Is The World Ready For Enlightenment?

Literally, enlighten means "to shed light upon". That seems a very simple explanation for the far reaching quests of enlightenment, though. It is not an idea that can so easily be misinterpreted as other concepts are. It is a state of mind in which the individual perceiver sees themselves connected to everything, including God.

How did we, here on Earth, become so far removed from the idea that what affects one affects all? It is difficult to say when it all started. However, much of the discord, currently experienced on our planet, seems to have resulted in the explosion of populations. As communities grew into villages, towns and cities, governing bodies were born and along with them the ideas of power and corruption. The masses, looking for solace in a world now dominated by conquerers, turned to their Gods, creatures imagined to be in control of their fates. From these Gods, priests and priestesses arose, pretending ordination by the deities, to lead the people.

Over the centuries, what began as seeking a higher power's intervention in one's life, became organized religion. Unfortunately, power and corruption had already long before taken hold of humanity, and the church became an extension of the power seekers. Through the misinterpretation of sacred, historic texts, the masses were subjected to the idea of their own unworthiness. They were lead to believe that they were separate from God, and that it would be close to impossible for them to gain God's favor. Seeing the benefit to themselves, the hierarchy within these religious cults set their sights on acquiring power and wealth. They were able to easily justify the abuse of core beliefs to get what they were after, domination of the masses.

More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other supposed reason. Looking more deeply, however, power and wealth for those promoting these wars has been the outcome. The world is now filled with fear and loathing as a result of organized religions' historic positioning. It is now a battle of My God versus Your God.

In my opinion, a person would have to be wading in the shallowest end of the pool not to recognize that the life force streaming through their body is none other than God. If one can put their soundtrack on hold for a time and just be, the realization of this becomes evident. This is the point where one sees the obvious distinction between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is the principle of conscious life, a connection of body and soul in the greater picture. Religion is a set of beliefs, not necessarily based on facts. In order to experience an enlightened life one must connect to their Source spiritually. Believing in the hate and fear filled retoric promoted by many of the worlds' religions will further alienate us from each other. It will never allow us to see the divinity within all of us.

It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful place than our planet. So, thinking that dying a martyr will get you a place in the universe more beautiful than this seems inane. Trying to keep others from having the most joy filled life they can imagine seems petty. Promoting the idea that we are all separate and that any one of us has a greater right to the earth than any other is dangerous. And being willing to die to prevent another from living is the most heinous idea of all.

What earth needs now is enough people with a conscious vision of the future to create a critical mass of enlightened energy. Next time someone disagrees with you will you be able to see the spirit of God within them or will you lower your sights to just wanting to be right? We all know that it starts with us individually. Making this world one we personally want to live in means each of us taking responsibility for our attitudes and actions. What will the world we leave our children look like, if there is one? The choice is ours to make.