What is Enlightenment?

Before discussing enlightenment, we need to understand that words refer to their referents by our mutual agreement. It is we who have agreed, conventionally or otherwise, on how to label something with a word. It means that there is nothing substantial in the word in itself. By enlightenment, we refer to self-realization, the realization of one’s true self. Such a realization enlightens you to the fact that you are not your mind. You are an awareness in which thoughts happen. You are an unenlightened person if you are attached to your thoughts. A happy thought will make you happy, and a sad thought will turn you sad. You are not there in a real sense. You are just a psychological and emotional drama that keeps playing nonstop. You are just a clumsy construction, always anxious, worried, and lonely. Enlightenment means returning to your own home. You are at ease now. It means that you have seen your original face. You are free and at peace. It means that you have no more objections to existence now; that you are filled with gratitude. It is the realization that life is paradoxical; that it does not make much sense to a logical mind; that thoughts are minuscule in the vast existence; that no sorrow, boredom, misery, or suffering touch you now; that you now know the art of enjoying even the boredom and misery. From its position, you can understand the mind, but the mind cannot understand enlightenment. It is too much for the mind. The mind works in a linear way. It is bound to time. Enlightenment is beyond time. It is the place where time does not exist. Enlightenment is not something to achieve; it is our very nature; we are it. Enlightenment is the dissolution of our illusions that we are separate from life and existence; that we are other than existence. Enlightenment provides you with fresh eyes to see, energy to dance, and songs to sing. It fills your heart with immense love. No matter how much you pay your gratitude to existence, it always falls short. But it also pains your heart, too. People around you suffer unnecessarily, and you cannot do anything about it. You find yourself so helpless. It is like living in an oasis surrounded by a desert. Enlightenment is not an object that can be shared with others. It is not a commodity that can be sold out in a market. It is your own being. It is you and only you who can either realize it or miss it.