It's a long shot. I know I will fail miserably. But I have to try.
Enlightenment.
Everybody has heard of it, everybody has expectations of what it is.
It's funny how I knew that I wanted to become enlightened, even before I even had a faint notion of what it was.
I pictured myself free of worry, always calm and never angry. You know, a Zen master on a good day
In a strange way, that has happened, and yet again, it hasn't.
Am I enlightened ? I will stick with the same answer that the Dalai Lama gave when asked this question. No.
I can never be enlightened.
So, moving on, what is it like to be enlightened ?
Enlightenment starts with a realization.
The realization of I.
It can be rationally explained, and that's what I will do right here, but don't expect to agree with me, or find instant enlightenment from reading this.
So, let's start with a logical deduction of what is "I" and what isn't.
First of all:
The Body.
All human beings have one.
When we break an arm, we say "I broke my arm".
As logical as this sounds, are we right to claim this body as our own ?
There are clues that support my claim that we are not the body.
Most people will be shocked at a certain age to find a wrinkle near their eye, to spot the first grey hair, to find their hairline receding ( lol ).
The reason that you don't accept this aging is because of fear of death, but also because "you still feel like a young guy or gal".
The body may age, but that doesn't change who you are essentially. Over the years, your mind will gain knowledge, but essentially the world is experienced the same way as when you were a child.
And besides, everything that you can observe, can't be you. There is an observer, and an object to be observed.
So, as long as you can observe it, it isn't you. Observation goes beyond your eyes. You can observe a sound, a touch, pain, heat, cold. Anything that can be experienced by the body, is observed.
We are not exploring the observed, we are trying to find out who the observer is.
Secondly:
The Mind.
Descartes used to say "I think, therefor I am".
Let's find out if he is right...
" I think ". We say it all the time. "I think so". But where do these thoughts come from ? According to our own claims, we think our own thoughts.
Are we constantly busy forming sentences, until we have assembled a thought ?
everybody in these forums meditate, so we actually know that thoughts come up and disappear by themselves, hence the "clouds analogy" of Michael in the free meditation course. Why should that be any different outside meditation ?
Don't ALL thoughts come up by themselves ?
And when they do, can't they be observed ?
Anything that can be observed, can't be who you are.
Now this poses a problem.
I am not responsible for making the thoughts.
But numerous thoughts arise with the word "I" in it.
"I should have tried harder in school"
"Why did I mess up that interview for the job I wanted ?"
"I am the best athlete in the world"
All these thoughts can also be observed. That means that I am not the "I" thought. Any thought that comes up stating something about "me" is obviously not made by me. A lie.
And one that we have always believed. Especially because these thoughts are backed up by emotions that make us feel bad. No escaping the feeling, even if rationally you can explain to yourself how the thought is faulty, the emotion seems to pull you into a small depression.
If not acting upon a thought, we seem to always act upon our emotion.
Our emotion ?
Wait a minute...
Did we create that emotion ?
Isn't this the same situation as with a thought ?
We don't make the emotion ourself, or we would simply just feel happy all our life. Why not right ?
So they come up as well. They can be observed.
So, the emotion is not ours, and we are not the emotion.
What's left ?
No body, no mind, no emotion, nothing of this is who we are.
So, who are we ?
Wei Wu Wei said: "What we are looking for, is what is looking"
How do you look at yourself ?
And don't give me the mirror example. You are not looking at yourself in a mirror, you are looking at a reflection of yourself, and even that reflection is at best... well... mirrored
How can a knife cut itself, how can a camera take a picture of itself ?
That which is looking can't be observed, because we already are that.
When trying to find this, all that you can "see" is nothing, and a feeling of space is experienced.
And this is where the ineffability starts. Once you realize that the looking comes from nowhere, that "the looker" doesn't exist, this will shatter your self-image. What you always assumed to be the personality inside your body doesn't exist.
All there is is nothing, and yet this nothing is looking.
The funny thing about the word nothing is that we think of it as just that... "Nothing".
But "Nothing" also is "Everything".
What if in this world colors didn't exist, except the color blue. Everything just different shades of blue. We might know concepts like "Dark" or "light", but the color blue just wouldn't exist for us, because when everything is blue, nothing is.
This is more plausible, because nothing can't be looking, but everything can. So, the world, the body, the mind, the emotions, all of it is what is looking. Nothing yet everything. Even tho you just lost yourself, you gained the world.
All this makes your life a lot easyer, because why bother with the fake I that wants to feel guilty, angry, lonely ?
When you know who is looking ( nothing ) the emotions and thoughts generated by the body are not meant for anybody. Who can be bothered with thoughts and feelings like guilt or remorse... when there is nobody to experience them ?
There is just looking.
This does provide calmness, it makes you like that Zen master on a good day most of the time.
But there are also times when the Zen master would lash out at his students, making them feel bad, and generally behave painfully humanlike.
If anyone would ask me "Don't you ever get angry anymore now that you are enlightened" I would have to say:
No, I don't get angry, never did, I do experience anger tho, and sometimes I experience acting upon that anger as well. And I am not enlightened. There is no I you see, so who is there to be enlightened in the first place ?
I is of the mind, and mind can't be enlightened, enlightenment happens when mind shuts its trap.
What does it feel like ? Like a good meditation.
You see, everybody who has meditated for a while, will have experienced this "state" during meditation.
Enlightenment is the same. Observing thoughts and emotions without becoming attached to them, and even that is nonsense, because who is there to become attached to it in the first place ? And how do you attach to a thought or emotion, what is it in the first place, is a thought or emotion a thing ? does it have any solidity ?
Just observe the thoughts and emotions like you have done all your life, because the "looker" has always been there.
The "looker" doesn't age, the mind and body do, but your real Self, the "looker" or whatever you will call it, is timeless, making you feel like the same person as a kid and as an adult with grey hairs around your ears ( if not losing those very hairs before that haha
)
So, conclusion: 24/7 meditation
that is what enlightenment really is.
At least I think it is
My shot at explaining what enlightenment is
!
. Although that’s a positive thing to happen because if you can see you’re mistakes, you can learn from them 
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