon phrase means to continue staying conscious of who you are. It is not an intellectual process or 'thinking' about who you are. It is being open or conscious of who you are.

So in this exercise you are to find a moment, in fact, find many moments during your day, when you consciously choose to be open to directly knowing your true self. It is a simple exercise that has profound results.

2. SPIRITUAL JOURNAL
Continue writing in your spiritual journal.

3. Watch the Youtube video