Why Don’t You Become Enlightened?
Enlightenment is the natural state of our being. It sounds too simple. You may think of asking, why then only a fraction of the human population is enlightened. It is because, we give more importance to the mind and we always work on improving that. The pure awareness could be equated to a plain white paper. The mind is something like a painting on that white paper. When we work on the mind, we give a different coating over the existing coating, trying to create a better mind. The awareness is always pure and no external thing can pollute it. It is the emptiness itself. How could something stick to that emptiness.
Why Don’t You Become Enlightened?
What is Enlightenment?
First of all, enlightenment is not a dirty word. In my spiritual journey I have learned that many people are afraid to talk about enlightenment, as though it is taboo or a mystical state of being that you just don’t talk about. People are not afraid to talk about Buddha, Krishna or the Devil but talking about enlightenment seems to be like talking about some form of weird sex or a plot to kill the President of the United States. Enlightenment or pure awareness, as it is sometimes called, is simply a state of consciousness. Since many people have a problem with the word enlightenment I will use the term pure awareness, henceforth, as a substitute for it. Pure awareness is not really a substitute because they both mean the same thing – the highest state of consciousness possible – total awareness.
You experience different states of consciousness every day. When you are asleep, you are in a state of unconsciousness – a sate of unresponsive to mild or even strong stimuli. When you are awake you may be in a state of waking sleep, attention or some other form of consciousness. Pure awareness is considered the highest level of consciousness that the human mind can attain. Yes, I said attain. It does take some effort to get to the state of total awareness. Some people seek out a guru with which to practice while others may meditate many hours each day for years and years to arrive at the ultimate state of consciousness. Other people who don’t have the luxury of either a guru or time for long meditations may take a more arduous approach through research, reading, practice, patience, and perseverance. This type of approach is often referred to as trial and error; it may or may not work.Oh, my.
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