Philos
Veteran Member
Folks,
There is something in the ideologies of Christianity, Buddhism and Communism which bears comparison. This is the notion of 'sudden enlightenment'. Superficially this would seem like a simple shortcut, just dropping the hard effort of good works or meditation and going direct to the source, like lightning to earth. I think this would be to misunderstand the concept.
In sudden enlightenment something different is going on: this is death to the self. Crucially, the abandonment of ego is 'The Way'. For the Christian, we give ourselves to Jesus - entirely. To achieve grace we must die to ourselves and trust implicity in the other. It is a Kierkegaardian leap of faith and nothing less will do.
In Buddhism a similar death to the self occurs. "Enlightenment in this case means a letting go of this unrealistic self concept or 'self aggrandized-ness' by awakening to the fact that it is a delusion."
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/sudgrad2.html
In both cases the barrier to sudden enlightenment is the sense of self, what some Christians call 'pride' or 'haughtiness'; what Buddhists call 'attachment'.
In communism, a political process of death to the self involves the dropping of individuality in favour of the commune. There is no self, only the realisation of the commune to which we have given ourselves totally. Alone, we are nothing. All three of these ideologies seem to share this common factor, for good or ill, and the demands of membership are not insignificant.
What's not to like?
Alex.
There is something in the ideologies of Christianity, Buddhism and Communism which bears comparison. This is the notion of 'sudden enlightenment'. Superficially this would seem like a simple shortcut, just dropping the hard effort of good works or meditation and going direct to the source, like lightning to earth. I think this would be to misunderstand the concept.
In sudden enlightenment something different is going on: this is death to the self. Crucially, the abandonment of ego is 'The Way'. For the Christian, we give ourselves to Jesus - entirely. To achieve grace we must die to ourselves and trust implicity in the other. It is a Kierkegaardian leap of faith and nothing less will do.
In Buddhism a similar death to the self occurs. "Enlightenment in this case means a letting go of this unrealistic self concept or 'self aggrandized-ness' by awakening to the fact that it is a delusion."
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/sudgrad2.html
In both cases the barrier to sudden enlightenment is the sense of self, what some Christians call 'pride' or 'haughtiness'; what Buddhists call 'attachment'.
In communism, a political process of death to the self involves the dropping of individuality in favour of the commune. There is no self, only the realisation of the commune to which we have given ourselves totally. Alone, we are nothing. All three of these ideologies seem to share this common factor, for good or ill, and the demands of membership are not insignificant.
What's not to like?
Alex.