Thought Versus the Essence of Mind
On one’s way to enlightenment (or Essence of Mind) there is no better warning for the aspirant than the one that says “You’re Thinking Too Much.” In other words, the Essence of Mind (or original enlightenment) is free from Thoughts. The Essence of Mind is Eternal, non-changing, and thus must be empty of changing thoughts.
It is important to understand that Knowledge is different from Wisdom, and Knowledge derived from Thoughts does not lead to Enlightenment. In other words, words are words, thoughts are thoughts, and neither lead to True Wisdom or Enlightenment.
Enlightenment is beyond words and beyond thoughts, which in itself makes it a dichotomy for us then to try to describe what enlightenment is with the crude tools of words and thoughts. Even so we try, generally using art as our tool of description.
Although Enlightenment is indescribable, it is most often described using “artful” words as being empty and full, not empty and not full, and empty and not empty and full and not full at the same time. Almost as frequently, Enlightenment is described in another set of “artful” words as being neither this nor that while at the same time being this and that.
Regardless of the affirming-negating nature of its definition, Enlightenment is always defined as “being” eternal in nature and pure and perfect in its construct. This coming from those who seem to know, and we stand on the shoulders of giants (the Vedanta, Buddha, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Jesus, Asvaghosha, Hui-Neng, Shankara, the Meister, Whitman, Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Peace Pilgrim, etc).
Original enlightenment is intrinsic to man and thus available to him. Non-enlightenment (or ignorance) is accidental and changing. Ignorance is a result of our misinterpretation of events through our senses.
Although the Absolute (God) includes everything we sense, feel, smell, etc., it is more than everything we sense, feel, smell, etc. In a way, what we sense, think, and come to understand through our senses is a deluded illusion, but not entirely an illusion.
So what good is it—this Enlightenment? Why would one want to bother pursuing such an illusive, non-illusive target? With a smile I guess the answer to this depends upon how much value one puts on Eternal Bliss (another definition sometimes used to describe what Enlightenment really is). Now don’t give this too much thought.