Enlightenment

What is Enlightenment?This is the elusive state of bliss that is the goal of most modern day spiritual seekers.It goes by many other names such as Awakening,Self or God realization,being saved,knowing your true nature and the list goes on.We all hear the stories of the Yogi who chanted Mantras for thirty years and finally reached the perfect state of enlightenment or the Zen monk who meditated his way to Nirvana,but is all this necessary?
       Enlightenment itself can become the very obstacle blocking one from its bounty.We get so caught up in going after objects or reaching goals it puts in the "chasing our tail" mode.We get an idea of what Enlightenment should be,turn it into an object and so starts our journey toward it.This is what makes Enlightenment so difficult for us,never noticing the Samaric circular spin of life.We feel incomplete so we latch on to an idea of what will make us whole,it doesnt matter what is a new car,getting married,wealth or Enlightenment,then we go after it.What happens is we either dont obtain it,or we do and it loses it ability to sustain our happiness and we move on to the next goal or object,always bringing us back to the beginning.
   When we can observe our conditioned behaviors we get a foot in the door.Look into the very nature of why we do things,our thoughts,our emotions and start we to see the illusion of it all.We do this by going inside ourselves,our body is the Temple and our heart is our Guru.Enlightenment is "achieved" when we peel away all the layers of illusion until there is only Awareness left.Awareness is your true nature,this is Enlightenment.