I have been told, now that Answers From Silence has been published and the website has been launched, that I am in the enlightenment business.
I suppose this means that my “products” will be bundled in with the general traffic of advice-giving books, magazines, websites, seminars, video courses, click ads, etc., for customers who want assurance that they are getting the right things to promote their spiritual evolution.
I can give you one assurance. Your enlightenment is inevitable.
But I’m not going to tell you that you will get a second one free plus shipping and handling if you call in the next 10 minutes.
And I am not trying to outrun my “competition” with a (pick a number)-step “package” of secrets, laws, passions, methods, habits, techniques, etc. that you can get to process, enable, and empower yourself.
Not that these are bad things. But there is a larger picture.
The fact is that everybody is in the enlightenment business. That is the only business that we actually are in.
As I said in Answers From Silence, “Everyone is on their path of enlightenment, and everything that happens in a person’s life is their path of enlightenment.” That means that there is never a time when you are not working on making progress toward enlightenment.
Everything, one way or another, contributes to the growth of your awareness. There is no event in your life that is wasted or meaningless in contributing toward that goal. Every passing second brings you closer to its fulfillment. Living your life is the means to that end.
To illustrate the point, think of something about your life that is hard to make sense of.
Now say, “It’s my path of enlightenment.”
Your reaction to that statement could be a feeling of greater comprehension and appeasement.
It also works to think of something about another person’s life that is hard to make sense of. “It’s their path of enlightenment.”
Welcome to the company.
—J.C.