Are You Ready For Enlightenment?

If you were getting dressed to go to a party, you might spend a lot of time imagining and predicting how you want to look, what the surroundings will be like, what you will do there, who you will see and who will see you, how they will react to the way you are dressed, and exactly how you want things to go.

But what if you showed up and found out that the party had nothing to do with what you imagined, or with what your predictions were, or with the way you had prepared yourself for it?

Enlightenment is like that party. Some people know that they want to go to that party. They have ideas about what it’s going to be like. They are making a lot of preparations to get ready to attend it.

One way of getting ready is to work on yourself. You find ways to become a better person who is more deserving of an invitation to this party. Perhaps using resources from the self-help industry, you think yourself into a new perspective, or you re-order your priorities, or you process your old patterns and hang-ups.

You might even control your behavior to emulate that of a saintly person. You tell yourself to have fewer attachments, or to be free from negative feelings, and so on.

This could make you into a better person, and I sincerely congratulate you for that. And all it means is that you have become a better person. It’s not enlightenment.

Enlightenment doesn’t mean that you better yourself to the point of being enlightened. It isn’t the final improvement on the list of improvements. Enlightenment is a change of identity that comes through yielding to eternal being.

As long as you engage with your unenlightened self, your attention is on your problems. To be enlightened, you need to go where enlightenment is and dwell there.

Answers From Silence says, “Everyone has an Enlightened Self. It is the part of you that already is enlightened, already knows peace, and already has attained the goal of your evolution.”

Engage with your Enlightened Self. Then your state of consciousness rises to approach its level. Finally, you inhabit that level, and the difference between you and your Enlightened Self evaporates.

How to do this?

One way is to practice silent meditation. Then you are simply communing with your Enlightened Self.

Another way is to have an active dialogue with your Enlightened Self. You can find answers about your daily life, the meaning of life, and everything in between. Meanwhile, your attention is turned in the direction of enlightened consciousness the whole time. There is a “how to” section in Answers From Silence about this.

Eventually, you don’t have to go anywhere to get to the party. You are the party. And you bring it with you wherever you set your foot down.

—JC

The Enlightened Viewpoint

There is a section of Answers From Silence on the topic of intolerance. It says that all viewpoints are limited in some way.

Every day you hear about people who can’t understand or relate to others who have a conflicting viewpoint.

Perhaps as a result, most public discourse now consists of taking a position and defending it against another person’s position.

This is might work if only there weren’t an essential flaw in taking a position. Any position can be challenged and undermined by contradictory information.

The world constantly changes. New information is always arriving. Holding a position might require that you ignore new information.

Also, holding a “good” position in opposition to another person’s “bad” position only makes you into their reflection.

As Answers From Silence says, “The only ‘right’ thing is the whole thing.”

Perhaps people want to hold to a changeless viewpoint because at some level they sense that there does exist a realm of changelessness and they want to exist there.

In that case, what they really want is enlightenment.

Establish yourself in the realm of changelessness, and you will inherit a viewpoint that originates from an experience of timelessness and unboundedness.

Except that it isn’t exactly like a viewpoint. It is more like an actual view. Like one you might see from a mountaintop.

In this analogy, opposing viewpoints would be like an argument between two mountain climbers who are trying to predict what it will look like when they reach the top of the mountain.

Only arriving there answers the question.

And then silence reigns.

—JC

The Triumph of Enlightenment

A loyal reader sent in this question: “When injustice seems to triumph, how do you handle it as an enlightened person? So many crazy things go on in the world every day. Please comment.”

Before answering the “how do you handle it” part of your question, let’s look at the ”as an enlightened person” part.

What is it to be an enlightened person? It is to know the truth of who you are.

Who are you? At your inner core, as your Enlightened Self, you are simply being as pure consciousness.

A person has boundaries. Enlightenment is unboundedness. A miracle of our human existence is that as persons we have the capability of experiencing enlightenment.

