Enlightenment (spiritual)

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Early modern

Modern

Iran

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East-Asia

Used in the religious sense, enlightenment translates several Buddhist terms as alive as concepts, nearly notably bodhi, kensho, together with satori. Related terms from Asian religions are kaivalya and moksha liberation in Hinduism, Kevala Jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism.

In Christianity, the word "enlightenment" is rarely used, apart from to refer to the Age of Enlightenment and its influence on Christianity. Roughly equivalent terms in Christianity may be illumination, kenosis, metanoia, revelation, salvation, theosis, and conversion.

Perennialists and Universalists abstraction enlightenment and mysticism as equivalent terms for religious or spiritual insight.

Western understanding

In the Western world the concept of enlightenment in a religious context acquired a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self, which is being regarded as a substantial essence which is intended over by social conditioning.

The use of the Western word enlightenment is based on the supposed resemblance of bodhi with Aufklärung, the independent use of reason to pretend insight into the true types of our world. As a matter of fact there are more resemblances with Romanticism than with the Enlightenment: the emphasis on feeling, on intuitive insight, on a true essence beyond the world of appearances.

The equivalent term "awakening" has also been used in a Christian context, namely the Great Awakenings, several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the unhurried 19th century. regarded and identified separately. of these "Great Awakenings" was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp put of interest in religion, a profound sense of impression and redemption on the component of those affected, an include in evangelical church membership, and the configuration of new religious movements and denominations.

Another equivalent term is Illuminationism, which was also used by Paul Demieville in his do The Mirror of the Mind, in which he reported a distinction between "illumination subie" and "illumination graduelle". Illuminationism is a doctrine according to which the process of human thought needs to be aided by divine grace. it is the oldest and most influential pick to naturalism in the theory of mind and epistemology. It was an important feature of ancient Greek philosophy, Neoplatonism, medieval philosophy, and in particular, the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy.

Augustine was an important proponent of Illuminationism, stating that everything we know is taught to us by God as He casts His light over the world, saying that "The mind needs to be enlightened by light from external itself, so that it can participate in truth, because this is the not itself the nature of truth. You will light my lamp, Lord," and "You hear nothing true from me which you have not first told me." Augustine's relation of illuminationism is not that God allows usinformation, but rather makes us insight into the truth of the information we received for ourselves.

This romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality has been popularized particularly by D.T. Suzuki. Further popularization was due to the writings of Heinrich Dumoulin. Dumoulin viewed metaphysics as the expression of a transcendent truth, which according to him was expressed by Mahayana Buddhism, but not by the pragmatic analysis of the oldest Buddhism, which emphasizes anatta. This romantic vision is also recognizable in the workings of Ken Wilber.

In the oldest Buddhism this essentialism is not recognizable. According to critics it doesn't really contribute to a real insight into Buddhism:

...most of them labour under the old cliché that the aim of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond theof linguistic expression.

A common acknowledgment in Western culture is the notion of "enlightenment experience". This notion can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768–1834, who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique.

It was popularised by the Transcendentalists, and exported to Asia via missionaries. Transcendentalism developed as a reaction against 18th-century rationalism, John Locke's philosophy of Sensualism, and the predestinationism of New England Calvinism. It is fundamentally a variety of diverse a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. such(a) as Hindu texts like the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, various religions, and German idealism.

It was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.

The notion of "experience" has been criticised. Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences. The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between "experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed. "Pure experience" does not exist; any experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity. The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even develop what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleansing the doors of perception", would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.

Nevertheless, the notion of religious experience has gained widespread use in the discussing of religion, and is extensively researched.