| What does it feel like to be enlightened? This question is explored with 4 spiritual teachers who deepened, embodied, and integrated a profound spiritual awakening over several years. This study provided a nuanced portrait of this ordinary, extraordinary, transcendent, and deeply embodied human experience. A deep heuristic methodology was used to reveal the nature of the everyday, lived, physical, and sensory experience of spiritual enlightenment for these individuals. Spiritual enlightenment was initially defined as an ongoing transcendent experiencing: this study produced a revised and elaborated definition. The coresearchers described their experience of the physical body, senses, intuition, intimacy, and relating to and functioning in the world. They also described a radical inner transformation characterized by a loss of their previous sense of identity, worldview, way of relating, and usual sense of being. The coresearchers reported feeling the body and its sensations more fully, and experience greater pleasure and well-being as a result of this transformation. Contrary to some spiritual teachings, they do not reject, mistreat, ignore, or transcend the body; rather, they embrace, feel, respect, and deeply inhabit the body. The coresearchers described an acute awareness of their emotional and cognitive experience and a transformed relationship to their thoughts, emotions, and sensations. They reported experiencing very little stress, anxiety, worry, fear, hatred, anger, resentment, jealousy, greed, guilt, or desire to control since their transformation. This study expands and clarifies our theoretical understanding of human development, human potential, the nature of being, the nature of consciousness, the experience of embodiment, relating and relationship, identity, self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and motivation. The emergent data is useful to clinicians, researchers, and individuals pursuing personal growth and a happier, joyful, more contented and fulfilled life. This research has implications for the study of happiness, well-being, parenting, education, social engagement, and leadership. |
