Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing (The Enlightenment Trilogy Book 1)

“Sorry to be so bland, but no, nothing. Well, maybe the abs. I don’t have to wish for possessions because I have a pretty good idea of how the universe works and my wishes are fulfilled practically before I know I wished them. World peace and the liberation of sentient beings would indicate a belief on my part that something was wrong or that somet

One Truth In all ten directions of the universe, there is only one truth. When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same. What can ever be lost? What can be attained? If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time. If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us. Look: This ball in my pocket: can you see how priceless i

“We’re all afloat in a boundless sea, and the way we cope is by massing together in groups and pretending in unison that the situation is other than it is. We reinforce the illusion for each other. That’s what a society really is, a little band of humanity huddled together against the specter of a pitch black sea. Everyone is treading water to keep

You can’t do that while it’s still in your head. Writing it out allows you to act as your own teacher, your own critic, your own opponent. By externalizing your thoughts, you can become your own guru; judging yourself, giving feedback, providing a more objective and elevated perspective.”

“If you mean, can you get a deal on enlightenment—can you be awake without having to wake up—the answer is no. If you mean can you live a spiritual, compassionate life and still raise kids and have a house and a stock portfolio and a demanding career and all that, I assume the answer is yes, but it’s really not my thing.”

Oscar Wilde wrote, “All thought is immoral. Its very essence is destruction. If you think of anything, you kill it. Nothing survives being thought of.” What he might have meant is that falseness exists only in shadow. Illumination by intellect “destroys” the untrue by revealing that there was never anything there to begin with. Just as light banish

“This is a very common error that’s found throughout the world’s teachings and religions,” I continued. “They’re often one hundred and eighty degrees removed from the truth. It’s the belief that if you want to be Christ-like, then you should act more like Christ; as if the way to become something is by imitating it. If you want to be an enlightened

Sarah labors under the same misconception everyone does. She believes, in the broadest sense, that something is wrong and that she can make it right. What that something is, what’s wrong with it, and how it can be fixed all differ from person to person, but the general pattern is always the same: The truth, though, is that nothing is really wrong.

“You’re looking for an exact map and these great texts are thick bundles of pages covered in scribble. Yes, some of the lines in all that scribble are actually somewhat accurate, as far as they may go, but you’re not going to have any way of knowing which ones are right until you’ve made the journey yourself, by which time, of course, you’ll no lon

Like a Death Sentence My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon. Taoist saying