What is “The Path to Enlightenment”?

An article by Michaelle    1 Comment

This journey we call “The Path of Enlightenment” is filled with so many labels that tend to entrap us in a world of our own making in our minds which therein limits us to our own preconceived conceptions. We traverse a course that we believe will create a world of wonder and magical thinking that would create a utopia by bypassing the uniqueness of our own humanity; instead of finding the pearls of wisdom and inherent gifts within our humanity. Why is it that we search so desperately for a way to escape the realm that we live in? All of the tools and gifts that we could ever need lie within us yet we tend to ignore them in search for some illusive “magical remedy” that propels us towards the total rejection of whom we are. Would this illusive world that we search so desperately for be one that is so divorced from ourselves that we would encounter this so called perfect realm? And if so what would the purpose of our humanity have been in the first place if we were to encounter such a world to begin with?

I am well aware of searching for a life outside of myself having experienced the belief that I was not “good enough” to be able to acquire a life of joy and peace; something that I believe that most of us are taught via our caretakers as well as the society that we live in which is constructed to teach us that we are never enough nor could we ever be as there is always some elusive goal to reach that is impossible for the “normal human”; therefore we are propelled on to a journey to seek that which we believe that we do not have within us nor could we ever hope to attain it if we follow that which most organized religions would have us believe. Yet what is this illusive mystery that we all seem to seek and how is it that one can go about finding it let alone where could it possibly be? As I write these words I write in the plural as I believe that we all seek that illusive something that we really don’t have a name for.

I for myself have been a seeker all of my life questioning every aspect of life as well as delving into religions, mystery schools, metaphysics and new age thinking, and throughout all of them there seems to be an element that alludes to the idea that there is something that we have yet to attain and there are as many beliefs and philosophies that would tell us just how it is that one would go about attaining such information if we simply follow their very carefully laid out instructions; nonetheless in my search the more that I followed the instructions that were laid out for me I seemed to get further and further away from finding what I was searching for and they all seemed to lead to more questions.

Yet what if there is no answer; what if everything is just as it should be at all times and there are no restrictions in life except those we choose to place upon ourselves? Could it be that we are so conditioned to believe that we have to have “rules” as to how we should be and or behave in this world that we have divorced ourselves from our own innate knowing? What would happen if we were to listen to that Inner Knowing at all times? What would life look or feel like if we were to follow the guidance given to us and not only listen to this Inner Knowing?

I for myself know that when I listen and follow through with the direction I get from my own Inner Knowing that there is never any judgment towards myself nor anyone else; I am filled with peace, inner calm and contentment with my world.

My journey has been a very common one in many ways in that I fell into believing everything that I had been told, thinking that someone along the way would have the answers for me and then I would have achieved this so-called enlightenment, which wasn’t the case. Yet at the same time, via following the pursuit of questioning everyone and everything, I did find that my own inner awareness would lead me to find the answers on my search which therein gave meaning to all of the religions, philosophies and beliefs systems I had studied. I now am able to see them as stepping stones in my own journey towards finding and following my own Inner Knowing.
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For me “The Path of Enlightenment” is about standing in my own Light that resides within me and allowing my Inner Knowing to have a voice; there are no answers “outside” of me.

It is a constant vigilance to maintain my awareness within my own Inner Knowing when so many distractions abound – both within my own mind, and even more so in/from the world around me where we are constantly bombarded to seek “Enlightenment” outside of “ourselves”.

The evolution of my Inner Knowing has been The Path of Enlightenment in my own experience.

What does “The Path of Enlightenment” mean to you?

~ Rev. Michaelle Douglas (M. Div.)