Enlightenment or illumination literary means to lighten up something – the word comes from Latin (illumination, from: illuminare – to lighten up). The point of illumination is to become conscious, i.e., aware of the experience of the Truth. In fact, Enlightenment can be defined as a direct experience of the Truth.
The emphasis is on the word “direct”, meaning that there are no intermediaries or third parties between you and the process of experiencing. By using the term intermediaries in this case, we allude to all process that can be indirect, such as:
- looking,
- thinking,
- feeling,
- deciding,
- believing,…
or by using any other indirect way of experiencing. Up to date, humanity has known different techniques for reaching Enlightenment, such as Zen meditation, Yoga, Buddhist meditation, Christian meditation, and others, but many of them imply leaving the everyday life and seclusion from everyday life. The drawback of such techniques is that soon after returning to everyday life the state of enlightenment is lost and only a faint memory of this direct experience of the Truth is left behind.
In the last 30 years, new techniques have been developed that help in reaching Enlightenment in significantly shorter times and in accelerated manner. One of the most popular is Enlightenment Intensives, as invented by Charles Berner. This technique does not imply meditation in solitude. It is based on mutual interaction with other aspiring candidates – a process of communication with others that is found to speed up the necessary steps to reach Enlightenment.
