What Do I Think Enlightenment Is? (in 2025)

Is anyone ENLIGHTENED? No. In my view, I equate enlightenment with temporary states of Non-Dual Awareness. There is nobody in a persistent 100% state of Non-Dual Awareness, so nobody can be said to be “Enlightened.” It is not a permanent state. It is always temporary.

My ideas about enlightenment and what it consists of have changed over the years a number of times. Very early on I wondered if enlightenment was possible for me because I seemed to be on a sort of fast track in meditation as I climbed through the Jhana levels quickly.

I wondered if there was some possibility for me to ‘get there.’ I wondered if it was a worthy goal. I wondered if it was even something that existed. I wasn’t so sure.

Then around 2007 I reached a state on my path where enlightenment meant absolutely nothing to me and I never spoke about it or researched into it about what others thought about it. It just wasn’t anything I cared about at all. Was it real? I didn’t care. Was I enlightened? I didn’t care.

Over the last couple of years I have been asked the question many times from students and strangers online who wanted to know whether I was enlightened or what my idea of enlightenment is. I have usually just said I don’t know what it is.

There are probably clear statements in the Buddhist Suttas and commentaries about what enlightenment is for Buddhists. I am not Buddhist, so my idea of enlightenment is likely different. There are lots of other people and other traditions, I mean other teachers, who are talking about enlightenment in terms of the path that they followed, and so today I will look at what my idea of enlightenment is in 2025.

Oh, and I use the phrase enlightened person below to mean someone who has experienced repeatedly Non-Dual States of awareness that have changed the individual considerably in reducing the Ego.

Enlightenment as an Event

Lots of people have spoken about their own enlightenment experience as a singular event that catapulted them directly into vast wisdom and knowledge about the nature of reality and the human experience.

I don’t have experience of it from that perspective and can’t comment on the veracity of claims like that. I suppose it’s possible. Many teachers insist it is absolutely impossible. I like to think that we don’t really know all that is possible. I’ve thought I’ve known what possibilities existed many times in the past and I’ve consistently been shown to be in error. Anyone who claims full knowledge of anything is usually some power-hungry muppet seeking to climb to higher fame.

Enlightenment as a Process

Whatever happened to me happened over time as a process more than one event. I remember plenty of events – Deep Jhanas where the non-dual state lasted for hours or days. It was one of those states that seems to have persisted.

Enlightenment as a process seems to happen through a whittling down of the Ego. Through a series of experiencing many Non-Dual States, the Ego drops away not only in each meditation session but outside all meditation as well. Fundamental changes in the way the person thinks of material things. Emotional things. Spiritual things. Fear. Love. Anticipation. Reward. Punishment. Literally everything, is seen through the gradually clearing lenses that filter the input and output of the mind.

Over time a different reality becomes evident. This affects the Ego dramatically and changes the person from within without real self-effort. The changes are done to you, not by you, is how it seems.

Post Enlightenment

I am only really familiar with awareness of some form of enlightenment after it already happened. It was more like a process that evolved and then culminated in a permanent change after 10 years.

Though I did have odd experiential states during some meditation sessions I wasn’t aware of an instantaneous knowledge that didn’t exist before. The sun didn’t suddenly explode and shower me with love or wisdom. I didn’t pass out and wake up with some new state. The knowledge that something had fundamentally changed in my mind came gradually and without fanfare.

The new state came to me over the days and weeks that followed some meditation sessions here near my home in Krabi, Thailand. I just became aware that some sort of state existed in my head in addition to the usual Ego (Vern) state. Over some days I noticed that this extra state was always there.

Then I realized that this other state is actually always there and that “I” my Ego state, was not always there. The Ego state was a layer on top of the other state. Or, it was able to superimpose over top of it. It was able to act for a while until quiet, then the other state existed underneath as it always did. Not always as in my entire life, just in the days/weeks before.

So the state seems to have come on during or after a period of meditation/Jhana and it didn’t go away. It happened during a meditation session and then just seemed to continue. It has been here now since 2007.

It seems permanent. However, I can be “Vern” as much as I want to play the role and get things done to support my family and self. Vern likes to run and have fun and make jokes about himself and life and eat certain foods and accomplish some things to bring money in to buy food to put into the mouths of the 5 people + cat in this townhome.

What Is My Idea of Enlightenment Today?

I wrote a few things for another post about teachers who say “You Are Already Enlightened” that I will drop below. I’ll also add some more headings that will hopefully approach a Big Picture about what I think enlightenment is at this point.

Ego-Free Awareness

At certain times, either briefly or recurring, an enlightened person may experience a complete absence of the sense of self. There is no reference to I or me, and no identification with any role, identity, or concept. Experience unfolds without a personal center interpreting or claiming it. Includes: Identity collapse, the end of narrative self (mental commentary), loss of the doer,

Freedom From Emotional Suffering

In some periods, whether short or extended, there can be a state in which emotional suffering simply does not arise. With the ego inactive, nothing touches the mind in a way that produces emotional pain. This does not refer to physical harm, but to the complete absence of inner disturbance.

Non-Dual Mental Landscape

Whenever the ego is absent, the mind is free of all dualities. Opposites such as good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, self and other, effort and non-effort, simply do not appear. The usual contrasts that structure ordinary experience fall away, leaving a unified, undivided field of awareness. There is no preference or aversion in the mind in this state at all, it is as if the experiencer (awareness) is just that it’s all the same stuff. There is no sensation of time. It’s awareness without a filter or center. It’s fearlessness – nothing known or aware of in the future or past.

