I was a weird kid. I would read anything I could get my hands on. In addition to the comic books I traded with other kids and avidly read, during summer visits at my paternal grandmother's home in Alabama I would sneak a peek at her Christian literature and its tales of redemption and salvation.One revival-tent story that struck me most vividly was of Big Jim, a hellacious dude who found Jesus and just lit up with love.
Big Jim was transformed in every aspect of his being!
Until that point, I did not know such things could happen. Everyone around me seemed to stay pretty much the same. I have been a fan of transformation ever since.
As a psychologist, a metaphysician, and an investigator of religions, my attention continues to be called to the understanding that two general categories of transformation exist -- sudden and gradual.
Amongst some Christians, the first is called conversion -- one is going in a certain direction and then does a complete about-face and heads the other way. Some of the old Zen dudes (Hui-neng for example) also experienced this sudden enlightenment. It's a human characteristic -- not bound to religion, philosophy of life, or culture.
The latter, the gradual way, seems to be the way of most folk, with perhaps a few Aha! blips on the screen.
And what is it that is transformed? Some say the soul. Soul is a beautiful word. Fine by me. Another way to speak of what is transformed is consciousness or awareness.
Other terms that point to this process are transmutation, shape-shifting, and transubstantiation. It was a natural process to open from there to pondering the evolution of human consciousness a la Jean Gebser, Teilhard de Chardin, Sri Aurobindo.
No doubt I will pursue this interest the remainder of this life. And it started with my Mawmaw's salvation stash.
Yes, there is spontaneous enlightenment. Some stimulus triggers the transformation. Then, there is gradual enlightenment. One must "strive" or work at it. There are two schools of Zen Buddhism that recognize these two paths. Some believe that spontaneous enlightenment befell Jesus. The Buddha showed humanity the way to gradual enlightenment. Spontaneous enlightenment can be triggered by intense suffering - the Way of the Cross, but it can just as easily be a word or phase overheard or spoken, or a visual trigger such as the Sun behind a cloud projecting sunbeams through it. Enlightenment is like awakening from a really bad nightmare into a loving serene environment. Suffering is left brain - me, me, me. Enlightenment is right brain - we, we, we. Or is that, whee!, whee! whee!?
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