The Enlightenment Test
Yes, I’m really floating. Go ahead and check for photo manipulation. But I can only do it when I’m wearing my special shirt.
Did you know that you can tell if you’re enlightened by taking this simple test?
1. Are you ridiculously peaceful and calm at all times, and in all situations?
2. Are the people surrounding you always soothed into their most gentle and friendly manifestations?
3. Are you free of worry, stress, and frustration?
4. Do you always act ‘the same’, without pretense, whether you are in private or in public?
5. Do you manifest the greatest good for yourself and everyone around you?
6. Do you know what is happening in your mind at all times?
Take a look at your answers. If you answered ‘no’ to all of the above, you passed with flying colors! You’re enlightened!
But wait! Did you read that wrong? I just said that if you answered ‘no’ to those questions, you’re enlightened. But aren’t those all traits of the enlightened person? Aren’t they what we should always be striving for?
The Truth About the Test
The truth is that the test isn’t really going to tell you whether you’re enlightened or not. But it does tell us a lot about what we think enlightenment is. Most of us hold to an idea of what it means to be enlightened, or awakened to a ‘higher consciousness’. We fix this idea of enlightenment in our heads, and then we strive for it. Because it’s just like any other goal, we end up in the same mess we’re always in – putting forth constant effort in an attempt to do something that is effort-less.
Imagine that you are about to touch a piece of silk. Your goal? To feel the silk. How do we do this? Should we knit our brow and concentrate on feeling the silk? Should we sit for a few minutes and try to get into a receptive state? Should we lay down a 5-point plan for feeling the silk? No. Of course not. To feel the silk, we just reach out and touch it. That’s it.
Of course, some things can detract from our feeling of the silk. For instance, we might decide what we think the silk should feel like, and then, when we actually feel it, our sensation is colored by our pre-held idea. Or we might be distracted, thinking about some problem in our life, and we effectively ignore the sensation. But at its most essential, the act of really feeling the silk is remarkably passive – we move our fingers over the surface, and if our mind isn’t up to a bunch of other things (in other words, if it’s in a state of no-effort), then we can really feel the silk, and it’s amazing.
But Isn’t Enlightenment Peaceful?
An enlightened person may or may not demonstrate some of the traits outlined in the six questions above. But if they do, these traits are a symptom of the enlightened state. They’re not a description of what enlightenment is. So unless you’re enlightened right now, you can just ignore those traits. Going after them will never get you one bit closer to Awakening. At best, going after them will make you into a master of dualism. At worst, it will frustrate you to no end.
Enlightenment is the one place where we can stop trying to be something (or even be somebody!). No more effort necessary. Believe it or not, you emerge in each moment as perfectly as a tree or a cloud. All you have to do is let yourself emerge. This is totally passive – it’s what happens when you finally quit trying. Our perfection is right here, right Now, and you don’t have to work for it a bit.
Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is this – “Why do we work so hard when all that effort never seems to deliver the perfectly wonderful life we all say we want?”
Exerting no effort can be the toughest thing we ever do (not because it’s difficult, but just because we don’t know how, and can’t believe that it could possibly be that easy!). But once we unload the burden of constant effort, life takes on a whole new flavor, and we see that all of our actions in the past were just subtle, tricky ways to reinforce our conviction that the world is a place where pain is inevitable.
Our birthright is one of effortless perfection. All we have to do is stop trying so hard.
Explore posts in the same categories: Awakening and Reality
June 1st, 2007 at 5:31 am
Love the photo, and the test. And the article… beautiful work!
June 7th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Hello Kenton,
Albert
http://www.urbanmonk.net/
pointed me in the direction of your site and I
could not be more thrilled that he did.
When I stared to read this post…..
my very first and honest thought…
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh crap, another test” LOL
Thankfully I did not let that ‘knee JERK’ response
keep me from reading on.
Indeed how often are we imprisoned
by OUR definition of a word. Then we come
to see…….. it was not a locked cell, and we
were only there by choice. ~creak~~~~~~~~
Thank you for this excellent writing on
enligthenment. !
xo xo
Deb
June 7th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Greetings Deb =)
I’ll have to thank Albert. I’m a great fan of his writing, and we’ve been having a fabulous dialog about a host of subjects. Part of what I love about this medium is the ability to create friendships with people across the world. Quite amazing!
I’m glad you read through the ‘test’ part of things. Here I thought I was being all unique — it sounds like you’ve encountered other tests (self-development based? Enlightenment based?) out there! =)
I love the picture you painted in your second-to-last paragraph. These combinations of letters are truly magical things — the power they wield! I often imagine what effects could be created if one stood up in a crowd and simply shouted out some choice words. Regardless of the intention behind them — even if the shouter didn’t know what the sounds meant — powerful effects could be created.
For ourselves, there is something incredible about seeing, as you said, that we’re in a cell of our own devising. If we see the nature of our definitions, what then does the world become for us?
Thanks for the great thoughts!
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 7th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Hi Kenton,
The way you set up the transformation ‘test’
was VERY unique. Kudos on the great lead … IN !!!
When I said ‘another test’, I was thinking of online
tests in general….
They come in email and my daughter is all the time
showing me ‘tests’ that are on My Space pages.
I agree with you how amazing it is to meet ‘friends’.
The honest and open sharing reminds me of a
backyard conversation. !
Namaste`
Deb
June 7th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Thank you =)
Great way to put it, Deb — a backyard conversation! Sometimes it’s so easy to take this technology for granted — here we are, sharing thoughts by pressing buttons on a keyboard and looking at a screen . . . how delightfully strange!
Namaste in return,
Kenton
June 25th, 2007 at 8:43 am
AHAHA! Bloated ego moment. That’s cool…
Thanks to Lao tzu, or however it’s written now, Aldous Huxley for ‘Island’ in particular, and Alan Watts for ‘In my own way’. The latter being the most fun to read, for me, ever.
Oh, and you too Kenton!
June 25th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Glad you guys are hitting it off =)
I’m pretty sure I made a comment on this when this was first posted, but seems it was lost - how the hell do you float?!? And I love the matrix sunglasses haha! Too awesome.
June 25th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Greetings Albert!
Now, I can’t give away all my mystical secrets, can I? =)
Let’s just say it may or may not be the special hand mudras. But probably not.
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 25th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Normally, I don’t like tests. I liked this one. It does what any good test is supposed to do - it teaches.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Greetings Michael,
Now you have my curiosity piqued! I’ve read some of Watt’s works, but I haven’t encountered the title you mentioned. Now I see that he has an autobiography, which sounds fascinating! Thanks for turning my attention to it — I’ll be ordering a copy from the local bookstore =)
Sweetwater,
Kenton
June 26th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Hello John,
I hadn’t directly thought of that when I wrote this, but it’s an interesting point. What if our idea of ‘testing’ had less to do with rote memorization or trying to ‘box’ the tested person into this-or-that category, and more to do with helping us to move our thoughts or minds in certain new patterns or to recognize our current thought patterns? I certainly hope that’s what this article did for people!
Thanks for the insight,
Kenton
June 30th, 2007 at 9:47 am
That was beautiful, and also what i needed to hear. I finally realized a few months ago i might be enlightened…i kind of suspected it but never really thought about it much cuz i kind of just knew i was…but at the same time i had enlightenment up on some pedistal, so I’d tell myself that’s silly. but now it’s no big deal
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Greetings Brian,
Here’s my chance to either confuse things further, or help things get a little more clear. =) Check out this article and have fun!
Sweetwater,
Kenton