Enlightenment as a Divine Gift

Enlightenment might be defined differently through the various different spiritual traditions, but generally we could describe it as becoming one with reality and leaving behind the world of suffering.

According to the New Testament, the light of the new covenant is nothing that we can earn—it is a divine gift. We're surrounded by an entire ocean of light, but we don't feel it because we're full of ourselves. Our brain and nervous system are like a radio receiver that is converting signals from the upper worlds. But we normally don't do that because we're imprisoned in our program. Reality itself is something that cannot be attained, because it is the only thing that exists, and you can't reach something that is already the case. And this is the absurdity of seeking enlightenment. You seek something that already IS. How should we handle now this seeking mind? You cannot get here from there. As long as you seek, life cannot be, but on the other hand, seeking is necessary to open the gates, as Jesus said.

Christians generally don't understand that a feeling of completion does not negate the necessity for undergoing a process of self-refinement. That's why the New Testament is also full of contradictions on the surface. Seeking is necessary to a certain point. It is like a medicine. Effort is like a medicine, but truth itself is beyond any effort or the desire to attain anything. Truth is that which IS, but we're generally not yet in this very moment. So we need techniques and pathways to enter the eternity of this very moment. Theoretically, enlightenment could be realized in this very moment, but practically it is nearly impossible because our mind already deviates to memories or a future destination. That's why we must get rid of this 'karmic' baggage from the past and should not always be too busy with expectations and desires for the future. In Kabbalah, desires are not something necessarily wrong, but when they turn into something that is bringing us away from the blissfulness of this very moment, they must be considered as negative. When I'm connected with my soul's desires, I'm flowing with reality itself. If I'm only obsessed by desires from my ego, I myself become a blockage for the stream of existence. In reality there's absolutely nothing to do other than just to follow this great flow, but because we're usually very complicated, we need to undertake everything we can to adjust ourselves to this very flow. When we adjust ourselves to it, everything becomes very, very simple.

Normally we think and then we do, or we make a decision, and then we act out the consequences. An enlightened being is not thinking when it does, not deciding for anything. Things happen, but there's no I, no separate self performing them. And this is the true meaning of 'Thy will may happen.' This is the true meaning of 'whoever loses his life for me will find it' (Matthew 16:25). When you are, God is not; when you are not, God is. Stop being a blockage in your own way. Surrender a bit more, and God will find you.