Is there partial enlightenment?
With all due respect, “partial enlightment” is akin to “almost pregnant”…
the following classic indian simile, “the snake in a rope” (known as well as “the story of the ghost in a post”) illustrates it well:
some people walk along a road in darkness, when they see a snake. each one reacts according to his nature, predisposition, condition etc: one jumps, another turns and runs, still another picks up a stone, another is petrified with fear…
and then someone lights a match. in the light it is seen that what was taken to be a snake, is just a piece of rope…
now, with the downing of knowledge of the rope – the snake disappears. the snake existed and was real (each one reacted to a real snake) – but only as long as there was an absence of knowledge of it’s true nature.
thus any discussions about the color of the snake, it’s gender, size, where it came from and where it was going to – are meaningless, once the rope is recognized. the snake never was….
By: yosy
Source: SufiMystic
“Enlightenment” may sometimes be useful as a teaching word, as an idea to ecourage us to live with clarity. Otherwise, the truth of the moment that appears right in front of us, just now, is enough. Why cloud the issue with extraneous ideas of any sort?
I actually disagree with this answer. To me enlightenment isn’t an all or nothing process. You don’t have one experience that brings about complete enlightenment. It is a gradual process just like learning a skill or trade.
I like to think of it as an eclipse. You start off in the dark but gradually the light begins to show it self until the entire sun is in front of you.