The enlightenment puzzle
My point here is how is enlightenment any different from our natural functioning as human beings? Let's think about this a bit more. I'm assuming that you know how to stand up, walk, go to sleep, wake up again, make use of your limbs, and so on. Let's think about all the things you know how to do naturally without ever being taught by anyone how to do things. Let's take the example of experiencing the sensation of pain or discomfort. You move, because instinctively you understand that motion is what counters suffering, but nobody has taught you this, nor has anyone told you how you should move. Nor do you sit there thinking about or trying to decide how to move. You simply move, and the pain or discomfort goes away.
Then overlaying all that natural existence which is innate and largely instinctive, you have conceptual reality which is maintained and reinforced by the habit or practice of thinking. This 'thinking', conceptual reality predominates through imprinting, and social and mental conditioning, or if you prefer social programming. This process started even before you were born, simply because you had parents, your parents had their own social programming, and ever since your mother was pregnant formed their own preconceived notions and concepts about you and who you would be and how you would live. What I'm referring to is social and cultural reality which you learned in the home, at school, and through social interactions, play and other socialization.
Reality is multi-dimensional
These two different realities (here I'm over-simplifying things) merge and make up your individual reality and experience of life, and also of existence. If you were born in the wild, i.e. your natural habitat of say the forest or grasslands, you would instinctively know how to live and be a part of a community of other human beings. But as society and culture are predominantly conceptual, and you were born unaware of the social and cultural reality you were born into, you needed to be conditioned, raised, educated so as to be able to function in society. You have been taught certain things by others in society and moulded to fit somewhere into society according to a framework, a pattern, and a collection of labels and roles.
All too often what all this social and mental conditioning amounts to is being presented with pie, and if you want your share of the pie then you're going to have to work for it, struggle for it, or even fight for it. You're led to believe that the more you work, the more you struggle and fight, the more pie you will receive. This is how things stand in most societies and cultures. You've got to be educated, you've got to be aware, to know certain things, because all too often pieces of pie are not given to you freely and you have to somehow show you are deserving of what piece of the pie you get. Some get more, some even much more, and some get less, and sometimes much less.
What invariably happens is that, as a result of the social and mental conditioning we're all put through, we get psychologically and emotionally locked into the conceptual versions of reality without ever giving ourselves time or opportunity to develop naturally as human beings. We get all caught up in the various labels, role attachments, behaviour ruts, social and cultural functions, and as a result we never really take a step back and just accept the experience of being alive or learning to appreciate the simple fact that we are alive and that we exist. We grow accustomed to other people telling us who and what we are, what to think, what to believe, how to behave, who we should be, and we do the same to others. Think about all the assumptions and preconceived notions about yourself, about other people, about your environment, and how all this thinking and all these concepts affect the choices and decisions you make in life.
Please keep in mind that when I was younger I went through training in Therevada Buddhism and also studied the occult, mysticism and magic. I learned the different forms of meditation, the samatha meditation to somehow bring myself down, and the vipassana meditation to develop sensory (and extrasensory awareness) and I practised meditation for many years. Throughout I was seeking enlightenment never really sure of what I was looking for or seeking. I stopped seeking during my Forest Tradition, alone among the trees, living with nature. This is when I came to realize that what I was seeking didn't exist in actual reality.
All that exists in actual reality is life and the experience of life, or being alive. That's it. There's just the simple pulsation of life, of living, the rhythm, the pattern, the vibration, and nothing more than this. I don't really want to offer a definition of enlightenment, because I only have my own personal experience to go by. For me it was a momentary realization and growing awareness that everything that I thought I was, and what I thought the world was, was nothing more than an illusion I had created in my mind through thinking. Enlightenment came to me as something of a shock, not a pleasant one, because I had the feeling and sensation that I was wrong and so much of my life amounted to not much more than false beliefs and illusions. Actual enlightenment is something which shakes you to your core. It's a momentary sensation and is neither a state of mind or state of being.
So are you enlightened or aren't you?
So now we come to the central question. Are you enlightened or aren't you? What you need to keep in mind is that life is all about relationship between you and an environment and reality only ever exists in the present moment. The here and now. What you have experienced before is memory or conscious awareness. What you haven't experienced but can only envisage is a concept. What you imagine to exist is a thought, and thought is a concept. Therefore if you don't feel that you are enlightened, but can become enlightened at some point in the future, then you're making enlightenment a concept. But if you don't know what enlightenment actually is, how can you conceptualize it? Can you see the issue here?
You see when enlightenment becomes a concept it can become so many things. It can become God, it can become religion, a philosophy such as Buddhism, or the Dao (Tao) in Taoism, or you get certain figures who were deemed to be enlightened, such as Jesus, such as the prophet Mohammed, such as the Buddha, and so on. This is where you get into religious and spiritual teachings. But see, are these teachings based on actual consciousness, or are they concepts, knowledge and belief systems? You see at what point does experience of reality become a concept or philosophy, or a belief system? At what point do you stop experiencing reality and living and start thinking about life and existence as a concept? This is why throughout I have avoided teaching anyone anything. Knowledge isn't necessarily insight, or conscious awareness that somehow resonates (connects) with you. Teaching implies the sharing of knowledge, but not all knowledge is beneficial or useful to you. Only insight is beneficial to you, but you can only access insight from your experience of the present moment of an environment. This insight is commonly understood to be truth.
If enlightenment is a concept to you, and something you are seeking, because you feel you are not enlightened, then you will never ever become enlightened.
Please understand what I hope to point out to you here. You are already enlightened as much as it is possible for you to be enlightened. There is no puzzle to enlightenment in reality because enlightenment is your individual and unique understanding of reality, minus the concepts and beliefs you are clinging to for emotional or psychological reasons. What enlightenment really boils down to is experience of reality, and your unique, individual understanding of reality. What I'm referring to here is a narrative, a story. You have experience of life, and your experience of life exists ever since you were incarnate and came into existence. What have you learned about life and existence simply from being you? What has your experience of life taught you? What is it you're aware of and know that is different from other people you come across in life? This is the reality of what enlightenment is really all about. It's not a concept. It's not a belief system. It's not an ideology. It's what you define personally as life.