Am I enlightened?

For every speaker/teacher of Nonduality a question that arises very regularly is ‘Are you enlightened?’. It is a very valid question for the seeking mind to ask. After all, if I am not enlightened, who am I to be spouting off about it, as if I am? And, how would anyone know whether what I am saying could be trusted?

The people who ask this question demand a definite answer with verifiable proof. They ask if I am ‘Awakened’, Liberated, or Enlightened, then how do I define that? Has my sense of identity just partially fallen away,or has it completely fallen away so that there’s no longer a human experiencer? etc.etc.

No matter how this is answered, any reply will be instantly dismissed by the mind that asks it, and deemed as a ‘cop-out’ . But there is no answer to this.

‘Reality’ or God, can never be qualified, quantified or proved. Who is there to verify something beyond human experience? No human mind can judge another’s experience because it is beyond the mind’s capacity to do so. The mind always seeks to categorise.

The mind also sees time as something that exists and is linier, therefore there must be ‘paths’, ‘journeys’, ‘stages’ and ‘levels’ of Spiritual attainment and Liberation, but these are mind-made judgements and descriptions. The human mind can not know no-mind.

If a person believes in Gurus. Masters, Buddhas, Lineages and complicated spiritual techniques, then they will expect a Nonduality teacher to have an impressive tale to tell regarding their final ‘liberation’. If not, they can be dismissed as not having the right credentials. Yet the dream of Gurus and lineages is simply part of that particular seeker’s dream, so nothing else will do for that person, except a story of Liberation that fits within their rather narrow, totally intellectual confines. The mind also craves theatre,ceremony and distraction.

There is only the eternal Now – everything that has ever happened is happening now (although in Being, nothing is happening) and no span of time is involved. There are no separate identities, there are only trillions of mirror-like facets of Being (that we see as ‘people’) that reflect the Source back to itself. Life is vibrant and alive and yet each facet of the one Being forgets what it is. Our chattering thoughts are believed in, and the dream of being a separate identity is upheld.

In true Liberation there is no longer just an awakening or a ‘seeing’ of this Truth –there is no longer any ‘see-er’. And IT’S NOT PERSONAL! It doesn’t happen to a person – the person part of it, is what drops away completely.

Do not believe anyone who tells you they are Enlightened,Awakened Liberated or whatever. This can only be a prideful, egotistic lie because it doesn’t happen to person!! When all sense of identity drops away and there is a return to the Ocean of Oneness, there is no identity to say 'I' am enlightened! The ego's dissolved.

Now this will ruffle a lot of feathers. It will be said that I am ‘splitting hairs’ – or being deliberately confusing to disguise the fact that I am not enlightened. And this is correct : ‘I’ am not enlightened. When people come to my meetings , God is definitely in the room with us! There is a huge expansion into Being, but it DOES NOT COME FROM ‘ME’ - it comes because when people come together to remember their Oneness, that Oneness always, and without fail, lovingly responds. It is tangible. We feel our Source. There is a strong resonation. As it says in the Bible: ‘Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I AM among you”.

The life that is lived through the facet of Being known as Mandi Solk is light and peaceful and no longer dependent on people, money or possessions for that peace. The sense of being a separate entity is long gone. Other than that, life is lived as it arises without anyone doing or choosing, although doing and choosing happens. There is just the vibrancy and aliveness of Life itself. And that’s kind of liberating But looking at me no-one would ever know that. What is there to know anyway? Who cares? It’s all totally un-important. I’m certainly nobody’s idea of an enlightened being. There’s no magic aura or radiating light emanating from Mandi! And that’s because ‘Mandi’ is not enlightened! PEOPLE AREN’T! And when you stop going after that ‘dangling carrot’ then there’s a chance that the Truth will shine through and melt down the barriers of separation. But you don’t need to go after the carrot – you ARE the carrot! Really. But if you prefer, you can spend the rest of your life trying to verify who ‘is’ and who ‘isn’t’ enlightened, but then you’ll miss the ride home! 