EAST AND WEST

I have been doing some research about differences about West and East culture and what differences there are in about spirituality and Enlightenment. In west there are only few people who has spoken in publicity about these differencies. People who come to my mind who has speaking about this are Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley,Abraham Maslow, Suzanne  Segal and of course Madame Blavatsky who brought her Wisdom and Light to westerens from India and Tibet.

Suzanne segal's interwiev

https://realization.org/p/suzanne-segal/suzanne-segal-interview.lumiere-wins.html

Suzanne’s life is an example of how an awakening can occur spontaneously, and without even understanding what had happened for as long as ten years. She often told us that she wanted her experience to give the Western world an important message that the mind can have an extremely strong reaction to that which it cannot understand. And that those reactions, such as fear, do not mean for an instant that we are not the Vastness. She wanted her life to convey that everything is here in this Vastness, nothing is excluded, and that everything is as it is.

And more about this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Segal

Suzanne Segal (1955–1997) was an American writer and teacher about spiritual enlightenment, known for her sudden experience of self-realization which she wrote about in her book Collision With the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self.

In addition to gaining note in the spiritual community, Segal became a model case of the dissociative condition known as depersonalization disorder (DPD). Along her journey some therapists formally diagnosed her with DPD, while others did not have clear explanations.

Enlightenment experience

One day in 1982, while boarding a bus in Paris, the 27-year-old Segal experienced a sudden shift in her consciousness. She described the experience in her book, Collisions With the Infinite:

"I lifted my right foot to step up into the bus and collided head-on with an invisible force that entered my awareness like a silently exploding stick of dynamite, blowing the door of my usual consciousness open and off its hinges, splitting me in two. In the gaping space that appeared, what I had previously called 'me' was forcefully pushed out of its usual location inside me into a new location that was approximately a foot behind and to the left of my head. 'I' was now behind my body looking out at the world without using the body's eyes."[4]

Segal described this first period of her experience as "witnessing", since she was aware of herself but also critically detached from it. This was tremendously unpleasant for her, full of anxiety and fear:

The moment the eyes opened the next morning, the mind exploded in worry. Is this insanity? Pscyhosis? Schizophrenia? Is this what people call a nervous breakdown? Depression? What happened? And would it ever stop? ... The mind was in agony as it tried valiantly to make sense of something it could never comprehend, and the body responded to the anguish of the mind by locking itself into survival mode, adrenaline pumping, senses fine-tuned, finding and responding to the threat of annihilation in every moment."[4]

Having a background in meditation, Segal questioned whether this break could be the first step in a positive journey but dismissed it:

"The thought did arise that perhaps this experience of witnessing was the state of Cosmic Consciousness Maharishi had described long before as the first stage of awakened awareness. But the mind instantly discarded this possibility because it seemed impossible that the hell realm I was inhabiting could have anything to do with Cosmic Consciousness."[4]

In the years after her break Segal continued to function with seeming normalcy, completing a doctorate in psychology at the Wright Institute.[5] She continued to feel completely depersonalized, literally as if her own name did not refer to anyone.[6] She described it as if her "... body, mind, speech, thoughts, and emotions were all empty; they had no ownership, no person behind them. I was utterly bereft of all my previous notions of reality".[7]

Segal's state of mind terrified her, and she sought advice from California's Buddhist community. Buddhism intentionally cultivates loss of ego and a sense of emptiness and oneness, and spiritual teachers tried to help Segal see her condition positively. Several even congratulated her: "This is a wonderful experience. It has to stay eternally with you. This is perfect freedom. You have become (moksha) of the realized sages," read one letter she received.[8]

Twelve years after her initial break, Segal dramatically entered another phase of her experience, centered around a sense of unity of perception between herself and the world:

"In the midst of a particularly eventful week, I was driving north to meet some friends when I suddenly became aware that I was driving through myself. For years there had been no self at all, yet here on this road everything was myself, and I was driving through me to arrive where I already was. In essence, I was going nowhere because I was everywhere already. The infinite emptiness I knew myself to be was now apparent as the infinite substance of everything I saw."[4]

This sense of cognitive and spiritual oneness remained with Segal for two years, up through the publishing of Collisions in 1996.

