Are you are Enlightened? What is Spiritual Enlightenment?

Happy Joy Smile Enlightenment

Whom among us is truly enlightened, and how do we know? How Enlightened are YOU? How do you REALLY know if you are enlightened?

Take the Enlightenment Quiz! If you fail miserably, don’t worry, there is hope for you yet…have a look at one of my most popular posts…10 Guaranteed Ways to SUCK in Life.

Take your time…there are ten questions…followed by the recommended answer for the enlightened soul – Have fun with it!

1. You are already late, and run into the supermarket to grab a few last minute items on your way home from the office. You are standing in the checkout line behind the one woman who is purchasing $10 in gum and a magazine and chooses to pay by check, which of course she is unable to locate within her duffle bag purse…and yes she does have a coupon, and YES its expired, and NO this is not acceptable to her as evidenced by the bantering with the poor checkout clerk. If you are able to maintain your composure, patience and smile…you may just be enlightened after all.
2. At the most inopportune time, your spouse decides to have that meltdown he or she has been saving up, and they release upon you like Mount St. Helens, the many weeks and months worth of emotional buildup and frustration on your poor, helpless self. If in the heat of this head-collision you are able to find empathy, compassion, kindness, and maybe even some love…you may just be enlightened after all.
3. You are driving to the office and you become aware of an uncanny stench emanating from your car. You suddenly realize that its not the car per se as it is the dog feces on the bottom of your shoe that you stepped in on your way to your car this morning. You realize that it was your NEIGHBORS dog, and now its all over your floormat, the pedals, the carpet, and there is even some on your starches cackies! If you are able to stay calm and collected, and perhaps even find your sense of humor (even if at your own expense), give yourself a pat on the back…you are doing well. If the next morning your neighbor’s dog doesn’t suddenly vanish or die in some “freak” accident, bonus points for you!
4. 

   Frustration & Anger

   Your daughter or son gets their drivers license and you award them with their very own car. You fix it up, wash it, and they fill it with gadgets and accoutrement…then in less than a week, they crash it. If you are able to restrain yourself from strangling them, you are well on your way to enlightenment. Hmmm, sounds oddly familiar that one…oh wait, I already wrote about it (10 Ways to be a Better Father)…I was considering relinquishing enlightenment just to break this rule…but alas I did not, at least not yet.

5. After 30 years, your brother decides that now is the most opportune time to come out of the closet and declare not only his sexual liberties, but if that weren’t enough, he and one of your best (guy) friends have been “together” for quite some time now and are actually madly in love. REALLY? Ok, this didn’t happen to me, but what an incredible opportunity to find your peace of mind and acceptance in a profoundly challenging circumstance.
6. You come home from work to find out that your mother-in-law, whom you never really got along with, decided to fly in for a little visit…and by happenstance perhaps, she just that she hasn’t scheduled her return trip…YET (probably because she wasn’t planning on having one). Oh course while she is there, she really doesn’t want to interfere with the natural ebb and flow of your home and decides it would be best if she didn’t mess up your laundry schedule – so she just adds her laundry to yours. AND if she picked up after herself or did the dishes it might affect the peace and tranquility of your home (so she doesn’t). Well, needless to say, if you can find the gratitude for the woman who gave birth to your spouse, you are doing VERY well.
7. Your 17 year-old daughter, a promising, smart, and charming junior in high-school, confides in you that not only is she in love with “Johnny” the star of the basketball team, but that she’s pregnant and has decided to keep it. Well, I’ll let you fill in the blanks here, but needless to say…if your grandchild grows up without a mother…perhaps you haven’t made it quite yet 😉
8. 

   Frustration Ahead

   As you hold the door open for the next customer after picking up your Grande Mocha Latte as a wake-me-up on your way the office, the rather large woman with the purse (which oddly resembles some kind of oversized laundry bag), swings it over her shoulder as she walks through the door, impaling your coffee as the contents ooze down your freshly laundered dress shirt, but not impounding you to the extent of a full concussion. If that weren’t’ battery enough, she doesn’t bother to say Thank You for holding the door. If she survives, you did well. If you are able to smile to yourself and still mumble a “no, problem…don’t worry about it,” YOU WIN this round.

9. You spend 5 minutes reading this ridiculous blog that your friend sent you and by now you begin to realize that if you’ve made it this far, there is probably NO WAY you could ever have reached enlightenment. Although these obstacles test our patience, if enlightenment was this easy and superficial, it would be ours for the taking. However, enlightenment is not a destination…it is a state of being, and it occurs as a result of the choices we make in the moments before us. There are no “right” answers to our own individual path to enlightenment, but there are choices that are in alignment with who we are as a person and who we desire to become.
10. Let’s be honest…if you really were enlightened, you wouldn’t even need to take this silly quiz.

I could go on forever with more samples…and so could you because our own stories of irony, stupidity, and downright ignorance are endless. Joking aside, let’s be honest . Our level of enlightenment is defined not by our ability to avoid the obstacles and challenges before us, but by how we embrace and react to the opportunities presented. Our entire world is full of obstacles, and other than becoming a hermit in an attempt to avoid the experiences and challenges in our lives, we must face the reality before us. We have the most incredible opportunity to smile in the face of adversity and allow the challenges before us to guide and shape who we become in the process.

Love Guru

Perfection is not the objective, for our simple involvement and engagment with this physical world will present us from becoming insular or oblivious to any of the challenges we face. However, if we are able to personally evolve ourselves in the process and see through the challenges before us for the opportunities that they are, we have the ability to overcome the pettiness of this physical existence to live our truth, our passion, our purpose, and our path. And remember, even though we are not of this physical plane, enlightenement is a function of our ability to coexist on this phsyical plane, to function and excel, to engage and to serve.