Enlightenment and the Middle Ground

by Wes Annac

“Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment; Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self needs strength” – Lao Tzu

I write about enlightenment so much because of its importance to the spiritual path, especially for the person who has unresolved habits and tendencies that keep them from raising their vibration. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take any advice we’re given with a grain of salt, however, and we should always be discerning with the things we learn, no matter who they come from.

Only the advice we receive from within should be taken with minimal discernment, and even when it comes to inner guidance, we’ll want to take what works for us and let the rest fall away.

Some people are against the idea of learning about enlightenment (or spiritual evolution in general) from spiritual teachers who’ve been put on a pedestal, and it’s understandable that we’d want to empower ourselves instead of a teacher who gives us a bunch of rules to follow.

The last thing we want is to give our power away to a spiritual authority figure who tells us we can’t achieve enlightenment unless we live up to a standard we didn’t knowingly create. However, there’s a difference between this and a genuine offering of teachings and philosophies that could help us transcend the Babylonian elements of our society and enlighten ourselves.

There are a lot of valuable teachings out there from spiritual teachers who genuinely want to help us find enlightenment, and all we really need to do is find the ones that resonate the most with us.

“There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart.” – Lao Tzu

[More…]

Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk