Learning to Stay Even When the Walls Are Closing In.

“Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.” ~ C. JoyBell C.

I was listening to a lecture this morning, the topic of which was 'enlightenment.'

My first inclination was, "How on earth are they planning to cover this in just 45 audiobook bound minutes?"

And then, I had to laugh a bit, as I realized I was quickly slipping back into that trap.

You see, 'enlightenment' isn't an 'all at once' sort of thing...and, there is no most magical 'tada' moment in the end.

Rather, enlightenment is what happens most gradually when it is that we stumble and fall about on this, our life's truest path.

Nobody really likes to hear that, now do they? That this process of enlightenment might actually cause us to feel...well, initially...really bad.

But, that's the truth of it now, though isn't it? That this process of getting there, can be so horribly unsettling, that our first inclination is to run away.



Consequently, we end up giving up just moments before the real lesson is made clear.

It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? To chase that which we desire the most, only to turn away just as it's being placed into our hands.

Perhaps this is the source of our own enlightenment  ~ learning to stay, even as those walls are closing in?