And as an enlightened person, you are still human. You still have human reactions and emotions.

Things that happen can still provoke a reaction in you. Seeing injustice triumph can make you feel a negative emotion. Seeing justice triumph can make you feel a positive emotion.

But an enlightened person knows that she is not her emotions. She also knows that she is not the world of phenomena that triggers those emotions. She knows who she is.

Emotions change and phenomena change. They have no impact on her changeless Enlightened Self.

Which brings us to the “how do you handle it” part.

In the arena of activity, do what needs to be done. If you see injustice and can effectively do something to correct it, then do something.

But perhaps your question comes from a feeling that you can’t do anything about it. You want to change something unjust that happened and you can’t. You want to prevent all future injustices that might happen and you can’t.

What we all want, all the time, is for outer to match inner. With every action we take, we have an inner intention and we want it to have an outer reflection. We are always trying to make the world in our own image.

When outer doesn’t match inner, we experience distress, frustration, and anger. Like when something unjust in the outer world doesn’t match our inner sense of justice.

Perhaps your question means that you want to hear something that will make it match. “If I could only understand how injustice can triumph, I could reconcile all this.”

There are lots of explanations for the grand and sometimes hidden designs behind confusing events in the world. Answers From Silence is full of them.

For example: “Everyone is on their path of enlightenment, and everything that happens in a person’s life is their path of enlightenment.”

Understanding can help. But enlightenment is not a philosophy. It is the living knowledge of the truth of who you are.

And when that knowledge lives in you, nothing that happens in the world can compromise, endanger, damage, negate, extinguish, or triumph over your Enlightened Self.

—J.C.

Enlightened Success

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who has read Answers From Silence. She loves the chapter about career, but she has a “yes, but—” issue with it. She is tired of struggling to succeed in her particular profession when there seems to be so much resistance and so little encouragement. She just wants success.

I used to have exactly the same issue, and I addressed it in that chapter about career. Therefore, I assumed that she needed a different angle on the subject.

I tried reminding her that everything in our life is our path of enlightenment, and that ultimately “success” isn’t the point; instead, it’s growth of awareness.

After our conversation, I felt like my message was received as some kind of positive-thinking rhetoric. Assuaging words about growth of awareness didn’t reach my friend’s sore spot. They just seemed like a bandage. And, like a bandage, a cover-up.

Enlightenment isn’t a bandage, and neither should information about enlightenment be used to evade genuine feelings of unhappiness. If you are really unhappy, then denying that reality by pretending otherwise would not be the “enlightened” thing to do.

What I hadn’t done in the conversation was to identify the dynamic of the question. A question needs to be answered at its own level of intention. If the questioner has one intention, it won’t help to answer with another intention.

When my friend said, “I am unhappy about my lack of success,” I took her meaning as, “Please give me the understanding to be free of my unhappiness.”

But she could have meant, “Please give me information on how to be successful.”

Or, “Sometimes I get discouraged. Can you reassure me that I’m doing the right thing?”

Or, “I need to talk about this. Please just be here and listen to me.”

Or, “I know the enlightened answer to my question, but I am resisting enlightenment by holding onto my question.”

Our conversation also hinted at another question that people seem to have about enlightenment: will it improve chances for worldly success?

Various things will happen after you are enlightened. Things always happen. But none of them will add to you or take away from you, because enlightenment is constant fullness that is independent of circumstances.

Also: can you be enlightened and still want worldly success in the way that people usually want it and for the reasons that people usually want it?

If wanting something comes from the sense of lacking something, then the answer is no. Because of the fullness that is enlightenment, the enlightened person doesn’t do things because of an inner lack. If the enlightened person wants anything, it is probably enlightenment for everyone else.

Just as enlightenment doesn’t substitute for worldly success, so does not worldly success substitute for enlightenment. If you want to talk about enlightenment, let’s talk about that. If you want to talk about success, let’s talk about that.

