Confused About Enlightenment

November Project: Question #10

This question comes from Brooks through email

After about five years of communication with people in person and over your website, what would you say is the number one confusion that people seem to have about what awakening and enlightenment is and/or about your accident?

Thanks for the question, Brooks.

I suppose there are a number of things. But probably, the number one confusion comes from what they already know about enlightenment. In other words, the knowledge they hold regarding enlightenment is what gets in the way. It is not always the case, but as I sit here thinking about all of the stories I’ve heard over the years, that is one of the most common occurances.

That is, of course, only through my eyes. If others were present during those conversations, they might see it differently.

Most of the people I have talked to seem to hold enlightenment at arm’s reach in order to inspect and compare it to an idea they already have of what it should be. It is used as a point of reference, like a checklist to see if they have the right ‘symptoms’ indicating they are headed in the right direction.

If I were to tell them to let it all go, I imagine ‘let it all go‘ would be added to the checklist, haha. “Am I letting it go? I think I am. That is good!” UGH…

As far as confusion regarding my ‘accident’, it really is not brought up very much. Certainly people have asked about it, and that is fine. My tendency is to steer them away from those subjects, though. I’d rather they save their energies for understanding themselves, and not waste it on trying to figure out what may or may not have happened to me.

Thanks for your question, Brooks.

The Bridge is Empty