JAN. 17 Enlightenment...

It seems to me that to be motivated by the moment and to share that joy with those around you is the ultimate of enlightenment.

“Enlightenment,” if it must be called that, is the actualization of this process: the counterintuitive, and yet completely primal instinct to forget the suffering around you and motivate yourself to a plane of sheer joy. Sharing laughter, food and moments of cosmic connection, energy, health, spirit, and soul with others is the ultimate of all in enjoyment and happiness. I feel that you must be confident in defining, identifying, and creating these moments for yourself and those around you if you are to be truly mindful.

But to do so out of simpleminded selfishness is counterproductive because nothing in this universe acts in isolation. To be the joy that is the world and all things in it, and to be constantly mindful of what it is that makes feelings and emotions happen, is to also be aware of your surroundings and share the positive energy you yourself have learned to achieve. To lift up those who are unable to experience joy or do not have the blessedly bestowed situation that allows self actualization to be a natural path is the step that must follow the experience of personal contentedness.

You must first learn what it is to be who you are, and how to use what you have. Infants explore their bodies, first they find their hands, then they realize what usefulness they might have; then the miraculous feet and toes. Body parts can be used to pound against a piece of furniture to make noise. Mouths can scream and gurgle and screech. Over time, bodies can be used to express. They can express hunger, dissatisfaction, discontent, pain and frustration. They can ask questions, comment, claim things. This is a simple bodily awareness.

To communicate is to move beyond the understanding of only the fingers, feet, toes, and mouth. It requires moving beyond expression. To communicate is to recognize that every other soul has the same capabilities as you. To recognize the empathic existence of every soul’s sufferings, hunger, dissatisfactions, discontents, pains and frustrations.

This is a stepping-stone to complete self-actualization. Once an individual has realized that they are able to control their personal plight in life, they then have the responsibility to use their wisdom wisely. It is wonderful to recognize how much joy can be had from all that is possible in life, but it is another to waste it away frivolously. It then comes naturally that you are able to recognize that purely by being an individual, you are able to control your own happiness and subsequently able to recognize the potential in every other being to experience the same joy. The responsibility that follows is to teach those around you what it is to experience bliss and live in joy.