Enlightenment

Posted by Gary Greenfield at 1/10/2012 9:13 AM
Categories: Life in general
Tags: perspective open mind wisdom



There's a truism that says, seek to understand before seeking to be understood.  An interesting idea but I think life is about going even deeper than that.  We all want to feel enlightened...to feel like we're in the know and have a broad level of understanding about life in general.

But, let's consider for a moment what enlightenment really means and then what you can do to achieve whatever level of enlightenment you desire.  I guess there's only one way to find some reasonable common ground concerning our mutual understanding of the term.  I hope a dictionary definition will work!

A short answer from the Oxford English Dictionary says:  "knowledge and understanding."  The full definition in the American Heritage Dictionary says:  "1. An act or means of enlightening.  2. The state of being enlightened.  3. A philosophical movement of the 18th century concerned with the critical examination of previously accepted doctrines and institutions from the point of view of rationalism."  Well, I guess that covers it!  Got it?

Now, what do you do with it?  Here, I resort to a Zen Buddhist proverb to enlighten you:  "Before enlightenment--chop wood, carry water.  After enlightenment--chop wood, carry water."

I found that enlightening and I hope you did too.

 

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