E for Enlightenment

An unexamined life is not worth living.

Enlightenment is the development of a person in mind and soul. Maybe in the same way, E could mean education. But education is only a subset of what I call enlightenment. Enlightenment is learning – but much more. It’s that ability for you to transverse that cognitive space and go beyond. That feeling of being able to contain all of existence within, and feel a symbiosis with it all, while simultaneously aware that you are but a speck in galaxies expanding far and wide.

Enlightenment is that which stems from the intellect but is guided by the heart – clarification, illumination, explanation. It differs from inspiration because it isn’t exactly that which pulls us forward as motivation, but rather guides us through awakening the senses to better understand the concept of life. If it means finding the answers to why we are here or what our purpose is, that is enlightenment.

Enlightenment also encompasses the realm of faith. God, spirituality, or if you’re like me: simply living a good life or being as good a person one can be. Nirvana, paradise, jannat…whatever the realm we wish to attain through our actions herein, we aim for enlightenment. It means to step out of the dark and out of ignorance, into the light of knowledge and wisdom.

While inspiration is a current that we pull into ourselves from our environment and surroundings, enlightenment can be perceived as movement in the opposite direction. With enlightenment we become conscious of our existence in a different way, with that awareness comes a mergence of oneself with all of life; we realize the light that we are and we become one with the spectacular illumination of life.

Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, 

a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow.

You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment.

Morihei Ueshiba