It’s that time of year…. We’re getting ready to go on vacation again. We’ve rented the same house on the beach and I cannot wait to sit on that ocean sand. In the Autumn I like vacations to be about activity, and since I love that time of year it is a great time for me to be busy. But in the summer… there is just nothing more spiritual then sitting on the sand and watching the sunrise and set each day. I am also thrilled to be loading up the car, packing up the dog to go along, and driving to the beach for 7 sunny days of being totally lazy. I even love the long car ride down.
Since we’ll be gone during the Summer Solstice I am packing my handy dandy mini travel altar with me. I have picked up several different ones on ebay and such because we’ve been traveling lots more the last few years. I have some cool stuff I gathered from various kits and pretty much put my own together. It all fits in a small wooden tarot box that I also use as the altar when traveling. I also take a mini tarot deck on every trip and my journal to document things. I can do a lot of reflection on my trips, and I am lucky enough that I can do them because going away is nothing short of ‘cleansing” for the soul.
It’s funny how a having a blog online where I talk myself through my own spirituality can inspire people to write to me an provoke great intellectual email chats. I have had some really great email exchanges with interesting people from all over the world about religion, tarot, or spirituality in general. I am always thankful that my blog attracts the type of people who want to take the time to write me for those things.
Last week I got an email from someone who wanted to talk about what it means to become “enlightened”. Or perhaps better stated, what is the difference between being “enlightened” and not being enlightened. It turned into a week long continuing email chat and was so interesting. Last night I dreamt that I needed to write about it. Some here I go.
Becoming enlightened is like having a moment where a sudden rush of answers hit and usually it happens without provoking it at all. Some truths we discover are universal, but many more are personal. For me, it didn’t occur during ritual or meditation, it has happened while driving my car, or in the shower, or while doing dishes. I wasn’t doing something “religious”. I wasn’t reading my tarot cards or opening chakras. I wasn’t even technically questioning anything at the moments they have hit the hardest.
A moment of enlightenment is profound. It’s not usually a situation where you ponder things and suddenly the answer appears. It happens because you have grown spiritually over time, and you finally become ready for the answers…. in order to grow more. Almost like a growth spurt if you will. You can’t plan for it. You can’t force it to happen by using tools to obtain it. Sure, they do happen too, but in my personal experience that happens much less often. The first time it happened to me I was 24 years old and it even scared me because I did not understand at that stage what it meant, or why it happened. Since then I have had more moments of enlightenment then I can count. Some are major, and big… some not so big, but nonetheless the answer appears. Some can be almost psychic moments too.
I have had situations where I “knew” something, I could feel it…. but not prove it and that would make me doubt myself. And like magic a week later the answer or proof would come to me without me seeking it out. I’m speaking in general and being vague because that happens so often to me, that it’s now impossible to name an experience. For a long time I considered that “luck” or “intuition”. But another moment of enlightenment has showed me that it wasn’t. For me, it’s part of the growth process and evidence to support my path. Spiritual growth usually means you don’t have to invoke or cause “change” to happen. I so dislike when things are said such as “you have to make a change” or that “change is necessary”. It’s just not a fact at all. (Think about nature. Plants, trees, and flowers all grow…. But you don’t keep moving them all over your yard and have them thrive. They grow best with deep roots) If you are enlightened and on the right path – you don’t have to make abrupt choices or changes. You don’t even get yourself into situations that would cause you to “make a change”. Life is a constant transition, but transitioning is like climbing a latter… one step at a time. Transitioning is working toward something, and having a purpose. Seeking or needing change in your life really indicates that you are not making choices or decisions for your own greater good.
You will see many transitions happen to your mind/thinking when you grow and become more enlightened. You become sharper, quicker, and you see through things that other people hide behind or even lie about to you. When you aren’t enlightened the mind plays tricks on you with games like paranoia, suspicion, hurt feelings, foggy thinking, making assumptions, and emotional outbursts. When you aren’t enlightened you commit things such as little white lies, or you don’t speak the truth upfront to others to avoid confrontation etc. When you are enlightened those things don’t seem necessary. Confrontation often really means “challenge” and being enlightened means you want to face those things head on. Or at the very least you are not afraid of them.
Being enlightened means you understand your physical body too. Your body may not be perfect by any means, but you accept it as it is. More importantly, you understand it. You know when you are ill, you know how to treat and handle that. You accept what you must, you also fight for what you must, and you do it without doubt or hesitation.
Being enlightened doesn’t make you special, but it does make you very different often then your friends or family. Those situations will definitely bring you conflicts too. The answers on how to handle that will come to you when you are enlightened. Each and every situation or person is different, and they will bring their personal issues to the table for you too. There is no standard rule on how to handle it.