Or let’s not, if you are ready to look out the window, beyond the roomful of concerns you have busied yourself with all this time, and see the amazing panorama that you never suspected was there all along. I would really like to watch that happen.

—J.C.

The “Mr. Enlightenment” Interview, Par...

Dear Readers:

This is the final follow-up to the article on this website titled, “The Mr. Enlightenment Interview”, where Rose Rosetree asked me questions that were posed by readers of her blog. “Mr. Enlightenment” is what she playfully decided to call me.

If you don’t know and are wondering what this is all about, please take a look at this link.

I am taking the remainder of the questions from Rose Rosetree’s blog buddies and answering them here in the order that they appeared.

As I did in Part Two, I aim for giving the shortest and most direct answers.

However, full elaborations of many of these are addressed by the articles at this website, found under “Archives”, and in my book, Answers From Silence. You can read parts of the book at this website under Excerpts.

If more than one person asked the same question, I answered it the first time.

Here goes!

Renee: Why you??…Why not…me??

JC: That is one of the main parts of my message. I never expected it to happen to me in this lifetime. But it can happen. It does happen. It could happen to you.

Jim Curry: Is Enlightenment a condition cut out of a single cloth? Or can a person be partly Enlightened or Enlightened in one area while still lagging in another area?

JC: Enlightenment only pertains to one area, which is the area of consciousness.

Jim Curry: Or does the same new condition imbue all aspects of the person’s activity and understanding?

JC: Consciousness imbues all aspects of activity, therefore enlightenment imbues all aspects of activity. As for understanding, that can be a mental abstraction. Therefore, I wouldn’t choose the word “understanding”. I would instead say that enlightenment imbues all aspects of knowledge.

Jim Curry: Have you noticed that very few Enlightened people gather about themselves whole communities of similarly upgraded persons?

JC: To my understanding, historically there have been many communities of like-minded spiritually-oriented people who have gathered together.

Jim Curry: Suppose a person who would like to be Enlightened shows up at an enlightened person’s doorstep. Is it possible to transfer the condition through some sort of (perhaps unexpected) educational process, or is this something that must be done all from the start for each person?

JC: I believe it must be possible to transfer the condition.

Jim Curry: If, indeed, it is possible to help people along, then why have we never seen that happen on anything like a great scale?

JC: On a great scale, people first have to want to show up at an enlightened person’s doorstep.

Jim Curry: Even Jesus seemed to have trouble getting through to twelve guys. It should be clear enough that they didn’t all “get” it (Judas, for example) and that the rest didn’t get it all (not both Peter and Paul were right on all points—not possible, they disagreed a lot). Please explain this.

JC: You can begin communication with people only at their own level of understanding.

Suzanne: I think Jim brings up an excellent point. If Darshan, the concept of becoming Enlightened by being in the presence of an Enlightened person, is true — then why doesn’t it happen more often?

JC: People aren’t willing to surrender more often.

Suzanne: In your experience, are you able to influence other people just by being around them?

JC: Yes.

Suzanne: How do you keep your peace with the pace of other people’s evolution?!

JC: I accept where they are. Everyone is on their path of enlightenment.

Jim Curry: Physical exercise means that we place measured stress on the physical body in order to elicit adaptive changes—which come from the unseen wisdom of the body itself. Our work just knocks on the door, asking the body to improve itself. It does the work. Is there an analogy to enlightenment? Can we place adaptive stress so that we get closer to enlightenment—can we exercise in some sense toward enlightenment as we exercise toward the Boston marathon?

JC: I don’t know whether there is an adaptive stress analogy to enlightenment.

Jim Curry: On the other hand, are there unhealthy stresses we can self-impose that delay enlightenment?

JC: Yes, and your common sense will identify those. But your path of enlightenment is comprised of every moment and event in your life. If there’s a delay, it was part of your path of enlightenment.

Jim Curry: Is the exact reverse true, i.e. if instead of imposing stress, if we impose some sort of reverse-stress—some flavor of pleasure—can that get us nearer?

