Enlightenment

I think that most people are under the impression that enlightenment is some glorious spiritual experience that elevates someone up and out of the humdrum business of daily life. This has most definitely not been my experience. As the old saying goes, “Before enlightenment I chopped wood and carried water. Now, after enlightenment, I chop wood and carry water.”

Enlightenment is freely available to anyone to obtain immediately, and it doesn’t involve years of seeking the truth. It does involve, however, making a conscious decision to stop cherishing our own opinions so much, especially when we do so to the point that it blinds us to reality. It is very difficult for us humans to put aside our ideas of the way we think things should be, and simply look at them as they are. This is probably why meditation is such a critical skill to develop. In meditation, when I’ve stepped out of myself and just become an observer, many things become clearer. I told an employee a few days ago that, “People are rarely angry for the reason they think they are.” I read that someplace years ago, and it seems to me that it applies to most emotions. Until I quiet myself enough to drift down, and down some more, to the real cause, I will always be thinking I am mad, or happy, or sad, or whatever, for some superficial reason that really has more to do with my opinion of the current situation.

Enough babbling; time for me to “chop wood and carry water.”