Enlightenment
- our natural state.
“Why wait for
Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely covering their
eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition,
not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who
bear the light in you are alien here as well. The light came
with you from your native home, and stayed with you because
it is your own. It is the only thing you bring with you from
Him Who is your Source. It shines in you because it lights
your home, and leads you back to where it came from and you
are at home.” ACIM W.118.1
Enlightenment is normal
folks!
The Holy Grail of spirituality is certainly attaining enlightenment.
We glorify it and mystify it. It is seen as almost unattainable
at best and certainly demands many life times of work to attain.
In fact it is our normal,
natural state. If we break it down, being enlightened is about
living a life of extending ourselves in love and forgiveness,
which I need to qualify. By forgiveness I mean that nothing
really happened! It doesn’t mean that I’m big
enough to forgive you, which implies that something really
did happen! Being enlightened is also about not investing
in the daily fears our ego subjects us to.
What? Could it be that
simple? Yes it is. The only difficulty is our investment in
our ego, which we believe to be real. In fact our body, our
job, our perceptions and judgments….this whole life
we think we are living is just a charade, all a massive investment
we made up to hide our shame because we believe we have betrayed
God!
Yet clues and aides
to living an enlightened life abound. In fact they are right
before us every waking moment of our lives. As soon as we
wake up, we have a choice to let the day’s worry fill
our space or realize that regardless of what we do, we are
and have always been, safe at home with God. We realize that
this day is in fact an illusion save the opportunities to
offer love and forgiveness.
At work, we interact
with our fellow staff and customers. Here we are presented
with multiple opportunities to offer only acceptance and forgiveness.
When someone is seemingly causing conflict, it is an opportunity
for us to extend forgiveness and love because we realize that
the other person does not realize who he/she is. By not reacting,
we mirror to them who they are and we reclaim another part
of our Unified Self. When challenged to assert our self, it
is a signal that we have temporarily forgotten who we are
and we should be grateful rather than react with attack or
defence.
Back at home in the
evenings, the news entertains us with stories of terror and
loss and the occasional ‘saving a cat from a tree’
story. Notice how we take sides depending on our values and
beliefs. Here again is a wonderful opportunity to forgive
on a global scale, which is no different to forgiving our
family members, work colleagues or clients.
I’ll bet I can
hear your mind going through the motions, “Yes, but....there
are always exceptions.” In fact there are no exceptions.
There are no degrees of error or forgiveness! Herein lays
the core of the ego. It loves judgments and degrees of right
and wrong, because its whole being is based on duality. So
long as you embrace duality you maintain separation from The
Unified Self.
Here’s another
often spoken statement – “The devil’s in
the detail.” I like this one. For me this is a true
statement if I substitute ‘ego’ for devil. The
ego is always looking for degrees of right and wrong and levels
of love and forgiveness. It constantly looks into the details
to find ways of separating you from others and yourself and
making you unhappy!
Our illusions of duality
maintain our separation from one another and prevent us from
seeing our Oneness by keeping us in perpetual conflict. Forever
judging and manoeuvring. Just stop for a few minutes and ask
yourself how much energy you invest in making and maintaining
judgments every day? How much effort is spent on trying to
change others perceptions of you? How much conscious effort
goes into ‘doing the right thing’ by your partner,
workmate, customer? Do you think it’s natural to have
to spend so much time and effort maintaining relationships
and making sense of your world?
If our natural state
is enlightened already, then can you imagine just how much
the ego’s belief system has obscured from our awareness?
Enlightenment therefore is a demolition project. We can’t
get there without dismantling everything we think we know
to be real. It’s about unlearning anything that keeps
us tied into believing we must maintain control. As Jesus
said in the quote, we are not of this world and we are alien
here as well. Alien in the sense that our truth is Love and
yet we live by the laws of survival of the fittest here in
this world...and that is indeed alien to who we are.
There is only here and
now. Our Unified Self is already enlightened; everyone is.
This is not a state or experience to accomplish through external
searching and accumulated knowledge. And it doesn’t
come closer just because you’re improving your self-esteem
or meditating more. The most difficult challenge to removing
the blocks that conceal our enlightenment, is the act of surrender.
This is the unconditional acceptance of ‘what is’.
We remember who we are by seeing the Truth in everyone, no
matter what their ego projects. While we perceive reality
from behind the lens of our false-identity, we haven’t
a clue as to ‘who’ we are, nor anyone else! We
will find our Self through training ourselves to overlook
error in others. As we begin to see others without their ego
projections, we’ll be seeing Truth beneath the illusion.
Now, watch for the miraculous transformation as our very own
enlightened state begins to be revealed.
Clearly, there is no
peace where duality resides and how can that be a normal state
for us? In truth, we have never left Home and being enlightened
is really just remembering who we are and the eternal peace
that comes from that space. The Light is within us, always
was, is and will be forever more. We need only accept it!
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