Everyday Enlightenment, page 30
Whether you draw upon any of the foregoing models or upon your own intuitive inner knower, the cameras are about to roll. Preparation is over. Now, the play's the thing.
Back on the Set
You have probably never before consciously modeled enlightened behavior, because you've never been given that assignment.
Until now.
Now you are about to play the role of a lifetime. In your first scene you enter a room, walk across the floor, greet a small group of people, then speak with another character who is upset and hostile. The problem is that you, yourself, are feeling extremely upset. The past few weeks you've been having heated arguments over your spouse's late hours at the office with a very friendly assistant. A few moments ago, on the telephone, after another fight, your partner told you that your relationship was over. You just hung up the phone.
The shot is ready. Your partner's words still ring in your mind: “This relationship was over a long time ago.” You feel the tension in your body—the hurt, the anger. But the show must go on; the moment of truth has arrived.
The director yells, “Roll cameras. Action!”
And on cue, you step into your role. You take a deep breath, relax your body, and walk into the scene with grace and clear attention. You greet the group of people with a pleasant nod. You listen well and show kindness to the hostile character. You are present, fully in the moment, giving yourself to the situation at hand, moving, speaking, responding directly to this person in your most enlightened manner, despite your upset of a few minutes before.
Notwithstanding your emotional turmoil—the doubt, the anger—you play your role flawlessly. It isn't until after the scene ends and you walk away from the set that that voice on the telephone begins to replay itself in your mind.
Everyday Enlightenment
What if, when the scene ended, no one ever yelled, “Cut”? What if you choose to continue the same impeccable role as you walk off the set, get in your car, drive through rush-hour traffic, and find your partner packing a suitcase? What if you choose to continue your enlightened role at work the next day and the next? It is, of course, more difficult to play an enlightened role in difficult or stressful circumstances. You will blow many scenes, step out of character, and forget your lines. You can only give it your best shot. In doing so, you will improve over time, become more like flowing water
Always remember that you don't have to think or feel enlightened. You only need to behave that way, as much as you can, whenever you remember to do so. This practice, which you can engage in each and every gateway, animates and celebrates the best of the human spirit.
The practice of enlightenment is the simplest and most transcendent spiritual practice I can share. Infinitely challenging and varied, supremely interesting, you are never bored because you have, in any moment, something to do. Calling forth all you have learned on your journey, you can transform everyday life into a path of personal evolution imbued with new meaning and purpose.
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.
—Aristotle
As you practice, you will find that your (more enlightened) behavior begins to heal your mind and emotions. You may also discover that life is not quite as serious as you were led to believe—that you are not (and have never been) a human working to be enlightened, but, rather, you are, ultimately, pure awareness now playing the role of a working human.
Start Now
This book has been about the courage to play a starring role in your own life. Do it now, while you have the time, the body, the heart, the life for it. The road is open, the pathway clear. You understand the practice. Now live it. Notice your options in every situation. How will you behave? See what intuitive answers come, and act accordingly. Ask your heart, where the higher self speaks. Then practice
Practicing Everything
If there is a key to a life well lived, if there is a single culminating insight I have gained from all my years of study and teaching it is this: Just as musicians practice music, as poets practice poetry, as athletes practice sports, the practice of enlightenment involves practicing everything—walking, speaking, breathing, sitting, standing, eating, writing, making love, doing the dishes, everything
Practice, unlike those times we go on automatic, involves attention and refinement. When we practice anything, we pay special attention, with the intention to refine a quality, skill, or aptitude.
one key to paying attention, as you have learned, is remembering to breathe, to relax, and to do whatever you are doing with grace and quality. Practicing all that you do brings a variety of blessings into your life I will let you discover for yourself.
Practicing everything is not about turning life into a series of routine drills, chores, or drudgery. On the contrary, a reawakened interest in the quality and refinement of your actions and words brings new levels of involvement and makes an art of living. You become a master athlete in training, your sport is everyday life, and the prize is a fuller experience of all the moments of which life is made.
When you practice everyday enlightenment, play and practice become one. Your practice is a creative adventure in the quality of each moment. And you play with the intense concentration of a young child first learning the skills of life. As a young trampolinist, I never remember practicing—I only played—right up to winning the world championship. So play in the spirit of practice, and practice with the joy and spontaneity of play.
Be Gentle with Yourself
If this practice does not interest you in any moment, then attend to what does interest you. Don't turn practical guidance into a masochistic, perfectionist, obsessive-compulsive, self-defeating self-improvement game. (“Oh, no! I lost my temper! Gandhi would never do that! Messed up again!”) Instead, take it easy. Life is to enjoy. Enlightenment also means forgiving your own and others' unenlightenment and continuing to do what you can. Remember that enlightenment neither achieves nor demands perfection. It simply embraces life as it is and participates fully, with faith and trust in life itself. So have fun with it! Approach this practice in the same way you might learn a somersault or a new dance step. I am practicing, stumbling, practicing
Now you have a bridge between heaven and earth, between flesh and spirit, that transmutes each day, each moment, into a sacred practice. Practice is the catalyst of transformation. Play is the celebration of our humanity. This is your training and your destiny. Welcome to real life.
