The Complete Picture

1 9 the complete picture Q Andrew, it’s clear that in your view, enlightenment, or what you call “impersonal enlightenment,” is about changing this world, literally transforming it. But I’ve heard other teach¬ ers describe enlightenment as the opposite of that—as the end of trying to change anything. A Well, actually, both are true. And it is this paradoxical fact that makes what enlightenment is, and what it really means, so difficult for many seekers—and also alot of teachers—to grasp. There are two fundamental components of the experi¬ ence of enlightenment. Simply put, one is the liberating revelation that everything is always perfect as it is—at all times, in all places, under all circumstances. In this, there is aprofound letting go of fear and attachment. The other component is what I’ve been calling the evolutionary imper¬ ative, which is activated by spiritual awakening. It is experi¬ enced as apowerful demand for evolution and transformation here and now for the sake of life itself. This apparent paradox—that everything is already perfect and everything must change—is the complete picture of what enlightenment is all about. the complete picture 115 But how could both be true? What you’re describing sounds to me like acomplete contradiction. To the unenlightened mind, it is. What do you mean? Well, to understand that this is not acontradiction, you have to experience the enlightened mind directly for yourself. The unenlightened mind simply cannot contain the paradox. That mind exists in and as duality itself, and therefore, by definition, cannot see beyond it to that place where no duality exists. You see, these two truths—that everything is already perfect and that everything must change—are simply different sides of the same coin. Ultimately, there is only one truth, but it appears differently depending on which side of the coin you are looking at. From an absolute point of view, everything is always already perfect, and that is enlightenment. From arelative point of view, every¬ thing must change because that is the law of the created universe, and that is enlightenment also. The mind that exists in and as duality can only see one of these truths at a time. But the mind that has been enlightened can perceive both simultaneously in the recognition that they are not separate. Well, since my mind is not yet enlightened, which side of the coin is more important to give my attention to? That everything is perfect or that everything must change? 116 living enlightenment That’s like asking which half of my heart is more important— the question just doesn’t make sense. They are different manifestations of the same truth. Two sides of the same o n e c o m . But my mind Just can’t get it. They are equally important because they are equally true. Genuine spiritual awakening is the profound and over¬ whelming discovery of the primordial ground of reality itself. That ground is where there is no time, where the unmanifest, unborn Self abides in the consciousness of absolute zero, or no thing whatsoever. In the awakened state, that primordial ground emerges in consciousness as the direct experience of everything being perfect just as it is. But genuine spiritual awakening is also the explosive emergence of the evolutionary impulse in human conscious¬ ness. With the submission of the ego and the surrender of the personal will, the individual becomes aware of the presence of apowerful and unyielding energy. That energy is the movement of the life-force in aself-propelled state of con¬ scious evolution or becoming. Trom absolutely Nothing, suddenly Something emerged, and that Something has remained ever since in aconstant state of becoming. The source and ground of everything that has become, and that is even now in aconstant state of becoming, is that place where there is no time and where nothing ever happened. Nothing and Something cannot be separated because they are simply two sides of the same one the complete picture 117 coin. That’s the meaning of nonduality and that is what enlightenment is: The awakened knowledge of this living mystery that cannot be divided. 118 living enlightenment