Okay, it's time to talk about the "e-word," a word with almost as much baggage as the n-word, the c-word, depending on where you live and who you hang out with.

It's a word that's been mythologized, criticized, and argued about. A word that has bonded groups and split lineages.

"Enlightenment."

Look at how conversations about enlightenment occur in the Buddhist or Hindu world (there's no identical concept in Kabbalah or Christian mysticism or even Sufism):

Someone makes some comment about enlightenment. Then others argue about whether it's true or not.

It's like spiritual Oprah, but with a twist. On Oprah, at least, she tries to get experts to toss out their theories.

But the people who discuss enlightenment say, quite quickly, that they are not enlightened.

So what the hell are they talking about? Where do their theories come from? How can they be so sure that meditating will lead to this ill-defined thing called enlightenment?

They can't!

They're just repeating the dogma that they once heard or read.

They'll say, "Oh, well my teacher was enlightened, and he said…" But if you ask that teacher, he or she will say, "Enlightened? Oh, no, certainly not."

And then the student/regurgitator will say, "Ah, but that's one of the marks of enlightenment — that you don't say you're enlightened!"

Okay, so nobody will admit that they've reached this state, and people who only know about it second-hand claim they can spot it? Ummm… can you see the problem here?

Replace "enlightenment" with "levitating" and see how much sense that logic makes:

TEACHER: "Oh no, I can't levitate."

STUDENT: "Ah the fact that he says he can't means that he can, even though we can't see physical evidence for it! And, so, clearly, if you meditate, you'll be able to levitate, too!"

Just as bad are those who've redefined enlightenment from a permanent change in the manner in which one thinks and perceives (as well what one is able to perceive and think about), to "it's just a process that one can tap into temporarily."

Can you say "cop out?"

I can claim that "chocolate" is really supposed to mean "vanilla," but guess what? That doesn't magically turn Breyers Vanilla into Scharffen-Berger 70% dark chocolate.

This redefining-the-goal phenomenon reminds me of Andrew Weil, the non-practicing doctor who, after being morbidly obese for decades, claims that the ultimate form of health is to be "fit but slightly overweight." I'll give you three chances to guess how overweight Weil currently is… and the 2nd two guesses don't count.

They don't let Tiger Woods move the hole to where his ball is already sitting, and it's not okay to redefine enlightenment just because you haven't gotten to where you thought it was.

Which brings us to the point — rather than redefine it, or move the target, or engage in arguments over what it IS with people who haven't experienced it, why not try on this take: It's made up. It's fiction. It's just a word. It's the ultimate sales pitch.

Let me address the last idea first. It's the ultimate sales pitch.  Do you know how to sell something? It's simple. Convince people that they have a problem. Then convince them that you have the solution. The bigger the imagined problem, plus the greater you can instill in people that you have a fast, easy, foolproof solution, the greater the price you can charge.

For the last couple hundred thousand years (probably more), human beings have developed an incredible mental skill which has led to all manner of brilliant survival tactics. And the skill is to feel disatisfaction and look for a solution.

Hungry? Find food… even better, GROW food so it's always nearby!

Need shelter? How 'bout you learn to build one instead of needing to find a cave.

Having unpleasant emotions? Placate the Gods or, lately, see a shrink or hit the Self-TortureHelp section.

So check out the sales pitch: That happiness you want? Well, you can't find it ANYWHERE in this world… unless you follow the path and become enlightened! And then you'll have 100% permanent, absolute, completeness… in fact, you'll experience something BEYOND happiness!

Cha-ching.

It's a natural process of the human mind to look for happiness. And when someone promises ULTIMATE happiness, how could we not get on the "path"?

But just because you can create a path, doesn't mean it goes anywhere.

I hate to do this, but I'll have to save my proof that the Buddha wasn't enlightened for the next post… until then, what if you got off the path, not because there was no hope in getting to the end, but because there was no real problem that required a journey to solve?

Next Post: I'll know I'm fully enlightened when…

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