let's talk

I just realized that I've never spoke about this subject on my blog. It's been so long for me that I just thought everyone knew and just had no interest. I speak here often as if everyone already knows about this but this week I realized that people honestly don't know. It made me sad and happy all at the same time. I figured it was time to come out of the closet. I am talking about enlightenment.

It just didn't occur to me that so many people haven't heard the term or really don't know what it means. I'm not sure why I expect anyone to know. It is not really an idea entertained in the mainstream West and when you go down your own path things become so normal to you that you forget people aren't on the same path. I want to make it perfectly clear that I am making no claim to enlightenment. I do count myself as an awakened being and I say that with the most modest of intention. I only mention it as a tool to share this information. I do not feel like I am special in any way. Anyone can be awakened. To be enlightened is a far great accomplishment that I aspire to but not in a way that I feel any lack because I am not there.

What is enlightenment? It is a spiritual awakening that elevates one to a state that allows one to live in the now, without being effected by the lower vibrations of this world. Jesus was an enlightened being. Buddha was an enlightened being. I believe Eckhart Tolle to be enlightened. The Dalia Lama is probably also such a being.

How do you obtain enlightenment? There seems to be no specific path although meditation is often a tool used to such an end. For some it is spontaneous and for others, years of work. If you take up the task you will at some point have some sort of awakening. When it happens to you, you will not be able to go back to the way you were before. It will be pretty lonely. Especially if you are like me and live in the country surrounded by people who have never heard of this path.

There is nothing wrong with not knowing. Not knowing is a beautiful thing in it's own right. It's easier to go through life and just accept what your world teaches you. It's when you begin to wake that things get a little harder because you will not be able to accept the world has to be as you were taught it was. You will believe more in the goodness of the world but you will feel pain for the people who don't see others as equal. If you can get over that then you're on the road to enlightenment.

There are millions of people around you living mindfully. They don't talk to you about it because they feel alone on the path. They'd rather just fit in than branch out and try to pull you in. The thing with these people is that they want us to live in unity. To speak about the awakened path would make people who are not on the path feel like they are being talked down to and that is not their goal.

If you feel ready to take a leap then just google search but better than that, search you-tube videos. If you find one, it will lead you to thousands. The information on this subject is endless. I'd start with Eckhart's video. Once you dive down the rabbit hole you will be amazed at why so few people in the US know about this phenomenon. The information is literally right under your nose and because you've never heard about it, you don't know it exists.

This is also an excellent video on the subject.

You might also want to watch this movie.

I also love this short video. This part of it filled me with happiness:

"You have to allow people time, you have to allow them to be, and as you do, then you become free."