JC: Make transcending a daily habit.

Jim Curry: Is there any sense in which becoming Enlightened makes it more awkward or more difficult to function in ordinary life? Is it in any sense a mal-adaption?

JC: No.

Sunny: One of the main purposes in our life is to become Enlightened. But how can I recognize my purpose in life (other than the Enlightenment one)? How do i know what I am supposed to do in life? Which job, mission, purpose am I supposed to undertake?

JC: The one that suits your abilities, that brings you joy, and that contributes to the lives of other people. Chapter 1 of Answers From Silence is all about this.

Carol: Would you allow some of us empaths to merge with you? Could we get a feel for Enlightenment by doing that?

JC: Go ahead.

Jordan: Jeffrey, do you ever get sick?

JC: Yes.

Jordan: Do you think it’s possible or at all likely for an Enlightened person to become seriously or terminally ill?

JC: Yes. But it would be experienced as an illness of the body. The self would be unaffected.

Jordan: What is bad, icky STUFF anyway?

JC: Energy configurations.

Jordan: Where does it come from?

JC: It comes from the past.

Jordan: Is it just the unknown and distortion?

JC: It is mistaken identity.

Jordan: What do you perceive at the farthest edge of your consciousness?

JC: Consciousness.

Jordan: Where do you experience limitation?

JC: The experience of self has a quality of limitlessness. But the physical environment has limitations. Solid objects can’t occupy the same space, for example. But I don’t mind.

Station: Hello, can you please describe the dynamics of your shift from pre-enlightened to enlightened?

JC: It was accomplished by interacting with my Enlightened Self until I merged and became my Enlightened Self. Chapter 6 of Answers From Silence traces this step by step.

Station: Is it simply a matter of a shift in perception?

JC: No. It is a shift in the perceiver.

Station: Do you subscribe to the common belief that the purpose of human life is to “learn” and “evolve” spiritually?

JC: I used to, but “purpose” seems like a different issue to me now. Everything is whole and self-contained. Therefore, I would now say that the purpose of human life is to be human life. The purpose of learning and evolving spiritually is to learn and evolve spiritually.

Station: If so, how did you arrive at that conclusion?

JC: Before now, “the common belief that the purpose of human life is to ‘learn’ and ‘evolve’ spiritually” was the best working model for interpreting human life and spiritual evolution.

Station: What about other forms of life (animals, plants, single cell microorganisms)?

JC: Same answers.

Amanda Flood: I would like to ask about the experience of being ‘in the moment’. Can you describe it?

JC: It is an experience of fullness and of completeness.

Amanda Flood: Sometimes I will have times of being in the moment when everything is just love. It’s an incredibly gentle feeling and feels timeless. I had put it down as just another ‘consciousness place’ but it seems from what Rose has written here and elsewhere that this (or something similar) is characteristic of enlightenment. Is it characteristic?

JC: Yes.

Amanda Flood: I’d also like to know if it’s something I should be cultivating?

JC: No. You should cultivate the cause, not the effect. Aligning into timelessness (cause) is what you should cultivate. Don’t try to duplicate an incredibly gentle feeling when everything is just love (effect).

Heather: I believe that Rose has previously mentioned that it is possible for ALL humans to become Enlightened…but is it truly possible for everyone to obtain this level?

JC: Yes. But now would be a good time to put the word “obtain” to rest. Accurately speaking, enlightenment isn’t an obtaining. It is a giving away. As I said in Answers From Silence, “Enlightenment is a bargain. The trade-off is: give up everything you have. In return, you get all of it back, plus everything in the universe.” And, “You don’t obtain enlightenment. Only God obtains enlightenment. You don’t become God. God becomes you. Then it is God who is living your life, thinking your thoughts, feeling your feelings, etc.”

Heather: I understand that not everyone would choose this path and therefore it would not be a possibility.

JC: Also from Answers From Silence, “Everyone is on their path of enlightenment…The only difference between some people and others is that they know this.”

