Enlightenment, that overused and often distorted word, is the dissolution of the unconscious.  When repressed traumatic memories and events are acknowledged, felt, grieved, and freed—we become enlightened.  Our channel becomes clear so that truth can flow through us.

We’ve all have had moments of enlightenment.  With unusual clarity, we see truth.  The clouds part—and we say ‘aha’! We are at one with all things.  Truth is no longer distorted through the filter of the disturbances of our past or the biases of our family and culture.  Truth is revealed, clear as a bell, at least for a moment.

But sustaining this enlightened state is a difficult task.  To do so, we must do some work.  I’m not suggesting tedious hours of repetitive prayers or dissociative mediation.  Enlightenment is simpler—but much harder.

Our task is to resolve the traumas buried in our unconscious, the traumas that imprison truth and entangle our life force and creativity.  The disturbing wounds inflicted on us beginning in earliest childhood, even in the womb of a troubled mother in conflict with a father, are absorbed by the child and must be resolved so that we may live fully and honestly.  We must see, feel, and grieve our traumatic history in order to clear the psyche’s holding bin, the unconscious.  When the unconscious is clear we are enlightened.