Who do you believe is/was enlightened?

I'm wondering who you believe is or was enlightened either spiritually or intellectually. This is for an assignment of mine but I'm also very curious to hear what you think.

So far I have people like Albert Einstein and the Buddha but I'd like to find more every day people if possible. Someone who it's more conceivable to emulate in the real world.

I would think my idea of someone normal, if you can call him that would be President Obama. He's taken all these assaults on him, his wife, his family and he's kept calm. He's done it through all manners of adversity, from birtherism, to questions of his religion, etc. To be able to suffer daily attacks on your person, and withstand them I think takes some degree of enlightenment. If not that, then I would like to find out what it is, because I've not learned to control my emotions that well yet.

Having studied Buddhism and Taoism for a while, my opinion on the matter is that there's not really such a thing as enlightenment in the metaphysical sense. What I mean is that I never really got the feeling that any of these great thinkers felt they moved to a higher or even adjacent spot mentally. I don't think Buddha sat under the tree of knowledge, resisted the temptations, and was then forth beyond that of normal man. Instead of being the end goal, Enlightenment is kind of like the journey. Its the unobtainable thing to strive for. Self betterment, emotional control, living in the moment (especially) are all things that one experiences through life. Enlightenment is a way we describe people who live in their own way, but they're just living life as we are. Now if you need some examples of people who kinda fit the mold of that whole shibang I'd recommend Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, Lao Ze author of the Tao de ching (the writing that inspired taosim) and the actor Jeff Bridges who has written books with Zen masters and is just a really awesome dude.

rrhodes67 wrote: I would think my idea of someone normal, if you can call him that would be President Obama. He's taken all these assaults on him, his wife, his family and he's kept calm. He's done it through all manners of adversity, from birtherism, to questions of his religion, etc. To be able to suffer daily attacks on your person, and withstand them I think takes some degree of enlightenment. If not that, then I would like to find out what it is, because I've not learned to control my emotions that well yet.

If that is the cryteria for enlightenment then I would put forth Donald Trump as a God.

Good point, I suppose. However, it misses the point that I was referring to his ability to keep control of his temper, and emotions, which Trump does not possess.

I don't think there's ever been a person who was completely "enlightened" all the time. Everyone will have their flaws. If I had to make a list of individuals that I looked up to for inspiration "enlightenment" wise though...

• Bruce Lee
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ghandi
• Musashi
• Paul Stanley (yep, that Paul Stanley. Read his autobiography and you'll get it)

I'm sure there's others but they're what I've got off the top of my head right now. And that's just the non-fictional people. If you want to bring in fiction then lets add

• Uncle Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
• Gandalf (LOTR)
• Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version)
• Obi-Wan
• Spenser (from the Robert B. Parker book series)

Great choices, and if we're going for fictional characters, one of my first thoughts was Arnold Ziffle. That pig was the smartest creature in Hooterville.

Gonna have to go with Goken and say Dr. King and Obi-Wan.
I believe that King had a message from the Father to do what he did, and I believe that the Force bid that he die when he died.

Same with Obi-Wan.

rrhodes67 wrote: Good point, I suppose. However, it misses the point that I was referring to his ability to keep control of his temper, and emotions, which Trump does not possess.

I would disagree. I think it was his exacting control of his temper and emotion and his ability to read that in others that won him the highest station on this planet.

Silas Mercury wrote: Gonna have to go with Goken and say Dr. King and Obi-Wan.
I believe that King had a message from the Father to do what he did, and I believe that the Force bid that he die when he died.

Same with Obi-Wan.

Who is this "father" you speak of?