So what about enlightenment?

In the west the word is used in the context of what happened in Europe in the 18th century.
And even in that context the scholars cannot agree what the word stands for or exactly when i begun.
So it would be ridiculous to exactly name what enlightenment stand for in a spiritual  context.

But we can try and if we would like to have en European perspective of the word we can for instance start with Schopenhauer. He was influenced by Kant, but also by Buddhism and Hinduism.
Here is a good English radio program about him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nfrrz


I like the way S puts music in the philosophical spotlight. He used to play the flute himself.
But his personal history, a depressed father and so on has for certain influenced his philosophy.

But does desire always bring us to suffering?
Lets take the example of the new President in the US.
Its obvious that he is driven by desires and wish  for fame.

But that has taken him a really long way.
But who knows what will be the end, what will he be remembered for?

As I'm not enlightened I don't have an answer to my question in the headline.
But here you can can get a clue and you can even edit the text yourself.... (wikiHow):

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-Enlightened


I would like to add humor as another step to enlightenment, as dictators never seem to have (any good) humor.
But I doubt that there are any fully enlightened people. An if there are they have the risk to loose the talent - as everything changes.

For me being in nature and listen to, for instance, ice singing on a big lake is a way to take a rest from the daily struggle.










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