I think that many of us imagine that there’s a point of Enlightenment where all of a sudden you’re perfect. You never feel another emotion in your life; you never have another problem.
That’s a myth of Eastern philosophies that’s been used to control people. It’s similar to controlling you with the illusion of riches. The idea that being rich enough will make you happy and make you satisfied. Or the idea that getting a good enough relationship will make you satisfied. Or that being spiritual enough will make you good enough to be in the world.
The idea is that we go along in painful illusion, and then there’s this blissful nothingness that happens at some point. This is a total misconception of reality itself, of what actually happens.
There can’t be a point of ending because we know we are completely interconnected with everything.
Being more aware (which is the actual definition of enlightenment, total awareness, right?) makes us realize our interconnections more. So why would we think that we get enlightened and then just sit there, totally blissful, when people around you are upset?
There are so many enlightenment stories about a master who sits in a chair surrounded by devotes. Blissfully giving beautiful advice. And we all fall for the carrot on a stick. Nah, that’s just a bunch of baloney.
More connected is what we’re looking for.
Actually, that’s wrong because we’re always connected. So being more connected can’t happen. Maybe we should say: more aware of our interconnections, more aware of how we fit in. As I move through the world, how do I affect how other people move through the world? And the birds, and the air, and the Earth rotating, and how all these things are part of this immense Harmony and disaster at the same time, right? Volcanoes, hurricanes, people have problems, animals have problems, we go off balance very easy and then have to come back.
So, thinking that there’s this stopping point of just bliss, that’s just nuts. That’s just nuts. And why do we want to be there anyway? We’re human beings. So let’s wake up to be what we actually are: interconnected, brilliant, creative forces inside of an interconnected, brilliant force that’s constantly moving. That’s the human being.