The Enlightened Personality.

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The essence of spiritual teachings is always referring to or pointing out a Natural or Absolute Truth that is inclusive of all things that exist and, at the same time, it is beyond the phenomenal. Through self inquiry Spirit is something that discovered and it in itself is not a contemporary concept, but never the less each era has its own spiritual misconceptions. In the English language, an oxymoron is a type of phraseology that conjoins two contradictory words such as: honest politician, or proud to be humble. I would put the concept of the Enlightened Personality, that has become popular amongst some Neo Advaita teachers, in the same category. It comes from a misunderstanding or forgetting of the original awakening experience. Innocently, the creative spiritual personality hijacks and claims Awakening or Enlightenment for itself. This happens to many teachers and students after the initial Awakening. In the wisdom traditions of the world the Truth of who or what you are is that which is beyond the personality. In fact, it is made quite clear that the personality and self-identification are a major inhibiting factor in the realization of Truth and this is why the idea of the Enlightened Personality is an oxymoron. This is not to say that after Awakening the personality does not go through a radical transformation as it starts moving in the direction of source or essence. But it is important to be clear about the fact that the moon is only seen and shines due to the light of the sun. In the same way, once the personality is purified, the light of source is able to shine through. The personality is dependent on source and has no light independent of it. At best, it can only be a reflection of source. And a truly stable, realized, mature and integrated being is completely clear about this.