Enlightenment, Part 3

I have often been pondering for why people are looking up to gurus. As the Mystic Cab film clearly has illustrated, I have been experiencing these troubles myself! As I have pointed out in my previous posting, gurus are not better than or "above" anyone else, yet they are constantly being put up on the pedestals. Why is this?

Recently I am finding the answer to this perplexing puzzle, revealing also interesting insights about many enlightenment practices. It is coming from a most surprising place - that of brain science. Jeff Hawkins, a high technology entrepreneur, has founded a brain studies institute in 2002 and from this research he has published a fascinating book, On Intelligence. This book is explaining that the brain is a "hierarchy discovery machine." It is so because the manifested world is nothing but an infinite set of hierarchies! For example, vision: at the low level we are having colors and shapes; these are combining to create objects one level above; then motion above that and so on and so forth. You can be taking any aspect of the world and seeing this. Indeed, our brains are being evolved to gain mastery over the manifested world, so it is no accident that this is so. NOTE: please be reading Jeff's book as my articulation of it is totally that of novice! Similarly, another great thinker, Douglas Hofstadter is making this same point in his weighty book, Godel Escher Bach. On page 319, he is telling of an anteater's perspective of an ant hill, explaining that in order to understand the ant hill, one must stop seeing the ants! In other words, progressing up the hierarchy. In essence, any person who is being excellent at a particular skill - driving a car, writing a song, being a leader, raising family - has traveled UP the hierarchy, making greater and greater connections within their brain!

Now we can be seeing how this is relating to enlightenment and how we are getting confused. The entire "goal" of such practices such as yoga, meditation, etc., is for the seeker to see the entire system non-hierarchically! In other words, to be stepping OUT of the hierarchy and orienting our mind to see the world with this part of our brain being turned off.

This is also the source of confusion. If you have not viewing it from this perspective, (let us call this "pre-enlightenment" state), you are thinking that you are having to travel UPWARDS! This will be a never-ending journey precisely not resulting in enlightenment state. And of course, this is explaining why gurus are mistakenly being installed at the top of social hierarchies.