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| LIVING WITH ENLIGHTENMENT, by Gail Gupton |
| Not too long ago, someone asked,
"What is it like to live in an enlightened state of being?" Immediately my unthought-of response was, "Peaceful". Every since I realized God is literally and spiritually everything, a sense of peacefulness has pervaded. I realized God, by whatever name someone wants to use, is everything there is and everything there is not. God is everything one can see and everything one cannot see. God includes our sense of good and even our sense of bad, because there is nothing but God. It really makes no difference to me if I live or die. I makes no difference if I'm rich or poor. And, it makes no difference if I make my home in a castle or if I live in a tent. I feel peaceful no matter what the appearance seems to be. Human emotions have one on a constant roller coaster. The opposite feelings of love and hate, happy or unhappy, etc. swing from one side of the pendulum to the other, often leaving one in turmoil. We worry about the weather, the country, the job, the family, the neighbor, the checkbook. I "let go" of all that after my spiritual understanding of who I am. Knowing God is being all things at all times, how can one possibly have something to worry about? My life is not mine, as it seems to be. I am God being life, individually. And as I look out from my eyes, upon the world, I realize God is being all life, individualized and collective. Even when the other parties know it not. One needs not be concerned of competition in business or in social environments because all things are in their proper place for individual spiritual growth or non-growth. If I were to pass from this plane of existence tomorrow, God is there. If I abide on the earthly plane another 50+ years, God is there. This enlightened sense satisfies all needs. I've come to realize being rich or being poor is simply an opinion based on physical, material things. It wasn't always like this for me. I used to be uptight about not having what I considered enough money in the bank. I used to pinch pennies as though they would never come my way again. I used to worry about how to pay the next bill. I used to worry what others thought of me. Then I discovered God is the activity of our business and our lives. God is the source of sustenance. God is sustenance, itself. God maintains itself. "Home is under one's hat", to quote an old saying. Home is a state of being that can be even a cardboard box for one who has chosen that life, perfectly content with his or her meager possessions. It is not for us to decide. But it's not wrong to live in luxury. The best things are ours by "inheritance" as one might discover from a Bible verse. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. It just IS. Therefore, if our comfortable home were to be taken from us by some unforeseen event, another would be provided. And that new one would then become our home. Enlightenment often occurs after one gives up his sense of humanhood. "God, here I am. I am yours. Do with me whatever you like. My burdens are yours. You handle them. I am not what I thought I was or what I was taught. I am not separated from you, for we are one and the same. There is not God and me - that would make two. No, we are one. My humanhood is only something I see through my sense of physical sight, but I existed before I was brought forth from my mother's womb and I will exist after I leave this physical realm." Spiritual enlightenment brought with it the understanding of oneness to a higher pinnacle. While others are watching their enemies and fearing them, I see that we are all connected with nothing to fear. Fear comes from believing one has something to lose - life, wealth, faith. Wars are fought over fear. Peace cometh from understanding the truth. Being enlightened with spiritual understanding causes one to not react or be effected by things of the world and things others seem attached to. It is perpetual peace. It is a state of mind that sees beyond the seeming obstacle. It is the "peace that passeth understanding." This is living with enlightenment, and this is Life. All is well. |
