No There

(Free article)

“It is said that there is no arriving at enlightenment. Enlightenment is already the case. While I get this intellectually it doesn’t fully land for me in my experience. I find I am still harboring the belief that there’s some way of getting “there”.”

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Where is “there”?

Can you find it? If you can, then show it to me right now?

If “there” is some location on the planet - then perhaps you will pull out a map and point to some random spot on the globe to show me where “there” is. But all you are showing me is a spot on a map - not the actual space you are referring to. The only way you can show me the place you are referring to is if we physically showed up at that location. And when that happens, “there” is no longer there, it is here.

Similarly, maybe “there” is some state of mind you have imagined you would like to achieve. Or perhaps some state of existence that is equanimous, unperturbed, wise and at unity with all that exists - show me this “there”. Where is it?

You may pull up some ancient Hindu or Buddhist text. Or perhaps, some contemporary piece of new age philosophy to illustrate what you are referring to. But that is no different than pointing at a map. You are showing me words and symbols, not the actual experience/state that you are referring to. The only way you can show me exactly what you are talking about is if that experience is a reality for you right now, right here.

In other words, any form of “there” you project is just another symbol pointing to another here. “There” is a thought form. An imagined-here. It is something we assume to be true but is not an aspect of our direct experience.

The only constant through all experiences, all places, all times and all imagined scenarios is that they can only ever exist here - never “there”.

Thus, here is the ONLY reality. There is no “there”.

And if there is no “there”, where can enlightenment be found? Only here.

Enlightenment is not some supreme spiritual state. It is the simple perception that reality is only here and now. No matter what the here and now looks like.

If here and now looks like eating a meal, then enlightenment is seeing that eating this meal is the whole of reality.

If here and now looks like watching a loved one die, then enlightenment is seeing that your loved one dying is the whole of reality.

If here and now looks like a blissful state of union with the world, then enlightenment is experiencing that blissful state of union as the whole of reality.

And if here and now looks like getting cut off in traffic and yelling at the driver and giving them the bird, then enlightenment is that experience of losing your cool and flipping another person off.

Enlightenment is not concerned with what happens here and now. It is only concerned with the here and now, regardless of what happens.

Thus, enlightenment is always the case. And every version you have been sold of what it should look like is a poor imitation, a grotesque symbol, a cheap knockoff. 

Because here and now is the ONLY reality. You can either acknowledge it or ignore it. 

But you simply cannot arrive at the one place you’ve never left.