Author Archives: Jay Jennifer Matthews

Enlightenment has four doors. Each door is associated with a practice or core idea. All doors lead to the same goal, so you can pick whichever one you like. 1. The front door. This is the path of attainment. Focus on a meditation object to stabilize your attention. When you arrive at spacious clarity, abideContinue reading “Spiritual Practice”

Enlightenment is the cessation of unhappiness. Our natural state is happiness (peace, bliss, stillness). Therefore, happiness is available whenever unhappiness is absent. Happiness is a state of being and unhappiness is a state of doing. Mental activity has the ability to obscure our natural peace. The more intense the activity, the more obscuring it is.Continue reading “What is Enlightenment?”

There are several reliable paths. These paths are just different ways of saying the same thing. 1. Realize you are already there. This perfectly valid admission catches some flack. People who think enlightenment is the result of spiritual progress like to point out the horrors of your current existence. But here you are, existing inContinue reading “Paths to Enlightenment”

When my family and I go on vacation, we designate a turn-around point. If you realize you forgot something before the turn-around, you can turn back. If you realize it later, you proceed to destination, the missing Kindle or whatever notwithstanding. A fully enlightened person would be someone who is truly sick of turning back.Continue reading “Fully Enlightened”

Enlightenment is a personal decision that doesn’t have anything to do with your belief system. Freedom precedes us, like sitting down precedes standing up. Subscribing to a belief system to find freedom is like getting up to sit down. We want to sit with people and appreciate the beauty of it all. Pretty soon, somebodyContinue reading “A Personal Choice”