Dear Adrienne: Inside the Spiritual Locker Room (signs you're enlightened)

Dear Adrienne,

I saw someone on TikTok say there are signs to show someone is enlightened, and one major one is if a person’s eyes shimmer. It’s all in their eyes—because if their eyes shine no matter what they go through in life, then that’s how we can know for sure. She said this is her experience. Please share what you think about this.

Thanks.

@SAD Via TikTok

Dear S and D,

I’ve often thought that people relate to each other’s spirituality much like they do with others’ bodies in locker rooms. Whose consciousness is bigger, his or mine? Who has a better set of experiences, her or me? Now, to be honest, I can’t say I actually hang out in men’s locker rooms, making it challenging to be 100 percent sure. But there’s an underlying point to this that begs to be discussed: why do we think it’s necessary to assess each other’s inner spiritual development or enlightenment?

The quest to find signs supporting another’s enlightenment is as old as time. In answer to Arjuna’s inquiry about the characteristics of an enlightened man, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, emphasizes that enlightenment is an internal state of consciousness—specifically, the establishment of the Self (Atman) or “Being”—and cannot be reliably judged by outer, superficial signs.

If we can’t gauge who’s enlightened by any outward display, and it’s all an internal experience, then one would think we would stop assessing our neighbor’s consciousness and mind our own business, right? No. Wrong. Because we are all humans (if you’re a human-fairy hybrid, I don’t want to know about it), and we rely on structures, goalposts, and spiritual scales for almost everything. We are constantly assessing and creating boundaries or attachments to our own spiritual existence (and others), and we still need to identify with something.

When we purport “signs” of what an enlightened individual looks like, what we’re really indulging in is our own lack of identity and inner insecurity. Bring on more hierarchical structures, numbers on a scale, and vocal intonations (and sparkly eyes) to allow us to define each other (and ourselves) better.

Here’s a workaround for the individual banking on a label for their spirituality. The next time you feel the urge to look for confirmation of your higher consciousness, take a step back and ask, “why”? Is it to garner more respect? Is it to feel special? The small self, which we will talk about in future posts, looks for labels and confirmations to build its “story” around. We can refer to it by its nickname, “ego.” Ego says, “I’m a xxxx” or “I’m not a xxx.” That’s why we are looking for definitions of ourselves. But hold up. In the experience of enlightenment, there is no identification with a small self—you realize and directly experience that you are so much more than a label; you are expanded, you are without a definition, having gone from the point value of a small self to the infinity of the big Self. Cool, huh?

Heads up, friends: your labels are the very things that will keep you stuck. We aren’t competing, and we certainly don’t need another way to separate ourselves from each other. The entire experience of full enlightenment is to experience the underlying unity in the diversity of everything—not to look for ways to separate “us” from “them,” but to experience that what we are is, in fact, that.

We are finally getting to a place as a society where we are moving away from body shaming and judgment. Let’s consider that our spiritual progress needs no assessment, definition, or endorsement but should be something naturally experienced and enjoyed by you. If you have a human physiology—and again, I’m assuming you do—then you are here to evolve, and you’re doing it without even trying.

So are they, or aren’t they? Ah, yes, back to the billion-dollar question we’ve been asking friends at coffee, teachers at the end of yoga class, and definitely any random authority figure on TikTok. Maybe the answer is as simple as this: it doesn’t matter. Can something so internal and personal be left between the individual and the higher powers that be?

Let’s move through life with simplicity and ease because, bottom line—no one really cares about your label, how big your consciousness is, what state of enlightenment you’re in, or what your amazing superpowers are. This is a personal journey that is best left alone from an outside perspective and given respect as something private between ourselves and the divine.

You’re a soul that’s precious and glorious; enjoy your journey. You need no endorsement.

Adrienne

image credit: n.evernow