The Legacy of Enlightenment

L. A. Hutson was his name. He was a member of my last congregation. On the day that he passed away, I had the honor of standing in the Intensive Care Unit room with his family gathered round. In those few last breaths of his life, his son looked to the ceiling of the room because he said, he wanted his father to see his face. A curious action we might think. Maybe we would think it simplistic in theological perception. But, in point of fact, L. A. had essentially died many years before. He had one of those near death experiences. He recounted how he had been on the operating table and suddenly he was above his own body, disconnected from the body in some fashion but able to hear and see exactly what was going on. When they managed to save him, he was able to recount to them what they said and where each person was standing in the operating room. That the younger Hutson looked up at the ceiling was simple knowledge that his father was looking down at him. That L. A. had had the experience was for him a transformative moment in which he sought with intentionality to live life from a spiritual perspective.

In the third century, there was a philosopher by the name of Plotinus who on about four occasions suggested to his student, Porphyry, that he had known union with God in its fullness. So that on his deathbed he said to Porphyry, "Now that which is divine in me, shall attempt to rise to that which is divine in the universe." While we don't know the ends and outs of Plotinus' existence, we can hope that he lived his life with a similar lens to L. A.

I don't believe that either of these gentlemen were enlightened but I do believe that each had an experience that tells us something about enlightenment. Enlightenment is the highest stage of power that can be had. It is the place where a human has no more concern for self whatsoever. L. A. experienced that bodily detachment at some point. That person has reached a stage of divine union such that their bodies are simply tools for the work that God is to do through them. Thus, we have stories like that of Jesus on the cross and his ability to rise above what was happening to his body to know that he was not his body. These are the people who bring such a mark to our world that they leave behind infinite peace and grace.

Plotinus' would have understood that union with God from a more mystical sort of experience and perhaps that is why he was unable to hold to it. Still, there have been people who have held to it. Some would say that Krishna, Buddha and Jesus all fall into this category. However you perceive that, each one was given the title Lord by their various religious entities. It was evident that others could see in them qualities of a level that would be inconceivable to the rest of us.

At this level, the human has reached total awareness and thus the description of this level is really beyond any words that we can assign. As I struggle through my days, reflecting and evaluating the lessons that each day holds, I am palpably aware of my self and utterly aware that I will never reach such a level. Still, those who do leave a legacy of enlightenment unlike anyone else.

Though most of us won't reach such a level (and probably don't care to reach it) there is a lesson of moving beyond the self to which we are called by this stage. As we continue our passage through life knowing enlightenment will likely never be ours, may we at the very least strive (like LA) to look so far beyond ourselves that we allow God to use us. Amen.