Enlightenment cannot be sought after.

“If we demand enlightenment, it hides. All that we can do is make ourselves enlightenment-prone. We learn to treasure the possibility of awakening in all moments and circumstances. We learn to simplify and cultivate the receptivity of heart that can be touched by profound understanding. We learn to listen deeply and discover stillness amid the movement in our world.” – Christina Feldman

One becomes enlightened

Enlightenment is the measure of growth or stature gained by he or she who seeks above all wisdom, to live a life of love, of charity, and of giving freely of self, that others may blossom.

It is being the beautiful person you were destined to become.

What does one who is enlightened look like?

Those who are enlightened are fully aware, they are fully conscious.

They are aware of themselves, their surrounding world, and are able to separate themselves from the noise of the world in which they inhabit.

They are no longer humans doing but human’s being.

“Enlightenment is not about becoming divine, instead it’s about becoming more fully human. It is the end of ignorance. ” -Lama Surya Das

 

Those who are then enlightened, use their newfound awareness to rise to levels of greater understanding thereby achieving a state of inner peace that surpasses all comprehension.

It is an inhaling of the beauty and magnificence of life and its myriad complexities and components and exhaling acceptance and understanding.

As Wayne Dyer author of “Wisdom of the Ages,” so eloquently stated, “If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is, “the quiet acceptance of what is.”

Although many seek few fully develop it for many it takes a lifetime.

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small-scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic” – Anais Nin

For one who does manage to become enlightened

• He or she grasps the purpose of it all, of everything, of one’s existence.
• He or she sees the intricate little pieces of life fit together into one giant mosaic.
•  one exquisite landscape.

“To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.” – Bhagavad Gita

Why is it that so few become enlightened?

Many are looking in the wrong locations for enlightenment.

1. They are looking for enlightenment in places. 

Enlightenment is not a byproduct of having visited zen gardens, mountaintops, cathedrals, temples, or other locales.

2.  They are looking for enlightenment from others.

They are seeking enlightenment apart from themselves, to come from some great teacher.

3. They are awaiting some grand alteration in events, but this is to no avail.

Enlightenment does not change our physical into a metaphysical state. Our physical form and surroundings remain the same. One does not ascend above the drone of daily existence.

There  is a Zen proverb that eloquently states

“Before enlightenment chopping wood, carrying water” (Dyer p 59)

“After enlightenment chopping wood, carrying water ” (Dyer p 59)

There is no significant alteration of circumstances, events, or places required to become enlightened.

“Inside or outside of yourself you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it” (p 63)

 

 enlightenment indicates a change in perception and perspective.

“In general enlightenment will not change your outer world, but will change your way of processing the world” (Dyer p 61)

Old habits are broken and new ones enacted. One becomes reborn a new person. They simply seem different.

To them, the world no longer seems the same because he or she is no longer blind but sees the world in vivid color.

 

Enlightenment awakens.

 

The evidence of such is undeniable, one demonstrates such in the life that they live.

Dyer, Wayne. “Wisdom of the Ages.” Harper Collins. Print