I was asked these two questions about enlightnment recently and wanted to share my thoughts with each of you as well. Here is the Question:
Do you think that we can all one day become enlightened? If so, what do we need to do?
My Response: There is no “day” in some future time that we become enlightened. There is no future at all. Each of us already is enlightened and at various points in our lives we see it. Those who do get a glimpse of it are usually pulled into it by some event, such as the death of a loved one, or something else that causes deep reflection in which no “answer” comes. Most people who have such an experience can always recount the emotional state they felt in such times but they almost always revert back to the egoic need to explain what is going on. Most come to some conclusion that their “prayer” was answered or that an Ahhhh Haaa came to them and they understood in a way they hadn’t before. What gets lost in these conclusions is that in that moment where no answer existed is the only place that enlightenment occurred.
In other words, enlightenment is not some magical, mystical awareness of all the, so called, “Big Questions.” Enlightenment is the “nothing” that
existed before the “ego” needed an explanation. It is the sweetness of being in the presence of absolute silence and not needing an explanation
for everything. In that place there is no fear, love, happiness, sadness or any other emotional state. There is nothing but silence and it is in that
“not knowing” that “all” is known and none of it needs definition.
What do “we” need to do? “Be still and know that YOU are god.” In other words, unmask who it is that occupies your body by silencing the mind. In
this place you will experience the grand mystery of which we are all a part. It’s all you can do. There is no “we” in this unmasking. You’re own
enlightenment will enlighten others. The “god” that you are is never invisible to the “god” that they are. Something inside us always sees the greater light but it is in the quiet of the mind. Quiet your mind and discover the “everything” that is contained in the “nothing.” This is your enlightenment.
This is what you can do.