A Course in Enlightenment: Feelings aren’t Facts.

December 8th, 2006 Fred McVittie Posted in Emotion, Enlightenment, Feeling, Pain |

The techniques which lead to enlightenment may produce certain feelings, emotions, or bodily responses. This is inevitable; all thoughts are connected to shifts in the responses of the body, and the thoughts associated with enlightenment are no different to any other thoughts.
These feelings may include, awe, love, empathy, a sense of clarity, compassion; we may feel tearful, joyful, or as if we are about to burst with the power of our feelings. But these feelings are not enlightenment, they are just feelings. They tell us no more about enlightenment than the pain which accompanies falling tells us about gravity. The truth of enlightenment is itself, not the responses our body makes to that truth.
So does this mean we should ignore these feelings? Of course not, for just as the pain of falling gives us information about the fall and about our relationship to it, motivating us to produce actions and behaviour appropriate to our needs, so the emotions we feel when using the techniques of enlightenment give us similar information. We should observe these emotions, maybe even enjoy them, but we should not confuse them with the enlightenment itself.