Quotes About Enlightenment

Short Quotes

“Do not hold enlightenment as the goal of your life, for the person you are seeking to enlighten is the one who is standing in your way. It is your undoing that enlightens you.”

“If you think your life is just for your own growth, you will become self-absorbed and miss the whole point.”

"You were not sent into the world to dream of Heaven. You were sent into the world to be of service to the world, to be of service of now a new world, a changing world, a challenging world, and yet a world that has the power to prompt greater human cooperation and to call forth a greater Knowledge that every person carries within them."

"God is not calling you to return to your heavenly state, but to enter into the world for the purpose that you have come."

"Spiritual enlightenment is extremely rare in the Universe, as it is in your world."

“All the books and all the lectures, all the ideas and all the processes—you leave them at the temple gate, the outer gate, to enter in. You simply enter in and your Teachers are there to take you in.”

“People who are terrified of losing are afraid to receive. The cost is always too great for them. If you are to be fully engaged in life individually and as a society, it will cost everything you have. You will end your life completely used up like a great vessel that has been emptied. It is that complete utilization that will fulfill you in this world and will make it unnecessary for you to return. You have given everything you have brought with you.”

A spiritual aim

"Ultimately, spirituality is about the ability to unite in purpose with others and to experience affinity and resonance with these people. It is necessary here to think of spirituality not so much as an individual pursuit towards perfection or enlightenment, but as developing the ability to unite with others, unite at a higher level—at the level of purpose, meaning and direction—a level beyond personal ambitions, fears and deceptions."

“For some people enlightenment is held out to be the ultimate goal—to become free of attachment; free of worldly restraint; free to immerse yourself in a greater consciousness, the consciousness of all life, perhaps the consciousness of God; to be unhindered, internally; to be free of anger and resentment and low self-esteem. For some people, enlightenment then becomes their new obsession. They think that that is why they are here in the world—to escape the world, to escape the endless cycle of existence, and all of the suffering and struggle and difficulty that that entails.”

“If it were your purpose to discover the deeper Knowledge that God has placed within you, and to follow that Knowledge and to be a vehicle for its expression in the world, if that were your definition of enlightenment, then enlightenment would be completely appropriate. But enlightenment, in the minds of many people, is something very different. It is a kind of personal exultation. It is an escape from life. It is a retreat from the world. It is a great ambition.”

“For some people, enlightenment, however, has nothing to do with Knowledge. It is a personal goal. It is the ultimate experience of happiness and contentment, and that is the goal of their lives—to be happy and contented. And so they will spend their lives, all their resources, all of their self-determination, to try to eradicate or overcome or overlook all of the tendencies within themselves that keep them small and chained to the world. But they will also overlook the power and presence of Knowledge and what it is calling them to do.”

“You did not come here to be a mass consumer, to use everything in the world for your own edification, for your own satisfaction, for your own happiness. This is a very important point of clarification, because if you do not see this, then you will think of enlightenment as a kind of noble road to take, the ultimate pursuit, the greatest adventure, the greatest and most significant challenge in life. But you risk missing what is fundamental to who you are and to the greater purpose that has brought you into the world.”

"There are many spiritual teachers in the world who will promise you abundance and enlightenment, fulfillment or spiritual powers, but there are very few of them that will teach you to build the foundation for living a greater life engaged in a greater set of activities and responsibilities. They are selling you on an idea, on a dream, on a hope and a wish. But in the real preparation, people have to work hard and build a foundation."

"Today you have many spiritual teachers and advocates who claim to have great powers and great connections and offer expedient means to achieve spiritual power and enlightenment. But, really, it is all a mirage."

"What will you have faith in within such a radically changing world? ... Everything is changing. Life is changing. Will you have faith in enlightenment, that you will become enlightened beyond the specter of love and fear, hope and despair—an enlightenment that is so difficult to achieve and so rarely achieved? Will you have faith in your spiritual path, which for most people will not prepare them for the Great Waves of change? What will you have faith in?"

Escapism

"Many people try to use religion and spirituality as a kind of bypass. They want to leap into a new life without resolving their former life. And of course this is not successful. They simply take their old life into their new life, and they find themselves still living in the same reality even if the appearance of their life has changed."

"You cannot run away to God, for you were sent into the world to serve a world in need. That is why the Presence is not a form of intoxication. It is not a grand escape. It is not ascending far beyond, never to return. Why would God call you back to Heaven when great effort was made to bring you into the world?

"There are no heroes to worship now, no individuals to deify, only greater responsibility to be assumed and a greater wisdom to be utilized. There is no escape through personal enlightenment. There is no running away. There is no self-deception. There is only greater resonance and responsibility, greater sacrifice and contribution. That is what will save the world. That is what will save humanity’s freedom and self-determination in a universe where freedom is rare and must be protected very carefully. This is what will restore dignity to the individual and the ability to contribute something of greater power and significance, no matter what your circumstances may be."

"The whole focus on the path of enlightenment [is] skewed and incorrect. People seek to have greater peace and equanimity. They want to feel better and feel better and feel better, and the reason they do not feel better is in part that they are not preparing for the future and they are experiencing anxiety and discomfort."