Q: Can we talk about the path to enlightenment? How does one get on that, and stay in it, and get to enlightenment?
First, you must learn about and understand what enlightenment is. This information has been shared in depth for thousands of years, and still, few people are able to do it. It cannot be accomplished by intellectual pursuit, but that is often the doorway that is easiest to enter through.
In some ways, the task is impossible, as it is structured because the student is asking the teacher, Tell me what is enlightened, and how can I reach it? And the only way is through direct experience. But the student is not ready for direct experience. So, the teacher uses words, meditation, and lifestyle changes to help prepare the student for the direct experience. But the challenge is that the teacher is being asked to describe something indescribable, because it is not of this dimensional world. It is beyond it. And the student keeps asking questions from this dimensional world, thinking that somehow he’ll get closer if he just asks the right questions. But there are no words that can take him there.
It cannot make sense in this dimensional world because we are subject-object-based. There is the seer and the seen, and they appear separate. When you have all of humanity, who was raised to think that I am separate from you. You are separate from that tree. The tree is separate from the air, and so on and so on. Because the physical eyes perceive it as separate. You can understand the words, “You are one with all.” You can intellectually try to grasp it. But the reality is, without direct experience, they are only words.
Yes, preparation helps, meditation helps, finding the teacher helps. But at the end of the day, it’s about having a spontaneous shift, and there you are in enlightenment. This is the purpose of Koans, to present an impossible puzzle that forces the brain to have a spontaneous understanding. An Aha moment of, “Oh, this is what it is!” It doesn’t happen through rational thought. It happens through exhausting rational thought, and then, aha, there it is.
In a way, all is set up to force the student to run in circles until the student is exhausted and falls down in delirium, and in that state, All Is. Enlightenment is. Awakening happens.
Q: So should we forget about enlightenment? Should the goal be to live a good life or an aware life? Should the approach be, if awakening or enlightenment happens, it happens? If it doesn’t, it doesn’t?
Once the spark is ignited, the spiritual seeker will not be able to stop. For a true seeker, it becomes an obsession. And it takes an obsession. For most people, what you say is true. Most people are not driven. They want to be good people. They want to live a good life, do good deeds, and do the right thing because they understand the value of that. That is their experience of spirituality.
There’s enough self-reward in being and doing good that it can become self-perpetuating, a form of enlightened selfishness. “I do this to help you because it also makes me feel good.’ It’s a win-win.
Seeking enlightenment is comparable to climbing Mount Everest. Most everybody has heard of Mount Everest, and pretty much everyone’s seen photos. Those who take up climbing think maybe they’ll go there someday. But an incredibly small percentage make it to Base Camp, and an even smaller percentage still make it to the top of the mountain. This is enlightenment. It seems as though it’s available to everyone, but the reality is that very few will do what it takes to make it the complete journey.
Having said all this, let’s not stop the search for profound wisdom. There is profound wisdom available. It’s about connection to the natural world and to love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
Continue to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Because if what you need is not in your now, it will be in the next now. And if it’s not in the next now, it will be in the next or the next or the next. So, keep going.
Wisdom builds on itself once you have a base and become plugged in. It’s a stream that flows that you can access at any time.
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