The Journey To Enlightenment
A Personal Account

"This journey begins and ends in the same place (deep within yourself). Exactly how far you travel (suffer) to get there is entirely up to you." n.

During my childhood I started to develop a unique sense that a part of me was remaining unchanged as each year and experience passed by. Even during moments of overwhelming joy or extreme anger this part of me would remain completely calm, fully present, and undisturbed. In the years leading up to adulthood I would become aware of this space many times, but It wouldn’t be until much later in life that its true significance would be revealed.

At the age of twenty and while in my second year of college an English professor introduced me to Way Of The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. This little gem of required reading changed the course of my life. What a great gift! I remember becoming overwhelmed with inspiration and wishing that I could somehow find a teacher who would guide me toward the same type enlightenment that was at the cornerstone of Millman’s book. That teacher never materialized, at least not in the form I had expected. In time my overwhelming inspiration began to fade, but somewhere deep inside the wheels of change had already been put into motion.

A year later while combing through a small, local bookstore, I came across an intriguing book called Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. When I first read Suzuki’s book I connected immediately with the beauty and simplicity of his message. On one level I understood it perfectly, yet on many other levels I still had absolutely no idea. It felt as though he had somehow highlighted what was to come, but how I was supposed to get there still seemed like an impossible mystery. Once again, I wished to find a teacher who would answer all of my burning questions about simple happiness and enlightenment, but this would not be my fate.

For at least the next thirteen years I would make a long journey from mystery to mastery finding countless teachers along the way. But as it turned out the ultimate teacher I had been searching for was only to be found deep within myself. In finding my ultimate teacher (my higher self), I had finally discovered the true significance of that mysterious part of me from childhood that had remained the same throughout all the years and experiences of my life. The journey I had begun so long ago had finally come to an end in exactly the same place it had started. In this way, the journey to enlightenment may in fact be one of life’s greatest paradoxical treasures!

Deeper and deeper, the journey continues... n.