Naturally Occuring Insight Makes Personality/Ego Changes

Insight is not something you need to do, it is something that occurs naturally as a result of entering Non-Dual States regularly. Insight is a sort of learning or re-learning process that occurs as you experience things in the Non-Dual or near Non-Dual State of mind that affects you in a different way than it would in your regular Ego-filled state.

Absence of Usual Mind Activity

Mind activity that used to be there, is no longer there in the state. Emotion, thought, running commentary from some voice in your head (you), just isn’t there in any form.

Some Level of Ego Returns

I am not aware of anyone who is in a 100% Non-Dual enlightened state permanently. It just doesn’t seem possible. Someone would literally need to be fed and taken care of in every way because there would arise no ‘doer’ to get anything done.

If such a state is possible, the one in it would experience nothing of the usual life of a person. He/she would be useless to others because there would be no ego to express wisdom or teach or help in any way. A useless state, to be honest!

I am somewhat sure that no such person exists. If so, they could be in a mental institution. How would we know they were in a permanent Non-dual State? They couldn’t tell us what’s going on inside.

In the Ego State of Someone with Enlightened Experience

People who have experienced enlightened states of mind may have some carryover effects. Here is a list of some changes to the Ego that can be evident.

An End to Spiritual Seeking

There is a general disregard for seeking something further. What else matters? Seems like a good spot to be in. Is there something else? Who cares? Lol. This is what I feel. I have had so many students ask me to go look at what this person said, or this other person. I just have no interest to be honest. Who cares what they said? It has no effect on my life if I don’t let it, or if I don’t open the door to it. I feel like I don’t need to open any more doors.

Greater Empathy and Concern for Others

One of the biggest changes in people undergoing a transformation is they think less about their own needs and desires and more about others. They listen more. They care more. They want to help more. They understand the relationship we are all in with each other. They feel less separateness between themselves and others.

Trigger-Response Reactions Diminish

The whole trigger-response loop gets cut. Things that used to anger them barely registers. Not because they’re “trying to be calm,” but because the thought process that used to be normal has changed and includes hard pauses and outright disconnects. The ego is either offline or barely humming in the background. So emotionality – erratic response – tapers, falls away, and changes the person’s personality.

Preferences Soften or Disappear

Food, music, hobbies, hairstyle, clothes, colors, whatever… the emotional charge behind it fades. They can enjoy things, but that gripping need is gone. They stop defining themselves by the stuff they used to cling to. Identity becomes optional, not mandatory.

I went through a period of disenchantment with many things as I began to get into the Deep Jhanas. I remember not caring about my new Honda car, my bike, my clothes and whether they matched or my socks matched, combing my hair, and looking in a mirror. I also distinctly remember not having the same need for people that I had before. My wife for one!

Social Anxiety Fades

It’s not confidence. It’s not “self-esteem.” It’s the lack of a self-image to defend or think about. If there’s no narrator commenting about how you look, sound, or come across, you become incredibly natural around people. Not because you’re trying. You just literally don’t have the inner commentary anymore which is evaluating whether you are good enough.

Honesty Nearly Trumps All

When the ego drops to very low levels, lying becomes awkward and pointless. There’s no self to protect. No fake persona to maintain. So they say what’s true, not in a rude way, just in a clean way. Sometimes it can be done with respect and a real caring for the other person and it comes across as genuinely wanting to help.

Emotional Waves Stop Crashing

Anger, jealousy, shame, guilt, fear… those used to be storms. After enlightenment they become small ripples. They show up but don’t stick. There’s no sticky surface for them to cling to. An enlightened mind feels emotion like weather passing through open space.

The Future Holds No Fear

Planning happens when needed, but the psychological weight of “the future” dies. They live right here, not because they’re practicing mindfulness but because the mind literally won’t spin narratives the way it used to. The compulsive anticipation and dread simply drop out..

The “Me” Concept Feels Fake

It feels like I am playing the role of Vern. It’s based on all the accumulated memory I have of the experiences of Vern. There is a feeling that it isn’t me, even when playing Vern enthusiastically. If I just ask myself – is this Vern construct real? It’s immediately clear the answer is no. It’s as if I’m playing a game to continue on this charade of this guy named Vern who isn’t really there at the core. It’s bizarre for people to hear that, but in the most honest way I can say it – this is the experience.

The Search for Meaning Stops

Because the whole driving force – Ego – that demands purpose goes quiet, life is what it is. Experience is enough. There need not be existential meaning.

Last Breath

So, to summarize all of that into one sentence:

The experience of Enlightenment seems to be a combination of temporary states of Non-Duality which have the effect of decreasing the person’s Ego and changing their perspective on reality in many different ways, not all of them the same between individuals.

It is probably incorrect/unwise to say that ‘someone is enlightened.’ it isn’t a permanent state. These states are always shared with an Ego as far as I can tell.

We can say that a person has experienced some enlightenment; or, that person has known enlightened states.

I guess I’ll leave it at that.

All of this is my own idea and I don’t claim to have true wisdom about any of it except my own direct experience. I often speak in generalities that cannot be applied to specific people. I don’t know if all Neo-Advaitists are crackpots, and nor do I care. 😛

[Top Image: I asked Gemini AI to make an image of an enlightened guy looking out on a banana plantation with filters of the mind in front of him, but not being used. So, it’s pretty good. Quite surreal!]

• What Do Others Think Nirvana Is?
• Are We ALL Already Enlightened? (Neo-Advaita Movement)?