Enlightenment manifests itself as a need to serve others.
The gaining of an answer to a difficult query is less important than living the question. Enlightenment is to understand this, or better stated, to experience this: to see intuitively that the distinction between me and the universe is a false dichotomy. That is the distinction that one is separate and apart from the Universe is simply an error in understanding how things are connected. The same distinction between consciousness and physical matter, between one and another, and between mind and body, is the result of an unenlightened perspective.
I was once sought a legal remedy to a spiritual matter. This true tale is chronicled in my books. And what I sought at the time was justice; a reckoning to force an individual to take accountability for a wanton action. And what I found was a strange sense of empathy. It was more than a general concern for my opponent’s wellbeing; it was feeling of abject fear for what might happen to him. I was feeling his feelings. The emotion confused me. And the result was an increased awareness.
If one can see the miracle of a single flower clearly, one’s whole world would change. And my experience has been a continuous blooming in awareness. Coincidence has been replaced by divine design, and the emotion of fear that was the source of all of my decisions has been replaced by a much nobler one of love. One is always where one needs to be, at exactly the moment that is required of them, to experience an opportunity in increased awareness. And one’s inner voice and higher calling creates a pathway of enlightenment. All in all, there is an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all that I have experienced.
As Maryanne Williamson said:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most.
Enlightenment is just that: An In-Lighten-Ment!