Enlightenment

There tend to be many discussions in spiritual communities about the question who exactly is enlightened and whether some folks are more enlightened than others. I remember once somebody suggesting at the Personal Development for Smart People Forums that we should have a conference inviting all enlightened folks with the one qualification that whoever signs up is automatically disqualified! I thought there was a lot of wisdom in that joke.

The concept enlightenment is a mind product. It may be real and describe an evolution of different spiritual planes, but unfortunately pondering about it keeps you away from the here and now and puts your focus on where you would like to be instead. The question, "are you enligtened?" implies hierarchy, i.e. "you are enlightened, while I am not" and it implies fear "what if I never get enlightened in this lifetime?". My suggestion, when you hear the world enlightenment in a conversation or in a thought, just recognize that the mind is talking at that moment and move on with your life because chances are you are missing out on something very special.

Someone else in the enlightenment discussion responded said that she must be enlightened because she often feels overwhelming joy and abundant flow of energy. An enlightened person must be at work! The important thing is to experience the Tao here and now and stop wishing you would be somewhere else instead.