Open Enlightenment

Fantastic. Just finished reading it, and so far the most useful piece of information is the way you’ve distinguished “mystical experiences” from “enlightenment.”

Not that the rest of the book isn’t useful as well, mind you, but I was familiar with most of the other content from your writings here and on The Baptist’s Head.

I’m also curious as to how you think the enlightenment model fits in with more shamanic-oriented traditions (as well as African and Caribbean models), because I think that there’s a LOT more going on there than simply making sacrifices to propitiate spirits (or “insectoid parasites,” as some may prefer) for material gain. Are those types of practices inherently without “enlightenment” potential, or is it simply that it’s not discussed (or that if it is discussed, that the maps don’t correspond easily enough to those of the axial traditions)?

@infinitywaltz:

I was wondering the same thing. I’ve heard Shinzen Young express his affinity for the various ancient shamanic traditions, referring to them as, “The Old Religion.” It seems likely that enlightenment became a discovery of humanity long before the Axial Age. This in no way detracts from the central thesis of the ebook, but I think the subject worthy of future inquiry.

Great book, Alan!

Before the Axial Age there were traditions or religions that sound like they are describing an immanent, transcendental divinity, but if so, any influence of a direct, personal experience of this divinity – which is clearly seen in the great transformation of the Axial Age – on tribal culture or civilisation was loooong lost by the time the Axial Age rolled round, as I believe it is with most of the extant shamanic traditions today.

I have some experience with the African diaspora, and I had the great pleasure of interviewing an initiate of a number of the African traditions with a view to discovering exactly what you are asking here:

http://www.thebaptistshead.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=244&Itemid=32

Sadly, if it ever was there, I’m more than convinced that it is no longer (especially in light of the behaviour of many of the practitioners of these traditions).

I’ve taken many entheogens within a ritual context, and I’ve also interviewed associates of Peruvian ayahuascaras only to discover that enlightenment or mystical experiences are simply not the purpose of their practice; it is simply about accumulation of power and at great personal risk. Murder – usually encouraged by the spirits – seems to be endemic within the culture. One very famous ayahuascara actually quit his shamanism to pursue gnostic christianity, in a very similar vein to my Diaspora friend who now practices taoism and thelema.

I know it would be much more elegant and simple if these old religions were all about enlightenment too, but there appears to be no evidence for this, and I think we would actually be doing them a disservice to persist that this is the case. The cultures surrounding these traditions are about survival, wealth and power, because the people who practice these traditions have always lived in very difficult circumstances. All of this might come across un-PC, and no doubt there will be (probably Western) adherents to these traditions that will take exception to what I’m saying, but I can’t pretend I haven’t looked very hard to find evidence to support the ‘it’s always been about enlightenment’ thesis, when I have and failed miserably.

But I would say don’t take my word for it; explore these traditions for yourself as I did, do the research, find the experts, take up the practices, experiment with the sacraments, and then make your own mind up!

The Native American Lakota (Sioux) tribe has a strong tradition that suggests two types or specialties of “medicine men” or Wichasha.
The Pejuta Wichasha are the magicians, herbalists.

The Wakan Wichasha are primarily concerned with deep insight into the “Sacred Mystery” – that is, enlightenment.

My thesis, like Shinzen Young’s is that tribal people had a high percentage of enlightened people, and that tribal living offered environmental stimulation (that is, naturally occurring states of high concentration due to being in nature, repetitive activities, ceremonies, hardship, etc.) that naturally produced this later in life neurodevelopmental process. Civilization, on the other hand, does not have the appropriate environmental stimuli, so we produce it artificially through meditation. Humans have stifled their own neurodevelopment before, as peasants hung swaddled infants on poles while they worked the fields in the middle ages, and Romanian orphanages of our own age.

At any rate, the Lakota are evidence that not only were tribal peoples concerned with enlightenment, but that magick and enlightenment were concerned with different spheres from the very beginning.
D

Sorry, I didn’t know where to post this, but talk about hardcore meditation…

http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years

“(I) travelled with my thoughts into the past, or into another existence altogether”.

It’ll be interesting to hear what this guy’s been up too.

Lakota = a very special people and a sad f*cking shame what we did to them. Sorry, but it’s the truth.

