Dialectics of Enlightenment by Jenna Lilla

Dialectics of Enlightenment
PUBLISHED ON May 28, 2016 by
Dialectics of Enlightenment
PUBLISHED ON May 28, 2016 by Jenna Lilla

The Isha Upanishad offers insight into some core dialectics of enlightenment. Spiritual dialectics are resolved in the Innermost Self (Ātman), as a spiritual seeker realizes higher and higher levels of synthesis, until an ultimate dialectic is resolved: the identity of the Innermost Self (Ātman) in the Supreme Self (Brahman).

It is said that the Vedas are the body of the cosmic Purusha (see image above). As we read the Vedas, and work with the symbols and concepts contained therein we inhabit a sacred body. Cosmic Purusha is comprised of Lokas or worlds, and the body of Purusha contains lower worlds and upper worlds, places where Devas and Asuras reside. Enlightenment entails movement toward the light of the Devas (spiritual truth), and away from the darkness of the Asuras (ignorance). Ultimately, even this duality is resolved as we encounter the cosmic light and heart of Purusa, as an inner light and inner heart. This inner heart is our own and yet does not find its location in any organ of the body. It is a symbolic heart: a symbolic light, ours and beyond ours.