About this 'disorder' is link here how western psychiathris is explaining Enlightenment:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization-derealization_disorder

Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DPDR, DPD)[3][4] is a mental disorder in which the person has persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization and/or derealization. Depersonalization is described as feeling disconnected or detached from one's self. Individuals may report feeling as if they are an outside observer of their own thoughts or body, and often report feeling a loss of control over their thoughts or actions.[5] Derealization is described as detachment from one's surroundings. Individuals experiencing derealization may report perceiving the world around them as foggy, dreamlike/surreal, or visually distorted.[5]

Signs and symptoms

The core symptoms of depersonalization-derealization disorder are the subjective experience of "unreality in one's self",[15] or detachment from one's surroundings. People who are diagnosed with depersonalization also often experience an urge to question and think critically about the nature of reality and existence.[14]

Individuals with depersonalization describe feeling disconnected from their physicality; feeling as if they are not completely occupying their own body; feeling as if their speech or physical movements are out of their control; feeling detached from their own thoughts or emotions; and experiencing themselves and their lives from a distance.[16] While depersonalization involves detachment from one's self, individuals with derealization feel detached from their surroundings, as if the world around them is foggy, dreamlike, or visually distorted. Individuals with the disorder commonly describe a feeling as though time is passing them by and they are not in the notion of the present. In some cases, individuals may be unable to accept their reflection as their own, or they may have out-of-body experiences.[16] Additionally some individuals experience difficulty concentrating and problems with memory retrieval. These individuals sometimes lack the "feeling" of a memory where they are able to recall a memory but feel as if they did not personally experience it.[17][18] These experiences which strike at the core of a person's identity and consciousness may cause a person to feel uneasy or anxious.[14] The inner turmoil created by the disorder can also result in depression.[19]

First experiences with depersonalization may be frightening, with patients fearing loss of control, dissociation from the rest of society and functional impairment.

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So this is western world's  view about Enlightenment. Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who called Enlightenment Self-actualisation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

See pics about Maslow's quotes.

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Usually in western world Enlightenment and spirituality is  thought to be  some kind of drug using or mental health problems. I don't have these kind of prombelms and I don't use drugs. Times are changing little by little... I saw Shooting Star in last October in Ursa Major (Big bear) constellation and I told about it to my friend. He said that are you sure that it was shooting star or did you see UFO again. He said that he don't believe in UFOs but nowadays he beleives that I have seen UFOs. It is about planting seeds...

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LEARNING TO LEARN:  A LESSON 

TO THE WEST IN THE 21ST CENTURY 

The purpose of truth seekers is not to replace any of the existing  religions or philosophies. 

Spiritual pilgrims who have a universal view of things aim instead at studying and living up to the common essential wisdom present in the main religions, philosophies, sciences and arts. 

Yet everything is dynamic. 

Now that the richest and neocolonialist part of the West finally implodes - after dominating the world for a 500 year cycle - and now that the West destroys itself from a moral, religious, cultural, and even demographic and migratory point of view, the friends of wisdom must make sure they have enough detachment regarding the various forms of decay that surround them.   

Citizens from every nation can now get spiritual renewal and inspiration from non-Western civilizations and their philosophies, usually suppressed by colonial and neocolonial practices. 

There is no doubt that for many centuries the West had true spiritual impulses. Self-destruction accelerated, it seems, during the industrial revolution. 

The wisdom from the ancient Western world is inspiring. Pythagoreanism and Platonism are basically the same as theosophy. These two philosophies are present in the essence of Christianity during the early centuries of our era. They are available even now, if you pay attention to them. 

The Middle Ages transmit to us - to a large extent - the sacred  message coming from the ancient Western wisdom. 

The Andean philosophy talks to us, and the African philosophy, the Russian wisdom, the Asian ones. However, in all such instances one must go beyond mere appearance. 

Every defeat is a source of lessons. Western societies must be able to start again from the essentials. Each one can begin from his own ability to listen to the (silent) voice of his conscience.  

The price to pay for it is rejecting the mechanisms of collective hypnotism. One should look at human misery from the point of view of spiritual soul. 

Especially Africa and Russia have much to tell us, and to teach us. 

Many Western nations will be blessed if they learn to learn from the lands and continents they have systematic despised for the last 500 years. For example: there is much to learn from the largely neglected ancient Jewish wisdom, and from the spiritual traditions of indigenous peoples around the world.  

Truth can liberate the West. 

By humbly accepting to learn and seeking for eternal wisdom, Western societies will be able to start again and rebuild themselves. This seems to be the next phase in evolution. 

It is the step to take, now that old cycles end, while new and better times are gradually inaugurated.    

(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)