You will
never find enlightenment, awakening, nirvana, or whatever you call it, via your
mind, because the mind is the
problem. The false self, with all the
negative thoughts and feelings, is an invention of the mind. If you attempt to get out of this false self
via the mind, all you will do is spin mind gears and remain stuck where you
are.
The way
to escape from the false self is to transcend mind altogether. Don’t think.
Don’t try to “figure it out”. Let
go.
Enlightenment
cannot be “attained”. It is not a thing
outside of you that you must acquire.
You can’t go to Walmart and say, “I’d like to buy some enlightenment.”
Enlightenment
is the opposite of acquiring – it is giving up.
Giving up what? All those
erroneous notions of being your externals, judging yourself and others, trying
to maintain an image, worrying about the future, regretting the past, and
striving to get things. It is a simple
dropping of the mental baggage – the false self – you have been carrying
around.
We do
not have to do anything to be enlightened.
We do not have to meditate, chant, find a guru, believe a dogma, give
away all our possessions, or attend worship services. We have only to drop the false self. Is the stone you carry too heavy? Then drop it.
Is the false self and all the worry, strife, fear, guilt and anger it
causes too much to bear? Then drop it.
You
might cling to your false self because you feel the need to think and do
certain things in order to maintain worldly things such as your financial and
social status. If so, you’ve made your
choice: wealth, possessions, and public approval are more important than peace
of mind. There is no cosmic right or
wrong in this. But the next time you’re
worrying or struggling in order to get something, or feeling anger or
frustration because you didn’t get it, you might want to consider whether your
occasional triumphs outweigh the frequent emotional pain.
