Background
Are you enlightened? What is it? If you don't have it, how do you get it? These are questions asked by many people - and there are many answers as well. In this step, enlightenment is presented as being simple but not necessarily easy. After completing this step, especially the practice section, Understanding Enlightenment, at the end, you will not only understand what is enlightenment, you will have the conscious experience of being enlightened.

We defined enlightenment earlier as being in the state of Spirit consciousness. The practice in the last step provided the experience of "feeling good" when entering into the state of Sprit consciousness. What do we do after we achieve the state of Spirit consciousness? We can then experience enlightenment. When enlightened, we have direct access to creative energy.

With direct access to creative energy, we can be at cause in our lives instead of at effect. Being at cause allows us to influence and direct what comes our way. It is being proactive. Being at effect is to be reactive, responding to what comes our way with a sense of helplessness that is fatiguing and frustrating. Being at cause, on the other hand, produces exhilaration and optimism.

What is enlightenment? Of course it is the state of Spirit consciousness and access to creative energy. Moreover, when we experience enlightenment, we are unconditional acceptance and love for all manifestations of creative energy that we learned in step one is everything in the universe. Love and acceptance are the access to consciously shape creative energy and to be at cause in our lives.

As humans, our experience with physical consciousness tells us that we must manipulate to survive. We have learned to manipulate our environment, our society, and each other in order to protect and preserve our biology. We even use manipulation in love by making love conditional. The object of our love only receives our love if he or she conforms to what we want-no conformity, no love.

Virtually all children learn about conditional love at an early age; thus, they shape their behavior in such a way that receiving love, acceptance, and attention is dependent on their behavior. They are loved for how they behave. They are not loved for who they are. Consequently, who they are is hidden and suppressed in favor of acting in the way that will "earn" love. Parents and other significant adults do not purposefully mold their children in this way. They are simply perpetuating how they were trained as children.

When we love someone or something (even a rock) without expectation, conditions, or attachment of any kind, we are enlightened and in the state of Spirit consciousness. When in this state, we have the potential to be at cause in our lives. To realize that potential, there is additional work to do. The next steps provide instruction in the nature of that work.

The essential point to get from this step is that the key to enlightenment is unconditional love and acceptance.
From that state, all other power and energy emanate. Without it, all other metaphysical trappings and practices are futile (in the sense of being at cause in life). Meditation, channeling, crystals, the Tarot, everything that has been written (including this workbook), and knowledge will not automatically enlighten anyone. How nice it would be to experience enlightenment by chanting a mantra, assuming a yoga posture, reading a book, attending a seminar, or doing whatever else we devise. The only thing that works is to consciously extend unconditional love and acceptance.

One way to distinguish the experience of enlightenment versus knowledge of enlightenment is learning to ride a bicycle. Balance is essential to riding a two-wheel bike (without training wheels!). We can view demonstrations of others riding a bike, we can read about riding a bike, we can attend lectures on riding a bike, we can study the physiology of the inner ear and brain associated with balance, we could spend years gaining knowledge about how to ride a bike. Very little of that will prepare us to actually ride, because we must gain the experience of balance for ourselves. No one can give it to us.

And so it is with receiving enlightenment through extending unconditional love in the state of Spirit consciousness. This workbook will help by providing knowledge and exercises to lead you to the experience. You must do the work and take the steps. It is possible for every human being to experience enlightenment. You need only to have the intention and commitment to do so. Recall the discussion in step three about action. Thoughts never did anyone any good. The implementation of thoughts through action creates miracles.

Understanding Enlightenment - A Practice

PREPARATION
List any questions that arose from the preceding background material Jot them down on a piece of paper leaving a few blank lines after each question.

Now, without using analysis, logic, or "common sense," answer each of the questions that you wrote. Let your intuition or "uncommon sense" guide you in your answers. If need be, answer from the perspective that you are creating answers to your questions, and whatever you create is true. Write your answer underneath the question that it addresses. You may find that your sense of this lesson deepens and that more questions arise. To find answers to them, use this same procedure. Continue asking and answering until your curiosity is stilled. Use additional sheets of paper if needed. When you are complete with the Preparation, read the instructions for the Experience.

EXPERIENCE
Experiencing enlightenment is done in stages. Each stage follows the same steps:

1. Select a focus of your attention.
2. Shift from physical consciousness to Sprit consciousness (remember the four actions from step three).
3. Extend unconditional love and acceptance to whatever is the focus of your attention.
4. Experience enlightenment.
5. Record the experience in a few words.

The exercise is designed to gradually increase the level of difficulty in extending unconditional love and acceptance. Remember to set aside all opinions, judgments, expectations, and conditions associated with the "focus." This will be easier for the first focus than the fifth as our level of expectation and conditions increase with those focuses more important to us. Our physical consciousness demands that we try harder to control that which is important to us. Only by setting all of those considerations aside can we begin to experience enlightenment. One last note: enlightenment is not a "one-time" objective. We will experience being in and out of enlightenment many, many times in our lifetimes.

First focus: an inanimate object: e.g., a rock, a picture, clouds, etc. Extend unconditional love and acceptance to it. Jot down some notes about your experience.

Second focus: a plant, e.g., a flower, tree, houseplant, weed, etc. . Extend unconditional love and acceptance to it Jot down some notes about your experience.

Third focus: an animal, e.g., cat, dog, bird, horse, etc. Extend unconditional love and acceptance to it. Jot down some notes about your experience.

Fourth focus: a "distant" human, e.g., stranger, a co-worker, etc. Extend unconditional love and acceptance to him or her. Jot down some notes about your experience.

Fifth focus: a close human, e.g., child, parent, sibling, friend etc. Extend unconditional love and acceptance to him or her. Jot down some notes about your experience.

UNDERSTANDING
To understand the state of enlightenment, we need to become aware of our emotions and body sensations when we are not experiencing enlightenment! The understanding practice first consists of catching yourself in an extreme state of physical consciousness and noting emotions and body sensations. Are you tense, do you feel like hitting something, are you listless, do you feel nauseous, are you trembling? What emotions are you experiencing?

The most common emotions associated with extreme physical consciousness are fear and anger. These two are expressed in difference ways, e.g., frustration, discontent, and aggressive behaviors, but it is importance to look beneath these surface emotions to find what lies underneath. Usually, anger and fear are there. If we take these two even deeper, we find only one emotion: fear. Fear is the subject of an entire step later on in the book. Write down the body sensations and the emotions while your are experiencing them if at all possible; if not at the time, do so as soon as possible afterwards.

The second part of the understanding practice should be done immediately following the first part. The second part is to ask yourself what emotions and body sensations would you rather have than the extremes that you just documented. Would you rather feel relaxed, calm, and in control? Would you rather not experience love and acceptance? Document your thoughts about how you would rather feel than the emotions and sensations associated with an extreme state of physical consciousness. Please do so immediately following the determination of how you would rather feel.

Please practice this more than once. Use the following format to answer the following questions. If you write your responses, all the better.

What did you experience, physically and emotionally, when in the state of physical consciousness?

What would you have rather felt instead, physically and emotionally?

Remember, Understanding occurs out of how you perceive the experience. Understanding is your own unique, personal interpretation of the experience. Once you gain an understanding, and if it is of value to you, its continued practice will cause it to be a reflex at the highest level of learning, unconscious competence, or doing without thinking.

End of "Step 4 - Enlightenment" from Awakening Awareness

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