The Word "Enlightenment" Creates False Expectations

The word enlightenment, two things that it does do very well are the transformation aspect of spiritual weakening

which is very observable and practical and undeniable in many cases and

the insight part of it which is

simply central to the whole thing.

But let's go back a bit to the downsides.

The other problem with the word enlightenment is it creates false expectations in many ways.

For one thing, it can apply a single moment of insight because you use the word enlightenment as though it's a single thing.

It implies a climactic shift

which

is really

there can be shifts, sudden shifts, but enlightenment is just a process. It's kind of like

learning to play an instrument. You don't know if a son just learned to play an instrument.

It builds up over time and it goes deeper and it goes broader and there is really no end and enlightenment is the same.

It implies a monumental discovery, you know, it implies this sort of like grand

revelation, which of course, you can have moments of that. I've had moments of that plenty of them, but

that doesn't really

help you integrate into daily life because it sort of has you seeking. It's kind of like enlightenment. It must be this

grand thing. It must be far out there, but actually

in ultimate instance, it's a very grounded thing. It's a very immediate thing.

It implies a rival, which is problematic because enlightenment is just a process. It's an ongoing process.

It can imply becoming special, you know, the word enlightenment. I'm enlightened. You know, it's

it has that kind of

ego-boosting aspect to it.

And it implies a state. It implies

something you reach and you never move from, which

again, very, very problematic.

Let me give you a kind of metaphor that I used to describe the

downsides of using this word or this particular aspect of it. It sounds like

you make enlightenment sound like a very sort of cut and dry process. Like let's turn on the enlightenment

oven, let's put the train with for 30 minutes, you know, let's meditate for X amount of years

or whatever, and then we're going to get a cake and it's done.

And that just is it's not really capturing the nuances. The reality of awakening is

quite different from what the word enlightenment may imply.

There can be moments of joyful recognition, as I said, but they're not the main event.

And usually awakening is gradual. It's

perceptual. And it's a rewiring of the perceptual system. It's

it's not this grand discovery in essence. It often happens intermittently so you can be,

you know, doing a spiritual practice for months and not really notice any progress.

And in all of a sudden, you have a shift and you have a sudden insight or you have a sudden

shift. It's a very messy process. You know, there's ups and downs and there's jumps

forward and there's regression backwards and there's no real guarantee of what it's going to look

like. It's this continually shifting process. And it's got a very different tone about it to what

the word enlightenment may imply. It's more grounding and sober and steady and ordinary than,

you know, the idea of like this amazing transformation, sudden kind of like

realization or insight or any kind of ideas about becoming some supernatural spiritual being.

You know, these things are very tempting and they're very kind of attractive to our mind,

but the actual reality of it is much more grounded, not necessarily mundane in the kind of

boring sense, but just more grounded and more sober. It's a sobering process.