Give Up On Enlightenment

[Consept]

Have been thinking a lot about desire recently and how it can be a barrier to enlightenment. Most of the time we talk about material desires, money, cars or even relationships, wanting to be liked etc. But another desire is the desire to be enlightened or even the desire to be content. If you've got a desire to be content then that literally will cause discontent and until that desire is dropped you will never content and then obviously never enlightened. 

A lot of the posts a see on the forum are about how to get enlightened, how long it takes etc, all of which scream of a desire to be enlightened. As long as this desire to be enlightened is there then the path will always be blocked. It's literally no different than saying once I get £1 million I'll be content, either way you don't know if it will or want so all you're left with is the belief that it will and therefore the desire and want to achieve that goal. The very nature of having these goals will cause discontent and living for the future rather than the now. 

Stop even trying and just be present as much as you can in every day life. Don't meditate with the goal of marking off another day you've done on the way to enlightenment, it negates the whole point of meditation. Don't do anything with the intention of becoming enlightened, just do it because you enjoy it and even if you don't be present during it. This enlightenment thing is like chasing your tail, the more you want it the harder it will seem to get it 

 

 

[Sleek]

That is why I would like to supplement reading Mastery by George Leonard. I believe that the mastery process is very relevant and will be a CRUCIAL component in the enlightenment journey. 

[Philip]

@Consept I can totally relate to this.

When I meditate, the absolute most frequent thoughts that come to my mind go along the lines of:

"Am I meditating right?"

"Am I mindful right now?"

"How can I be mindful of my internal voice if my internal voice decides what I'm mindful of?"

"How can I focus on the self if the self allows focus in the first place?"

Along with other doubts and paradox-fighting like this...

And those thoughts are the exact symptom of my egoistic need to become enlightened. In a sense, they're the biggest obstacle I have. But maybe they're also the only help I have. What can possibly motivate you to be mindful except a desire to be mindful? Maybe this desire is the only tool you have, and maybe you have to use it in order to finally discover a completely new and mysterious tool, which is enlightenment...

[Consept]

@Philip

Lol yeah I know what you mean I've had similar thoughts, it's a balancing acceptance and being. The whole search for enlightenment is a paradox in itself like you alluded to, if you don't have a desire to be mindful what will motivate you to be mindful? But then this could be said for anything, making money, having a relationship etc all are motivated by desire and this is why most people on this spiritual path will say they're are fruitless. But what makes these desires different from a desire for enlightenment, in both cases the person striving believes these things will give them peace and in both cases the very thing stopping them from achieving peace is only the belief that they need these things. 

So the issue that is blocking your path is desire itself, you can fill in the blank with whatever you want, until desire is transcended enlightenment would be impossible. Also have a think about why you even want to be enlightened, or put another way, why do you not want to be where you are right now? Is it because you want to be more confident, happy more often, more fruitful, doing a job you like, not caring what people think, all these are posdibly the roots of your desires for enlightenment. Enlightenment is just an idea at least at the moment to probably all of us on this forum, so really there are other motivating factors behind that we think enlightenment will solve for us. Essentially these are the desires we really need to drop. 

Just to add as well if you ask any enlightened person they will tell you they became enlightened as soon as they stopped trying 

[Consept]

@Socrates

Yes I agree it is attachment to desire, that's really what I meant in the post. I think buddha said if you end desire you end suffering or words to that effect. 

Would you say you are enlightened?

 

[charlie2dogs]

13 hours ago, Consept said:

Have been thinking a lot about desire recently and how it can be a barrier to enlightenment. Most of the time we talk about material desires, money, cars or even relationships, wanting to be liked etc. But another desire is the desire to be enlightened or even the desire to be content. If you've got a desire to be content then that literally will cause discontent and until that desire is dropped you will never content and then obviously never enlightened. 

A lot of the posts a see on the forum are about how to get enlightened, how long it takes etc, all of which scream of a desire to be enlightened. As long as this desire to be enlightened is there then the path will always be blocked. It's literally no different than saying once I get £1 million I'll be content, either way you don't know if it will or want so all you're left with is the belief that it will and therefore the desire and want to achieve that goal. The very nature of having these goals will cause discontent and living for the future rather than the now. 

Stop even trying and just be present as much as you can in every day life. Don't meditate with the goal of marking off another day you've done on the way to enlightenment, it negates the whole point of meditation. Don't do anything with the intention of becoming enlightened, just do it because you enjoy it and even if you don't be present during it. This enlightenment thing is like chasing your tail, the more you want it the harder it will seem to get it 

 

 

the ideal is to drop your practice of any kind, even meditation, drop the desires, drop the objectives, drop the goals, drop it all and simply be still, be quiet, within the space of the I am.