Heather: But if I worked hard enough to get rid of my STUFF, is it possible?

JC: Yes. And it’s also possible that it could happen even before all the hard work was done.

Heather: Or, for some of us, is it not possible in this lifetime?

JC: Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is not possible in any lifetime as long as you take ownership of that lifetime.

Grace: Do you find that since you’ve become Enlightened that you have fewer problems in life?

JC: Yes.

Grace: And/or if you do have problems, is it simply easier to deal with them?

JC: Yes.

Grace: Did you actively and intentionally pursue getting rid of STUFF (as Rose defines it) as part of your path to Enlightenment?

JC: Yes.

Jody: I was wondering if your body is more healthy and resilient post-Enlightenment?

JC: I’m not sure. But my periodontist said that my mouth was healing faster than expected after a recent tooth extraction that left no bruises or swelling. If that means anything.

Jody: If you do catch a sore throat or tummy bug or something, does that affect your inner state, your mood?

JC: No.

Jenny: Millions of people suffer from insomnia. Do Enlightened people get insomnia?

JC: I don’t know. There have been a few nights where I couldn’t get to sleep for an hour or more. I think it had to do with eating certain kinds of food in the evening.

Jenny: Jeffrey, how responsible do you feel for fixing other people’s problems? So many compassionate people make themselves feel guilty because they are not stopping to help every suffering person who crosses their path.

JC: I feel no responsibility for fixing other people’s problems. But I am always available to respond to a need.

Jenny: Do you stop constantly and bless random people all day long? Or do you set yourself a quota for each day? Or what?

JC: It’s happening automatically at all times.

Roma: If someone close to you does something “offensive,” rude, or abusive toward you… do you perceive it that way for even a moment?

JC: Yes.

Roma: Or does it not even bother you?

JC: If it occurs within a personal relationship, it bothers me at the emotional level.

Roma: And if it doesn’t bother you — how/where do you draw the line between remaining calm and peaceful, and protecting yourself from people who are trying to harm you?

JC: You should protect yourself when appropriate. Draw the line at reality. There is no value in injecting an unreal sense of calm peacefulness into a harmful situation.

Anita: I am wondering if being Enlightened is something that impacts you in a noticeable way or if it is almost imperceptible, a wonderful add-on to your life and something you might notice if you paid attention but it otherwise doesn’t create any big waves.

JC: It impacts you in a noticeable way that never leaves your attention.

Anita: Do problems with our government or more global ones, such as poverty in third world countries or the thinning of the ozone layer, still irk you in any way?

JC: Yes.

Anita: Do other people – aside from Rose Rosetree, of course – notice that you are different in some way, even if they can’t articulate exactly how you are different?

JC: Sometimes.

Anita: Do they do something like, “Wow, Mr. Chappell, you just seem to have a glow to you that not many other people have, an inner incandescence”?

JC: Sometimes.

Anita: Does life seem more rich and textured to you as one who is Enlightened – like sunsets are more beautiful, oranges zingier, music more delightful?

JC: Yes. Chapter 7 of Answers From Silence provides a thorough before-and-after comparison.

Anita: Do you live more in the Present Moment now than before you became Enlightened?

JC: I live in eternal timelessness. Because the present is an aspect of time, I don’t live in the present—or the past, or the future. I have released the present. See the website article, “Being In The Present—And Beyond” (http://www.answersfromsilence.com/being-in-the-present-and-beyond).

Anita: Do you remember when and how you became Enlightened?

JC: Yes.

Anita: Was it a Moment or something gradual?

JC: It was a moment. More precisely, it was a period of about 20 minutes. I was writing it down as it happened. This is found in Chapter 6 of Answers From Silence, under the heading, “This Is Your Enlightenment”.

Anita: What do you think your dharma in this world is?

JC: At this point, teaching.

Anita: And how were you able to figure that out?

