Monday, March 18, 2013

Enlightenment Is Not The End…




For one who follows Tao, enlightenment is not the end result of their journey… it is not the end result for any journey of understanding that we make take – it is the beginning.

You see, we start a journey from a place of a enlightenment… we start from a place of understanding… we start the journey knowing that there is something inside and outside of what our five senses can tell us… and with that knowledge, (intuitive, experiential or otherwise), we move ahead…

The objective of one who follows what can be called a Taoist Way is to attain (and maintain) a harmonious relationship with Tao – this relationship is based on acceptance of the way things were, are and will be, with no specific attachment or desire to any particular way of being… essentially, living with no beliefs of right or wrong… because things just ‘are’. Life is what it is – only misguided perceptions and beliefs from within colour our experience of it.

Once we drop our perceptions and beliefs, we develop an openness to life… an openness that holds no judgements or expectations… we simply accept things the way they are – and we embrace those things as a sign that we are aware and alive.


    

That’s it – that is what enlightenment is to one who follows a Taoist Way– we embrace what is happening as recognition of our awareness of life.

We act in accord with what the time requires of us… no more and no less than what is necessary… to do less is to have a judgement that less is needed; to do more is to have a judgement that more is needed… neither is correct – we must simply be aware of where we are and do what needs to be done.
Lao Tzu is fabled to have once said ‘the wise man does not sleep because it is time to sleep or because he has to… the wise man sleeps because he is sleepy’.

Though our paths towards realising our own enlightenment will all be different, and stimulated by different forces in our lives, the end result is always the same – heightened awareness and acceptance of what is.
Enlightenment is not the end… it is the beginning of reality.

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