Enlightenment
April 4th, 2008
Among many people who were not bold enough to do it, my sister, Simma, confessed to seeing no humour in this cartoon.* Wherein lies the humor?
You are a seeker. You have heard of an enlightened one. He is a hermit who lives in a cave in the side of a mountain. You must struggle to get there. The arduous climb symbolizes the struggle to attain nirvana - become enlightened. In clothes befitting the nakedness of your soul and your readiness to become a devotee you ascend the mountain. And, at last, just over the last ledge your struggle is to be rewarded. You will see the enlightened one, an ascetic bearded prophet of great age.
Instead you see a 40 year old hairy man dressed in woman’s underwear, wearing a wig and made up like a hooker, sitting in the lotus position. But then, this astonishingly silly figure speaks the words that his appearance illustrates. And these turn out to be the most profound words imaginable: Disillusionment is enlightenment!
Disillusionment, something mourned by many as the loss of innocence, is declared to be the kernel of enlightenment. By a man whose very appearance embodies disillusionment to the seeker.
The power of this cartoon is of biblical proportions. It is Michaelangelo’s David of cartoons. A masterpiece. Because it speaks profundity through humor.
The pealing away of illusion is surely enlightenment.
And the pealing away of illusion is what disillusionment means.
Disillusionment is enlightenment.