I think I understand -- enlightenment is the experience, and spiritual materialism is what happens when we attempt to define that experience, yes? I think I’ve experienced enlightenment. More often than not, my awareness of the experience was accompanied by thoughts as simple as “this is good,” “I am connected to something powerful,” or “I am at peace.” Does the mere act of consciously attaching positive thoughts or feelings to the perception of enlightenment cause enlightenment to become a material experience? Does it matter? Is one destined to have a sub-optimal connection to the spiritual realm by failing to achieve a clean, emotionally unencumbered state of enlightenment?

Jen,

You raise a good point. The answer is -- of course -- "Yes and No." :)

Conscious awareness of the experience is the first step toward having the experience without "having" the experience. Enlightenment, or the state of satori or samadhi, is, ultimately, transparent -- the formless form, so to speak. If we hold onto or try to get back to the experience of emptiness, then we are guilty of spiritual materialism. If we recognize the experience for what it is, without grasping, then we are only naming the thing, which is part of the journey, and we are closer to the formless form.

When we talk about positivity/negativity or sub-optimal connection, we are attaching a judgment that is driven by dualism. Dualism suggests attachment, which suggests grasping, which gets us back to spiritual materialism.

The key is get to a point where we can say, "Ah, this..." _without_ the judgment, _without_ the dualism...that is the hard part!

My most concrete and memorable personal experience of this was when I was once sparring with a classmate and time suddenly slowed down. We were standing toe-to-toe (a serious no-no in Kung Fu!), trading blocks and punches and the only point of reference I can give you for the experience I had is that scene in the Matrix (which, by the way, is a very direct explication of Buddhist principles, including this one) when Neo is fighting Mr. Smith and Smith is throwing everything he has at him and Neo is just casually, with one arm, stopping everything...time slowed down...he became The One (read: One, i.e., One Mind).

The progressive reaction to that would be, "Well, would you look at that..." -- the spiritually material version would be, "Wow, that was cool. Let me get back there!" Capice?

Blessings,
Michael

Hi Michael,

Was googling a Zen perspective on addiction and came across your article of last May. I have since spent the last hour perusing many of your posts. I love your work and the presentation thereof. You speak of of the subtleties of these topics with a rare conciseness and clarity that is most helpful. You've been bookmarked and definitely have a new frequent visitor! :) Thank you.

Duncan

In reading your blog I am struck by the correlation between the idea that as soon as you claim it it is no longer yours and some of the findings of quantum physics that show that when we simply observe an experiment we change the result. Being a vessel in which enlightenment can occur is very different from creating some form of attachment to the event. The minute we create an attachment, we alter the outcome. Thank you for articulating it so clearly.