You are Already Enlightened

The first encounter with the Catherine Weser/Know One Life website is with the statement “You are already enlightened.” This statement is the foundation from which we illuminate One Life principles with these monthly tutorials. It is that everyone and all are fully realized as Enlightened without any prescribed pathways or procedures necessary for seeking and attaining enlightenment. From this perspective, enlightenment is not something that comes from outside of you. Enlightenment is always here, always thriving and intimate. Although it may seem like there are obstacles and obscurations that must be removed in order to know you are already enlightened, the obstacles and obscurations are without any substance. They arise from time to time just as all thoughts arise, and have no impact on your status as enlightened.

There are many points of view expressing the nature of enlightenment. Enlightenment is seen as a sudden awakening, an uncontrived intuitive realization of the true nature of reality beyond conceptual thought. Enlightenment is also seen as the result of gradual cultivation, the consequence of sustained meditation and mindfulness practices over time, rather than a result of an unexpected revelation. Many believe enlightenment is a unification of all aspects of One Life. We suggest that all phenomena are empty of intrinsic, independent existence. Therefore, “You are already Enlightened” is not an evaluation of a current state of being, it is just One Life being One Life.

Enlightenment can also describe the cessation of suffering by uprooting the ignorance of the true nature of existence, which is impermanent and without an individual self. A non-dual perspective proposes that the separation you ordinarily experience is an illusion. At the deepest level, there’s no true division between you and the world, or between subject and object — everything is already one seamless reality—One Life. You cannot force enlightenment. You cannot imagine enlightenment. Instead, relax perceptions and gently recognize that all experience is fluid, luminous, spacious. You cannot visualize enlightenment, simply notice the natural radiance that is already present in every sensation, thought, and appearance.

There are many notions of enlightenment and yet what underwrites all of them is the simple recognition that there is no seeker and nothing to attain — reality simply is, here and now and You are Already Enlightened.