Liberation is one of the traditional names for God-realization, enlightenment and return to the Source. Synonyms for it are spiritual freedom, unity consciousness, cosmic consciousness and nondual consciousness. Liberation is the discovery of your true identity beyond ego or the sense of "I" as a separate self. That discovery, that blissful recognition of divinity at the center of yourself (and all others) resolves all dualities into cosmic unity and confers the peace which passeth all understanding. Liberation/God-realization/enlightenment is the goal, the summum bonum, of all human growth and development, individually and collectively. Literature has been one of the best means throughout history for conveying to people a sense of the wisdom and peace with the universe which is conferred on the God-realized person. When a work of literature touches us deeply-whether it is an ancient story, a classic novel or a contemporary drama-when it moves us out of our usual narrow self-concerns and into a larger, more sympathetic relation with existence and a sense of the human potential for enlightenment, we naturally accord the work and the author high regard. The degree to which people experience self-transcendence through a novel, short story, poem, play or film is regarded as a primary criterion in assessing literary greatness. Although this is generally recognized, so far as I know this characteristic has not been considered by literary critics as the basis for a genre in its own right, let alone examined in a significant way.
About the Author: JOHN WHITE is an author and educator in the fields of consciousness research/noetics and higher human development. He has been Director of Education for The Institute of Noetic Sciences, a research organization founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to study human potential for personal and planetary transformation, and President of Alpha Logics, a school for self-directed growth in body, mind and spirit. Mr. White is author of America, Freedom and Enlightenment: An Open Letter to Americans about Patriotism and Global Society; The Meeting of Science and Spirit; A Practical Guide to Death and Dying; The Gulf of Tonkin Events-Fifty Years Later and the forthcoming books Enlightenment 101: A Guide to God-Realization and Higher Human Culture and The Pledge of Allegiance & The Star-Spangled Banner: A Patriot's Primer on the American Spirit. He has also edited anthologies, including The Highest State of Consciousness, Psychic Exploration, What Is Enlightenment? and Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment. His writing has appeared in Reader's Digest, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Woman's Day, Omni and other publications. His books have been translated into ten languages.