Excellent insight–no matter what spiritual path we’re on.
“Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special, it’s not. If you
feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred. I meet a lot of
people who think they are enlightened and awake simply because they have had a
very moving spiritual experience. They wear their enlightenment on their sleeve
like a badge of honor. They sit among friends and talk about how awake they are
while sipping coffee at a cafe. The funny thing about enlightenment is that when
it is authentic, there is no one to claim it. Enlightenment is very ordinary; it
is nothing special. Rather than making you more special, it is going to make you
less special. It plants you right in the center of a wonderful humility and
innocence. Everyone else may or may not call you enlightened, but when you are
enlightened the whole notion of enlightenment and someone who is enlightened is
a big joke. I use the word enlightenment all the time; not to point you toward
it but to point you beyond it. Do not get stuck in enlightenment.”
— Adyashanti