Having passed through the gauntlet of the twelve gateways, knowing what you now know, what will you do?
Polar Shifts for the New Millennium
Time is a surging river, bringing change to each and all. Cultures come and go; the face of the world changes. Humanity moves forward, accelerating, evolving, not toward larger heads or bigger brains, but toward higher consciousness and open hearts
This book places an emphasis on you, the individual—on your personal evolution and destiny. But no one is an island; each of us influences those around us. By awakening, you become a spark that sets others aflame. The individual touches the community; the community touches the region; the region touches the nation; the nation touches the world.
Individual change precedes global change. Every one of us counts; each of us contributes to the beauty of the whole. We change the world by changing ourselves. And if we do nothing more than offer a smile to a stranger or utter a kind word to someone in need, we make a difference. And as humanity learns the lessons of the twelve gateways, we will see a shift of awareness that transforms our politics, entertainment, media, medicine, military, and the way we do business with one another.
We are evolving from exploiters to plunderers to protectors and caretakers of the earth. Acts of slavery, war, bigotry, and callousness once considered acceptable in some circles will soon be mourned by an awakened humanity as periods of madness. We are growing out of childhood toward maturity. Yet we are racing against time to find ways to correct and transcend our mistakes before the clock strikes midnight. Enlightened civilizations appear only when enough individuals behave in enlightened ways. The dawn of our destiny awaits us.
The Native American peoples have scattered to the winds; the great horse culture has vanished, but the Great Spirit is alive and well within each of us and growing stronger in the world. The same species that created TV dinners and hydrogen bombs is undergoing a metamorphosis no less profound than that of a chrysalis turning to a butterfly. The same species whose powers may destroy life on this planet may yet develop the wisdom and will to nourish it.
Journey's End
Many years have passed since my experience in that forest grove. It seems like lifetimes. Enlightenment is no longer a faraway or otherworldly experience; it has become an everyday practice that you or I can do in any moment. When you forget—when the light grows dim and you seem to lose your way—hold to this vision:
You are in the cellar of a building, stumbling in the darkness, bruising your body as you bump into unseen obstacles. Suddenly a door opens at the top of the stairs, and you catch the briefest glimpse of twelve stairs, illuminated for only a moment, before the door closes again. This is a moment of understanding.
It becomes dark once again, but now you know that the stairway exists, and you know its direction. There will be more bumps and bruises, but everything has changed, for you have hope and knowledge and memory of the light at the top of the stairs.
Now we arrive at the completion of our journey together through the pages of this book. The end of one journey is the beginning of another.
The practice of these gateways, which is the practice of enlightenment, the practice of life, is a cycle without end, like the changing seasons. You will pass through each gateway not once but many times, each time learning more, until practice becomes play, and play becomes life, and life becomes illumined. As you travel the winding roads ahead, remember your sense of humor, your sense of perspective, your simple humanity.
Ultimately, nothing can block you on your quest, because nothing is stronger than the human spirit that links us all. You are a seed of what is to come, stretching upward, reaching to the Light.
“A PRACTICAL AND PROFOUND JOURNEY FOCUSED ON MINDFUL LIVING. DAN MILLMAN CONTINUES TO BLAZE NEW TRAILS.”
—James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy
ON THE JOURNEY OF LIFE, DO YOU SOMETIMES WISH YOU HAD A MAP?
You now hold such a map in your hands—a guide through the twelve gateways of personal growth to the summit of your potential. Dan Millman makes your ascent accessible by bringing enlightenment down to earth —J applying spiritual wisdom to the practical realities of everyday life.
Explore the challenges and mysteries of body, mind, and emotions. Discover a new approach to success. Change confusion into clarity and knowledge into action. It begins as you turn the first page and enter…
THE TWELVE GATEWAYS
1. DISCOVER YOUR WORTH
2. RECLAIM YOUR WILL
3. ENERGIZE YOUR BODY
4. MANAGE YOUR MONEY
5. TAME YOUR MIND
6. TRUST YOUR INTUITION
7. ACCEPT YOUR EMOTIONS
8. FACE YOUR FEARS
9. ILLUMINATE YOUR SHADOW
10. EMBRACE YOUR SEXUALITY
11. AWAKEN YOUR HEART
12. SERVE YOUR WORLD
THE TIME IS NOW. THE ROAD IS OPEN. YOUR DESTINY AWAITS.
EVERYDAY
ENLIGHTENMENT
“ANOTHER MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR SPIRITUAL AWAKENING BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS. DAN WRITES WITH ELOQUENCE AND PRACTICALITY—A RARE COMBINATION.”
—Dr. Wayne Dyer, author of Manifest Your Destiny
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Dan Millman, Everyday Enlightenment
