Enlightenment

Yesterday it occurred to me that for all my talk about not ✌️“believing in”✌️ things, I may actually have a provisional belief in an “enlightenment” that is essentially the ability to intentionally keep one’s level of reactivity below the level of even unconscious detection.

It SHOULD be obvious how different that is from something that can be attained without social verification. It’s essentially NOT an internal state but a relational one, and it’s not decisive or permanent so much as continually re-affirmed in the experience of others.

It’s also a continuum, mostly. There may be a categorizable difference between someone whose reactivity is detectable in rare or exceptional circumstances — or when they’re tired/hungry/cranky/sad — and one whose reactivity hasn’t been noticed in years, but does that happen?

I guess I’m saying I’m willing to provisionally believe that it can, and has, based on the way I have heard such people described enough times, which does sound like social proof that people can be THAT non-reactive, and from knowing the RELATIVELY non-reactive people I’ve met.

And certainly, it has been my experience that my practice leads to observable progress toward this ability and confirmed reductions in reactivity that affects the fields of others. I don’t care whether it will result in ultimate attainment, but I do value every little step.

Needless to say, I don’t ✌️“believe in”✌️ this or anything else enough to declare that this is what “enlightenment” is, or that it’s the only one and there aren’t other kinds for other people with other cultures and practices. I do know this one matters by far the most to ME.