Question: What is Enlightenment?

Thanks for asking the questions that come to your mind, even if they appear "rather peculiar" to you. In Enlightenment all perceived pain has vanished, for what but wrong-mindedness seemed to create the misperception called pain.

Pain was the illusion that Christ could leave a Loving Creator's Mind. "If pain is real there's no God. If God is real there's no pain."(W-190.3) The latter is true because God has no opposite. Enlightenment entails no pain or displeasure about ANYTHING,  a course in miracles  for Enlightenment is Pure, Constant Happiness, Peace, Freedom, and Joy. Being Constant, Enlightenment knows not of change. The illusion of vulnerability and fluctuating emotions has gone as well. There's no ego to fall "back into." Spirit Abides in gentle Love. All pain is finished Now and nothing remains but a blessing of Stillness.

The Holy Spirit is the reminder that Life is Eternal. The Present Moment is the gateway to Eternity. The entire world of images was a world of illusion. Images are therefore neutral to the Holy Spirit. They certainly were "neutralized" the instant they seemed to arise.

What does this mean in relation to your second question? You can't kill what has never lived, and in the Holy Spirit's Perspective of forgiveness harm is impossible. Bodies were never born and never die because the entire world of images is the past. It is impossible to find beginnings and endings in a script that's already written and over long ago. There's no life in images. This is the meaning of "Hold no graven images before the Lord Thy God." All images were made to obscure the Truth from awareness, and they can only be forgiven together illusion. If illusions might be divided up into living and dead, organic and inorganic, animate and inanimate Enlightenment could be impossible.

For what is Enlightenment but Pure Oneness, far beyond the likelihood of division of any sort? The split mind was the illusion. Seek not to project the split mind to forms and call some forms alive and some forms dead. God knows not form. The split mind was the "killer" illusion, the Holy Spirit reminds the sleeping mind that what is whole and unified cannot BE split.

In Heaven Mind is One Spirit, and even with regard to this world forgiveness reflects this Oneness. The forgiven world recognizes the unity of the healed mind and sees that there's nothing "outside" with this single mind which dreams softly a happy, gentle dream. The goal of ACIM would be to dream softly of a sinless world. This goal is more than possible, it is inevitable!

As for my seeming diet, "eat what is served" is the Guidance I was handed from the Holy Spirit many years ago. Join with your brother and let no concept come between the Love you share. This Guidance hasn't changed. "Dinner" is always a backdrop for sharing the Joy of the Living Moment. What the entire world calls "breathing" and "eating" and "drinking" and "sleeping" are really the same in the Enlightened State. The Healed Perspective sees the sameness of all things because they all share the exact same Purpose: forgiveness.

This Perspective is not "personal," for in unified perception nothing is personal. God is no respecter of persons. I literally cannot "take" an animal's "life" because Life is Spirit and can only be extended or Given as God Gives. "Take" has no meaning in my mind and since animals have not "lived" it is impossible that they might "die." The belief expressed in thinking "personally take an animal's life" has many underlying assumptions which can be false. In right-mindedness it is obvious that ideas are strengthened because they are given away or shared, and "taking" a "life" or anything more has no meaning.

All that I give is directed at mySelf, and in giving there's no loss, no sacrifice, and nothing is ever recinded from wholeness and unity. The teacher of God does not want anything that cannot be given away. Such is the Joy of miracles! The thought seeds seem to be flung everywhere, yet there's never even a glance back once again to see where in fact the seeds land. The seeds are never for an "other," and since giving and receiving are the exact same the mind receives the gifts it gives. This is truly the feast you seek for underneath the ego's questions.

The sole question that want be asked is really a question that's not necessarily silly at all: Am I ready to understand that God's Will and My Own would be the Same? God's Will for Me is for Perfect Happiness. And what but this Will is the Will of Christ? Happily, nothing can change Eternal Love. Thank You God!