#734

Make no mistake about it.... enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.

--Adyashanti

People accumulate baggage as they walk their path, some new ideas, antiquated beliefs, and plenty of programming. At some point on your journey, you realize that you're not happy, things aren't working out as you planned. From the outside looking in, your life may look perfect, and yet you don't feel fulfilled. You are challenged in some way, your beliefs are questioned,  and you finally open a crack.

This is the beginning.... you start searching, trying to find yourself. This quest is not for the faint of heart. At first, you have no idea what you're doing, simply that you are searching for something to make your life complete. You are on an expedition, investigating feelings, actions, and reactions. You are analyzing situations, people, and the prior programming. Every move you make, you scrutinize, in an effort to find what makes you tick and why. You are questioning everything and by doing all this, you will start to see through the facade of pretense. 

Everyone has parts of themselves that never see the light of day. The deeply hidden portions of one's humanity that are never exposed to the light of day. They are usually built of shame, embarrassment, anger etc. and you've long-since learned that it's too risky to reveal them to the world you live in. Allowing yourself to be exposed, if only to yourself, it will change the way you see life because it's the complete eradication of everything you imagined to be true.

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Dr. Wayne Dyer

reprint of #433