JC: The first part of my life was spent with a single focus on performing classical piano music. The next part was spent diversifying my musical knowledge into all other areas, and I also wrote Answers From Silence. What remains now is to pass on my knowledge to others.

Anita: Do you have any advice to give to the younger generation?

JC: Bring your best into every situation.

Anita: What tips can you give to those of us who aren’t Enlightened about how to live life well?

JC: The reason you do the things you do is to feel alive. Drop the painful, unproductive ways to feel alive. There are better ways to feel alive. Find joyful, productive ways to feel alive.

Anita: Do you recommend we become Enlightened ourselves?

JC: Yes.

The “Mr. Enlightenment” Interview, Par...

Dear Readers:

This is the first follow-up to the article on this website titled, “The Mr. Enlightenment Interview”, where Rose Rosetree asked me questions that were posed by readers of her blog.

If you don’t know and are wondering what this is all about, please take a look at this link:

Ask Mr. Enlightenment Contest

I am taking the remainder of the questions from Rose Rosetree’s blog buddies and answering them here in the order that they appeared. This is roughly the first half of those. The second half will appear in a subsequent post.

Because there are so many questions, I aim for giving the shortest answers. I also aim for giving the most direct answers, since there is at least one questioner lamenting the lack of direct answers on the subject of enlightenment.

However, full elaborations of many of these are addressed by the articles at this website Answers From Silence, found under “Archives” in the sidebar to the right, and in my book, Answers From Silence. You can read parts of the book at this website under “Excerpts”.

Alternatively, you can use the Search field, or simply click on the list of topics listed under “Categories” in the sidebar to the right.

If more than one person asked the same question, I answered it the first time.

Here goes!

Alexey: What were the practical steps you took to become enlightened?

JC: Four things:

1. I lived my life.

2. I meditated as a daily habit.

3. I engaged in dialogues with my Enlightened Self.

4. When enlightenment came, I yielded.

Bridget: When you became enlightened was it an event? And, if so, did you know you were enlightened instantly?

JC: Yes, it was an event. And yes, I knew instantly. Chapter 7 of Answers From Silence covers this subject.

Jody: When you look at your relationships with other people in your life, what are the biggest differences you notice before enlightenment and after enlightenment?

JC: Established relationships have stayed the same. I am still a friend to my friends, a teacher to my students, a son to my father. But a new kind of relationship—a spiritual mentorship—became possible, and that has happened with a couple of people.

Suzanne: What do you do when homeless people ask you for money on the street?

JC: Sometimes I give it to them.

Rose: Do you feel the need to say things like, “Blessings” when you talk to people?

JC: No.

Rose: If you are angry at someone, or a person has treated you badly in a way that merits clarification or a verbal objection, do you stay silent in order to never speak a negative word?

JC: I speak up in order to correct the situation, but that can be done without negative words.

Rose: Do you sometimes have to speak negative words? If so, do you find it necessary to always pretty things up afterwards by saying things like, “Bless you, my child” or “Namaste”?

JC: I never choose to speak demeaningly or insultingly of any person, present or absent. On instinct, I might call someone a bad name if they were to make a frighteningly irresponsible maneuver next to my car in traffic. I don’t verbally pretty it up afterwards. The next moment pretties it up.

Amanda: Did you ever go through a dark time?

JC: Yes, but I was never dark during that time.

Amanda: …and if so, how did it clear?

JC: Time brought it, time cleared it.

Jim Curry: How can ordinary people become perceptive enough to distinguish between actual limitations and their own laziness or neurotic preferences?

JC: Actual limitations are when other people are blocking your progress. Your own laziness or neurotic preferences are when you are blocking your progress. Chapter 3 of Answers From Silence includes material on this question.

Jim Curry: What is a good clear, concrete method that will allow us to establish full authenticity and motor on toward enlightenment in a businesslike way, whether we have some energy block or not?

JC: Choose a method of experiencing transcendence that works for you and make it a daily habit.

Jim Curry: How can those of us in the cheap seats recognize good advice from bad advice?

