What does enlightenment actually mean?

The term enlightenment appears in many spiritual traditions – often mysterious, sometimes exaggerated, often misunderstood. But what does it actually mean, and why is it so readily associated with meditation?

The term

While the term enlightenment (from Old High German arlihutan) was used in ancient times (Greek eklampsis – to shine forth) and in Europe until the modern era to describe a spiritual-mystical experience, Buddhism speaks more of awakening (Sanskrit “bodhi” – to wake up, to recognize). In Buddhism, it refers to a liberation from the causes of suffering as a state of inner peace, and in Daoism, it refers to perceiving the inner light when the mind becomes still. In Christianity, on the other hand, it is referred to as a passive act of divine grace in the sense of redemption.

Why is meditation often associated with the topic of enlightenment?

When meditating, you encounter yourself purely and clearly. You learn to listen to yourself and to view yourself and the current present situation without reservation. While in everyday life you often either admire, evaluate, categorize, distinguish, insult, change, or want reality to be exactly as you imagine it, meditation is a patient waiting and accepting of what is.

Reality without superimpositions

Meditation offers a framework in which you don’t have to change anything. A space without demands, without ideas for improvement, without pressure – aimless and mindful.

“Meditation is the invitation not to act, but to be.”

In meditation, reality is not superimposed by impressive, spectacular experiences or problems from the past that cause you to miss actual life. The meditating person can engage with all their senses in real, momentary life itself. Meditation replaces all beliefs with reality itself. Some people report that in meditative consciousness they purely touch something inner that they experience as a kind of source – bright and luminous.

The simplest of the simple

This source could be described as pure, unadulterated perception without any clouding of volitional processes. One perceives the universe and the living nature of reality exactly as it is. For example, you bite into an apple and can sensually perceive the fruit, the taste, the scent completely, without names, comparisons, evaluations, or distractions. A quietly sublime experience that can be experienced as spiritual-mystical, redeeming, or liberating.

So one could say that enlightenment is the simplest of the simple, the most ordinary of the ordinary, and at the same time one of the most difficult exercises of being human.