Thanks for the question.
No.
There are no levels of self-inquiry, no journey, no enlightenment, and no beyond.
Phew. Got that out of the way.
I have a better question but I will ask it in a moment.
Enlightenment is the Awakening to Reality. That’s a lot of words with capital letters, looking rather serious there, right? This answer is starting to get intense. I will be putting words like self in inverted commas soon “self” - there did it.
Reality is as it is.
Nothing about Reality is different following enlightenment. It is exactly the same as it was before enlightenment. And no wonder when enlightenment doesn’t occur to anything.
Let me just butter my toast while the bread is hot…
Are there higher levels of self-inquiry on your journey to enlightenment and beyond?
We might look at gurus and think they are at a higher level than us. They dress in white and have long beards, the men too. They sit under trees and sound wise, or wear loincloths and talk to cows. They live in cloud caves and do amazing Qigong, or smile in a nondual knowing way on YouTube.
They’ve all got somewhere, haven’t they? Somewhere we want to be. A state of bliss and endless peace. And people want to know why I look so great and radiant today. Oh, I am enlightened, so happy you noticed. Shall we set up a Zoom group?
Reality is One.
Not two or more things. Just One. A single Being that is asking itself questions and then answering them itself. Perhaps it is rather bored and has no one to play Monopoly with.
One single Being masquerading as everything in the universe.
And of course, we think such an enlightened person will never get angry, will be right about everything they say because they are coming from a place of wisdom we are not, they will sit on stage wearing their tanktops with a slightly amused grin like they know a joke we don’t know.
And they do.
There is no-self.
There’s the punchline.
Here’s another punchline - and the man shouted “fire” so they shot him.
A punchline isn’t much use without the joke. And the joke here is that you believe in yourself. You are 100% certain that “you” can do “self” inquiry (there you go, I knew I would use “these things”). You know there is a journey to a place called enlightenment, oh wait, and beyond enlightenment.
Oh, I am laughing now. The cat is also laughing. Stop rolling on your back showing your hairy belly. The wife, not the cat.
A better question to ask yourself might be, considering all is One, and when One Awakens nothing has changed about Reality… “Why am I not in a state of constant bliss and peace?”
Why are people going around annoyed at stuff? The weather, the gas bill, the kids always watching screens, this damn computer crashed again and I lost everything I just typed (yes that just happened), life is so damn annoying.
But you are the same This as the gurus that you expect to have gone beyond whatever it is they should have gone beyond. And they ought to be in a state of bliss and endless loving peace. Smiling with shiny teeth and glistening eyes.
But they are the same You.
How do you go beyond you? How do you do that?
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