JC: Ask your own Enlightened Self to tell you the difference.

Jim Curry: Once obtained, is enlightenment a persistent state, or can you be enlightened for thirty seconds and drop back to lesser status (bummer)?

JC: It’s persistent.

Jim Curry: Does being enlightened mean that a person is pleasant and smooth to deal with, or could an enlightened person be really cranky and unpleasant—at least part of the time?

JC: An enlightened person could be really cranky and unpleasant at least part of the time.

Jim Curry: Are there different flavors of enlightenment? For example, ice cream could be vanilla or chocolate or strawberry or mint or…. Ice cream is quite varied.

JC: I don’t know. You also might ask whether vanilla tastes the same to everybody.

Jim Curry: Is enlightenment varied in some similar sense, or does one size fit all?

JC: I don’t know. But descriptions of it from disparate sources seem to congrue.

Jim Curry: Is the “rising of Kundalini” necessary for enlightenment, as some Indian authors write, or are there many other ways?

JC: The rising of Kundalini may possibly be a hidden component in every enlightenment, but I don’t know. I can only speculate. There are many techniques. Perhaps some of those raise Kundalini as an automatic by-product, without focusing on it as a goal.

Jim Curry: If it is necessary, is there a safe, pleasant, easy, comfortable way to get it done—and get it done NOW????

JC: I can’t say, since I don’t know any Kundalini techniques.

Jim Curry: Is there any distinct advantage that accrues to an enlightened person…

JC: Scoring an advantage ceases to be a motivation.

Jim Curry: …or is it just as hard to haul the water and pay the bills after as before?

JC: Water gets hauled and bills get paid, and it may be hard, but the experience of it being hard is not taken personally. The only experience is freedom, and the external circumstances are irrelevant. I am not hauling water, I am experiencing freedom. I am not paying bills, I am experiencing freedom. And so forth.

Jim Curry: If the path is necessarily arduous, can you suggest a way of guaranteeing for ourselves our own persistence on the path?

JC: The path is not necessarily arduous. I suggest that the way to guarantee your own persistence on the path is to follow a path that you love.

Jim Curry: When all is said and done, is it really all that hard to become enlightened—or is it mainly media hype?

JC: People make enlightenment hard by putting up a fight.

Jim Curry: Why have so many enlightened people, especially from Indian and China, made such a big secret deal for so many centuries about how to become enlightened?

JC: Are you keeping a secret, and if so, is there a good reason?

Jim Curry: Wouldn’t it be a good idea if everyone got with the program and got enlightened —perhaps by next month?

JC: Yes.

Jim Curry: Why would it be useful to keep it all a deep dark secret?

JC: It is not a deep dark secret. All the information is out there. People need to choose to connect with it.

Jim Curry: Is enlightenment a terminal goal, or is it merely a way marker?

JC: It marks a beginning.

Jim Curry: Suppose you and 1,000 other people become enlightened, do you then have to start next day working toward Enlightenment The Sequel—a higher and better state that is, as yet, hard to obtain?

JC: Some say that there are different stages of higher consciousness. Check the “Beyond Enlightenment” section in Chapter 7 of my book.

Jim Curry: So, as an enlightened person, what are the concerns or problems that you deal with?

JC: I deal with the concerns and problems of everyday life.

Jim Curry: What occupies your attention?

JC: Whatever I’m doing.

Jim Curry: What are YOU working on or working toward?

JC: I am working on various professional projects such as teaching music, preparing for upcoming concerts, and blogging about my book.

Jim Curry: How does the game of striving change for those who are no longer in the cheap seats?

JC: It ends.

Olivia: What’s up with dolphins? (I’ll leave it at that. Interpret as you like.)

JC: They are really intelligent animals. That’s all the information that I have.

Jim Curry: Do enlightened people have special ways of performing ordinary tasks?

C: Yes. The self is separate from the action.

Jim Curry: Can you recognize an enlightened person just by watching or listening to them?

JC: No.