MICHAEL ON ENLIGHTENMENT
“and yes, I will talk about enlightenment. It’s an interesting word,It brings up all sorts of ideas and concepts. When I was first on my spiritual path, I grew up with the idea that enlightenment is completely unattainable. And that’s so not true. It’s certainly not something that you fall into,and yet quite a few enlightened people really did fall into exactly that. And so enlightenment,I’d like to change the word a bit to ‘in-light-it-meant’. Basically it is moving out of the shadows and into the Light. Out of illusions into Truth. And there is no technique. Okay, Indian gurus seem to have techniques, or ancient methods, and they are probably valid. But as a westerner I was not attracted to that particular path. “So I created a path for myself - we all do! But this is a story that I’m not going into - of ten years to become enlightened. Ridiculous,but it worked. A path that became one of ever increasing pain and suffering, So instead of climbing to the top of the pinnacle of truth as I had hoped, I found myself in the deepest pit of despair. I reached a point where I surrendered. I just gave in. I could not go on. It was when I surrendered, completely surrendered, when I let go of myself, of life - when I let go of everything. It was in that moment that I found enlightenment,or, perhaps more accurately, enlightenment found me. And okay, it’s an incredible experience. Immediately prior to that moment my body was full of pain and illness, with twenty years of suffering from a ruptured disc in the spine. Suddenly, all that was healed. It was finished. In twenty minutes it was gone. “Enlightenment is a state of consciousness that is always in the moment, that’s the trick of this, If you’re on a intellectual path, you have an intellectual need to understand enlightenment. Intellect and understanding are never in the moment. In the moment, there is no thought. Thinking takes you out of the moment. So the moment you become enlightened is always with you.