Hi Alan,

Sorry – I meant to say that I like the book, but I hadn’t finished reading it. I think it’s a great West meets East synthesis of some important material, and does it’s work demystifying enlightenment.

There’s a lot to this whole enlightenment business, and you and Duncan set me in the right direction. I know exactly where I am on the maps now as well. No question about it.

I’m extremely interested in developing advanced spiritual technologies capable of producing the changes quickly and with relative ease. Tantra is proving to provide some excellent material and melds particularly well with magickal technologies. Probably a varied technique to path model. I’d love to put a study together… But how would you measure outcomes?

Anyway, thank you for your guidance and this site.
Dave

thanks for sharing this. will check it out!

~C

@Alan: I agree with you about the African diaspora traditions, but I’ve seen some evidence for an enlightenment model within some of the pre-Diaspora religions in Africa, even if that’s not the primary focus. I also think Haquan and Shinzen Young’s views are probably accurate to some degree.

I’m especially interested in this at the moment because of my own group’s current research into esoteric Shinto, which to me seems to present an excellent integration of spirit and enlightenment-focused models and which probably originated with shamanic practices.

As far as taking up the practices myself, I certainly have, and the sorts of experiences that have originated from working in tribal/shamanic models have been more profound and seemingly enlightenment-oriented than those I’ve experienced from most of the “classic” Axial age traditions.

I don’t buy the idea that living in a monotonous and natural environment must have led to a high number of enlightened tribal folk, simply because there are many existing millennia old tribes who show no indication of such a thing, and many people who live very monotonous lives in the great outdoors all over the world who are anything but enlightened. Their cultures are a great testament to this.

Like I said, there is evidence that might suggest a knowledge of enlightenment pre-Axial Age, but if this was true, it was lost for many thousands of years. And we must be careful not to shoehorn our own ideas of enlightenment into every spiritual model we come across; a good indicator is the culture that surrounds a spirituality or religion, and the Axial Age traditions are strikingly different to anything that went before.

I’m all up for interesting speculation (lord knows I’ve done enough of it!) but we have to acknowledge the available evidence, and it’s looking like enlightenment is relatively new for our species.

Wilber’s Up From Eden is still a good introduction to what we actually do know about our species spiritual development, and may shed some light on the fact that tribal spiritual practice leads to profound experiences, but not enlightenment itself.

What was it about the Axial Age, do you think, that led to such striking divergence from previous systems?

On a totally different note, what are your thoughts on Jainism? It seems to fit your definition of enlightenment-focused models to a T with its emphases on compassion and self-development toward the Three Gems of “true perception, wisdom and conduct.”

Well, we do at least have the evidence of the Lakota in their spiritual tradtitions as I mentioned – and I think also in their culture.

By high percentage I meant above 5% of the population, but probably not more than 20%. That would be relatively high. What would you say the number is in Western countries?

Just out of curiosity, what would count as evidence that they did know of enlightenment – either in terms of culture or otherwise? We are talking about pre-literate cultures so we can’t look at a record.

If we pretended we were anthropologists from a different planet, aside from literary evidence, what could any *contemporary culture* present as evidence that they know enlightenment, barring actually talking with someone?

I’m thinking that there is nothing that could be offered as sufficient evidence. You say they “show no indication of such a thing” but what indication could they possibly show?

Being in nature has been shown to produce high concentration states effortlessly btw. There’s an emerging field called “ecopsychology.” As it turns out, most spiritual experiences (something like 40%), including enlightenment experiences take place in nature. This is reflected by the heavy emphasis on nature found in Taoist and Zen traditions, and to a lesser extent, in Tibetan traditions.

As far as people living in nature who are not enlightened – I’m sure there are many, but I’m not sure how you would know that, aside from a lot of field work. I’m just claiming that there’s a higher percentage of enlightened people living under those conditions than in civilization…

At any rate, the axial age did not produce the biological potential for enlightenment – that’s been around for millions of years – and most likely that evolved to meet a survival based need. It would offer some advantages, eh?
D

Hypothetically speaking, let’s say I was able to locate a tribal culture that didn’t have contact with Western civilization until a couple of hundred years ago. Let’s say that I was able to find eyewitness accounts of the lifestyle and culture of this people, and that by all accounts, it was one that was highly spiritual, non-economically based, afforded women status and rights, and it’s overall cultural directive was to live in harmony with nature.

