Enlightenment is also death metal

The crux of the matter is the enlightenment. That sublime non-moment when everything falls into place. Is it possible to define the undefinable?

In common parlance, you are awakened or enlightened when you lose the experience of ‘I’.1 You discover that you are nothing, nada. There is no subject. It never existed and will never exist.

As a corollary, if there is no subject, what’s left? Well, all of it. Everything: near and far, past and future. Mountains2, rivers, continents, planets, stars, galaxies and, ultimately, the universe, but as one absolute ‘‘entity” as it were. There is no other thing, not even time or space. There is no dualism.

Here’s the conundrum. It’s impossible to understand this absolute. As a human being, you can’t get it. Since there is nothing else to compare it to, the whole is unknowable. For example, to know darkness, you need to experience light. As the old Zen koan3 asks:

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Exactly. The sound of the unknown.

Yes, you can catch glimpses of the absolute when you drop the subject. It’s a life-changing experience—but it’s not really IT. It’s an approximation, and it happens in the realm of duality. In a sense, it’s not the real thing, but it’s the best we can have.

But let’s get back to this absolute, all-encompassing unknown. Most gurus and spiritual types like to point out that, when we drop the ‘I’ or the sense of separation, we become one with everything: other humans, animals, nature and so on. You should, then, become more empathic and selfless. They like to emphasise the words ‘love’ and ‘compassion’. However, that’s only part of the story, I’m afraid.

The all-encompassing unknown also includes suffering and annihilation—total obliteration of life. The unknown is death to awareness and the end of all hope. Nothing can escape it, like a gigantic black hole. And that is the real you as well. It sounds like the perfect death metal album, doesn’t it?4

Here’s another koan:

A monk asked Master Haryo, “What is the way?” Haryo replied, “An open-eyed man falling into a well.”

It is what it is. Attempting to attribute human emotions to it is a pitfall. There is no God, nor concepts of good and evil. No beauty or ugliness—these are constructs of the dualistic mind. Trying to comprehend a non-dual reality is entirely futile. We can only catch a fleeting glimpse through our limited senses, even though this brief insight still occurs within our illusory world. There are a few techniques that might help you with that.

In other words, abandon the rose-tinted glasses when discussing enlightenment. Your current life, with all its highs and lows, is already complete; it's nirvana. Given that the self is an illusion, you are unconditional and absolute.

True awakening is realising you are already enlightened.