There is also a tendency for people who are newly enlightened to become more critical of other people, or preachy, or even believing they can teach others. It’s a bit like being too excited and anxious. It can seem like you are doing the right thing, but it most likely isn’t unless you obtain educational skills. You can’t teach people HOW to become enlightened because you were. There is not a step by step plan, and handing someone all the answers never works out either. Each of us have a different method and path.
I cannot stress enough that you don’t have to be religious to be enlightened. Or you can follow any religion of choice. I am watching and communicating about enlightenment with a friend of mine who is not spiritual at all. I have known this woman for 25 years now and in the last 4 she has grown by leaps and bounds. Her path is 100% different then mine. I would never tell her what she needs, only she knows that… but it is extremely interesting watching her evolve for the better.
All philosophy teaches us that the meaning of life is knowledge. Through knowledge, we evolve. Through knowledge we obtain happiness, and balance. Through knowledge and intelligence we create. Through knowledge we develop technology and science.
Living solely for happiness isn’t logical, knowledge strives for far more details in the puzzle. If you consider yourself ‘at peace” then you aren’t advancing in knowledge.
Why or how is your life worth living? Much depends upon your career, and the things your contribute to the world which creates knowledge. How can you become a better person?
Grow as a person. Build your knowledge. Discover a use for what you know. Create something meaningful. Help others in some way. Anything more complex than that is ego driven.
Humans often lie to themselves believing that it is better to be the saint and “sacrifice” rather then the genius that shares their knowledge. Having the willpower to make sacrifices doesn’t make the world a better place. One person with a lot of willpower does not advance the willpower for anyone else. But a brilliant mind can advance many things.
Intelligence allows us to make better choices. The higher the intelligence the more likely the action will follow. Intelligence allows us to adapt to things, changes, situations, and even people. Being holy for the sake of being holy does not do good in the world, it only does something for that individual… the ego.
What they mean are pretty self explanatory. An Intention is one thing, but not the only thing. The Action may not reflect the intention. In that case, the Effects and Reactions (both yours and the other persons) have Consequences.
Most conflicts begin because of people having “perceived” notions, which could be one or more parties involved. You only need 1 party to do that to cause a whole drama. We get these perceived notions and excuses for our assumptions based on emotional reactions to situations. Our emotions can lie to us, therefore they are not always reliable. Emotion is often the culprit of conflict because we bring our own personal dramas to it. Our past experiences have a major influence on how we perceive people and situations, and if we are still not moving past those issues then we put them into every area of our life.
It’s very important to understand and know that conflicts are normal. How you react to a conflict is about you, and no one else. Being different from someone else or holding different opinions does not create conflict if a common and mutual goal exists. In other words, differences are not really the conflict.
How do you solve a conflict?
Use logic over emotions. Separate the facts from the feelings. What do you know? What can you SEE with your own two eyes? Confrontation. You can’t avoid it. Confrontation is not always a fight, it is standing up and saying what needs said without fear or excuse. It takes courage to confront people and tell them things you know they won’t like. It won’t make you popular. But it does make you honest. Negotiation. Conflict and confrontation must include negotiation and discussion about the facts, not the emotion. Collaboration. All of the parties involved need to agree to cooperate. Solutions. There is literally a solution to EVERY problem that exists, and if you can follow through to this point, then things can always be resolved. At this stage you have to literally go back to the beginning again: Intentions – Actions – Effects – Reactions – Consequences. If things break down again then it means that at least one party involved in the conflict did not follow through.
A witch can often be viewed as almost non-emotional about conflict. A witch is (hopefully) in better balance between logic and emotion. Of course a witch is emotional, but we have an easier time defining when emotions are appropriate, and what situations they fit in. A witch can often appear “detached” to an overly emotional person which isn’t the case at all. A witch IS able to detach emotions that is true, but it is because they have already mastered the skills needed to attain a balance within and without themselves.
I'm 38 years old, Italian, and I was a witch before I really knew what it meant. I have been devoted to Wicca as my path for over 13 years now. I consider myself an eclectic solitary non-fluffy bunny witch and I follow the Aridian Tradition of Stregheria.
I believe religion and spirituality are extremely personal and private, between you or me and our gods. I also believe that not every single moment in life is meant to be spiritual, I don't believe in "new age" pop psychology in my religion. I believe that there is a time and place to pay my bills, to have normal conversations with others, and to have moments even away from it. Too much over indulgence of any kind keeps us from facing our reality, and my reality is a part of the mundane world where my actions affect others. I keep religion a non-topic with the people I work with, or even with several friends that I have. For me, this is a more practical way to live a full and balanced life. I am, as they say, "in the broom closet" however; it is by choice.
I also believe that to know light, we must also know some darkness and all of us have some primal darkness buried deep inside. Denying it or hiding it means we are not experiencing our true selves. Buried within all of us is a core being that we never fully experience or show to others, and the traits of that core come out of us in small pieces.