What if an individual (whom we can be reasonably certain is enlightened – had been a Buddhist monk and been authorized to teach, and spent his life doing so) who had spend years of his life studying with enlightened masters of various cultural traditions, and had made a life study of enlightenment on a crosscultural basis (Buddhist, Christian, Sufi, etc.) were to study with the spiritual masters of that tribe, only a few generations from the time of their culture being conquered? What if this enlightened individual came back and reported that not only did he believe that the previous tribal lifestyle that that particular tribe led would be conducive to enlightenment – but also that the people he worked with clearly were enlightened?

Alan, hypothetically speaking, could that be considered evidence that some tribal peoples had knowledge of enlightenment?

How many people out there would consider that to be supporting evidence?

What if their most famous shaman were recorded as saying things like:
“Through these rites a three-fold peace is established: The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Sacred Mystery, and that this center is really everywhere. It is within each of us. This is the real Peace, and the others are but reflections of this.

The second peace is that which is made between two individuals. And the third is that which is made between two nations.

But above all, you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.”

What if he or she were recorded as saying many, many things like this – and that other shamans in his culture were recorded saying things that heavily suggest nondual insight?

Would that be considered evidence?
Dave

Of course Dave. I see nothing in this that changes the fact that enlightenment changed the world three thousand years ago, and for the first time in recorded history.

Remember: enlightenment suddenly appeared amongst tribes people at the beginning of the Axial Age, in four separate areas of the planet. Why couldn’t it have happened in America, or many more places?

@infinitywaltz: During the Axial Age compassion replaced sacrifice, practice replaced faith, and God fell out of the sky and into the hearts of men. See Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation for a great overview of the difference pre and post Axial Age.

Re. Jainism, I’m afraid I’m more or less ignorant of the tradition, although I did once see some Jain’s pulling out all the hair on their heads as a means of demonstrating their triumph over the material world.

No argument from me there – the Axial age was indeed, pivotal, as it were.

Just to go ahead and credit him, the quote was from “Black Elk Speaks” and was made by Black Elk in presenting the “Making New Relations” ceremony to his people.

Sorry about the rant – the association between the ecosystem and enlightenment seems somewhat pivotal to me as well – and one lost to the Western Mystery Tradition for the most part. When we may have clues about how that association works we shouldn’t overlook them.
D

Hi Alan.

I just discovered this site today after reading ‘Advanced Magic for Beginners’ (which I loved, by the way).

A couple of questions on the ebook:
On page 6, you mention ‘The recognition of an inclusive, transcendent but nonsupernatural
aspect…’ Could you clarify what you mean by the terms ‘transcendent’ and ‘supernatural’ in this context.

In a similar vein, on page 45, you say ‘The mystical experience is much more common than
enlightenment, and it is important that we do not confuse the two.’ I think you give a clear definition of what you mean by enlightenment, but don’t define ‘mystical experience’.

Finally, my thoughts on some of the comments on this thread.
‘Remember: enlightenment suddenly appeared amongst tribes people at the beginning of the Axial Age, in four separate areas of the planet.’
I would challenge the historical accuracy of this statement. The enlightenment of the Axial Age happened amongst literate and agricultural societies.
Could it be that the reason that animist tribal peoples don’t have a tradition of enlightenment is because they don’t need it, because they are living in a state of truth that civilised folk forgot?

Thanks for the reply, and for the clarification of definitions – they really help.

On the animism issue, I’m just throwing out a possible hypothesis to explain why animists don’t have a tradition of enlightenment, and why civilised people have to struggle to attain it – the move from a reciprocal relationship with the non-human to one of ownership and control; from embodied language to non-representational phonetic scripts, and from a discourse centred on place to a conceptual separation of 3-dimensional space and 1-dimensional time.

(Check out Graham Harvey’s ‘Animism’, and/or David Abrams ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ if you’re interested in any of this.)

But, hey, I’m neither an animist nor enlightened, so what do I know.

Thanks again for the reply, and good luck with the work.