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Enlightenment
United Communities of Spirit
Enlightenment means dispelling the darkness of ignorance.
Enlightenment is the primary term used to describe the experience of
salvation in Hinduism and Buddhism, yet the experience of enlightenment is
common to most religions. According to the manner in which Reality is
perceived in the different traditions, enlightenment may be either the
intuitive grasping of inner wisdom, illumination by the truth of the Word,
or direct apprehension of transcendent Reality. The true self, formerly
obscured by false habits of thinking and vain desires, is suddenly
revealed. The inner eye, which was blinded by defilements of worldly
living, opens to a vision of the true Reality. From that moment life can
never be the same, as the enlightened person begins to live by the
knowledge he has acquired.
The first group of passages [provided on the site] compares God or God's word to a light
that shines into the soul. Second are passages which describe
enlightenment as inner knowledge, opening the inner eye or the 'eye of the
heart.' It is recognizing one's Original Mind, pp. 217-23. Third, we
have passages on enlightenment as knowing God, the eternal source of
truth. The concluding passage describes one experience of enlightenment:
a sudden apprehension of a new gestalt, a quantum leap in thinking, a
powerful conversion.
Interfaith passages at: origin.org/ucs/ws/theme071.cfm
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