What are the steps one can take on the path toward enlightenment?
The first thing to remember, here at the outset, is that enlightenment is not a destination but a direction.
It is not a truth but a process. It is both imaginary and real. It is not an either-or, but a both-and. It is only achievable when it is understood that it is an unachievable thing. Once we can let go of the need to achieve it, then we free ourselves to allow the process to unfold, and we become the achieving.
It is the constantly expanding horizon of human flourishing. But it can hurt like hell.
Indeed, enlightenment is no walk in the park. The first teacher met on the path toward enlightenment tends to be Pain itself. Enlightenment is both a reckoning and a wrecking, both an expansion and an annihilation.
The following four steps are just the tip of a much deeper iceberg of trials and tribulations, fraught with menacing thresholds and sinister Rubicons. Thin-skinned, faint-of-heart, status-quo-junkies addicted to comfort, need not apply. And if you decide to apply, leave your invulnerability behind. It’s an illusion anyway.
“Make no mistake about it – enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
–Adyashanti
Here then are four of the scariest, but secretly wonderful steps one can take on the path toward enlightenment:
1. Vulnerability And Self-Honesty
“There’s a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.”
–Alain de Botton
Vulnerability is downright scary. But in order to gain the ability to learn from our mistakes, to have fun with our inherent hypocrisy, and to have a good sense of humor in regards to our fallibility as an imperfect species, we must first have the capacity to be vulnerable, which requires brutal self-honesty and ruthless self-interrogation.
Brutal self-honesty and ruthless self-interrogation forces us to face our own demons. It pushes us to confront our most personal foibles, fallibilities, and unhealthy propensities and to question all authorities, especially our own. It forces our head over the abyss of the human condition, searing our soul with the unavoidable blazing flame of truth: impermanence.
It slaps us across the face with its absolute mockery of our happiness ever being a thing that can be permanent. It insouciantly rattles off the almighty cosmic joke, making damn certain we realize we’re the butt-end of that joke.
Recommended: Don’t Ignore These 4 Signs Of A Transcendental Enlightenment
Which is why a particularly effective strategy at achieving a state of vulnerability and self-honesty is to use our sense of humor. When we laugh at ourselves we loosen ourselves up. The screws of our seriousness get unscrewed by the genius of our humorous sincerity. We suddenly go from being the butt-end of the joke, to laughing at the joke, thus turning the tables on the jokes power over us, and thus on power itself.
When we can laugh at ourselves we are allowing ourselves to be “weird,” to tackle the dilemma of the self from another angle, to impose a state of existential vulnerability that transforms the soul into a prism where the light of truth can shine through and take the form of the rainbow of self-honesty.
And Pain is the terribly-beautiful, shiny-red, thorny and jagged little pill that we learn to swallow, again and again, with a devil-may-care, spiritually masochistic smile on our all-too-human faces. Bottoms up!
2. Swallowing The Jagged Red Pill Of Truth
“The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it.”
–Osho
Without the painful red pill of truth, we’re stuck with the all-too-comfortable blue pill of deception. The blue pill gets stuck in our throat, causing no end of blockages, suppression, oppression, and depressions.
The blue pill is a beacon of deception, lodged in our throat chakra, jamming all frequencies and preventing us from speaking our truth and from being impeccable with our word. The blue pill is a magnet for lies. And lies are sexy, scandalous scoundrels. They float around in a foggy smoke, seducing us with false kindness, kissing us just the right way, and lulling us into brain-washable complacency and a heightened state of malleability.
Under the blue pill’s seduction, we are pawns wallowing in self-incurred immaturity. Taking the red pill dislodges the blue pill, thus clearing the passage and opening all frequencies to the truth.
But seeker of enlightenment beware, the teacher who longs to jam even the red pill down your throat. The choice must be yours, and yours alone. A good teacher will guide you to the red pill, but he/she should never force it down your throat. Like Adyashanti said, “My speaking is meant to shake you awake, not to tell you how to dream better.” You have to want to dream better first.
“The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange.” –G. K. Chesterton
Swallowing the red pill is a frightening prospect. It shatters worldviews and dissolves certainty. It replaces answers with questions. It upends all apple carts: psychological, physical, and spiritual. It reconditions preconditioning. It cleanses the doors of perception.
It shatters the glassy essence of cognitive dissonance; the shards of which splinter off and sting like mad in the fleshy heart of truth. It leaves your soul naked, vulnerable, and blank-slated in the angry eye of an apocalyptic existential-hurricane of uncertainty. It reveals that you were always God in hiding. And the heavy burden of that prospect alone can be a soul-crushing responsibility. But like Seneca said, “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another.”
–Immanuel Kant
hire someone to write college essay essay writer org write academic essay
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article. Much obliged.
I really liked your blog article.Really thank you! Fantastic.
I enjoy gathering utile info, this post has got me even more info! .
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but after Iclicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow,just wanted to say wonderful blog!
It is truly a great and helpful piece of info. I am happy that you just shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.
I just like the valuable information you provide on your articles. I will bookmark your blog and take a look at once more right here regularly. I’m fairly sure I’ll learn plenty of new stuff right here! Good luck for the following!
I went over this internet site and I think you have a lot of superb info, saved to fav (:.
Sweet web site, super layout, very clean and employ pleasant.
I really enjoy the post.Thanks Again.
I like what you guys are up also. Such smart work and reporting! Carry on the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my website 🙂
Absolutely written subject matter, Really enjoyed reading through.
Wonderful blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Cheers
하동동해출장만남 소자본 창업
I wan’t going to comment as this posts a bit old now, but just wanted to say thanks.
I’m still learning from you, while I’m improving myself. I certainly enjoy reading all that is written on your blog.Keep the tips coming. I loved it!
You completed certain good points there. I did a search on the subject and found most people will consent with your blog.
Cause that’s required valuable affiliate business rules to get you started on participating in circumstances appropriate for your incredible web-based business concern. Inernet marketing
Good post. I be taught one thing more difficult on completely different blogs everyday. It would at all times be stimulating to learn content from different writers and practice a little one thing from their store. I’d favor to make use of some with the content material on my blog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll offer you a hyperlink on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
of course like your web-site however you need to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth nevertheless I’ll certainly come back again.
Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
As I website possessor I believe the content matter here is rattling great , appreciate it for your efforts. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
As a Newbie, I am continuously searching online for articles that can be of assistance to me. Thank you
I wan’t going to comment as this posts a bit old now, but just wanted to say thanks.
Thank you for your very good information and feedback from you. car dealers san jose
You are my intake, I own few blogs and very sporadically run out from to brand : (.
I have recently started a website, the info you offer on this web site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work.
https://kakaotaxi.dasgno.com/kakao-fee