Favorite Inspiring Quotes
Enlightenment
Commentary by Peter Shepherd

“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is always in the present.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
Nothing particularly esoteric about enlightenment, it doesn't require years in a cave. It's simply ceasing to resist the present - instead welcoming the now, being grateful for it, being at one with it, embracing love. You can.
“When I look inside and see that I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that is love. And between these two, my life turns.” ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
Nothing and everything at the same time, two sides of a golden coin... the big Zen paradox that has fooled thinkers for millennia, because it can only be experienced. It is the insight of enlightenment, beyond duality. We are spirit, not a material thing, and simultaneously we are not separate from any physical thing, nor from each other. Both spirit and the universe are simply expressions of Love.
“Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
I believe in a multi-domain approach. We are not just one with God; nor just angelic beings; nor just a witnessing consciousness; nor just a creative mind; nor just a scheming ego; nor just a social being struggling to survive; nor just a lover, parent or friend; nor just a creature programmed by genes; nor just one with the super energies of the planet and the Universe. We are all of these things at the same time. A unified field.
“Nirvana or enlightenment or true spiritual growth can be achieved only through persistent exercise of real love.” ~ M. Scott Peck
Anita Moorjani explains, "The more we try and understand enlightenment the more it will elude us, and that's because enlightenment does not come from the mind, it comes from 'no-mind.' It comes from just being. You already are enlightened, you just have to realize it to allow it into your experience."

Here’s some further reading on this theme...
Can I Become Enlightened? ~ by Wallace Huey, Director of Training at Trans4mind
In the Sistine Chapel ceiling, in the Vatican in Rome - painted by Michelangelo in the 16th Century - there is one section that shows a remarkable association: the relationship between God and Adam, the very first human being according to the Old Testament. Now of course Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling is world famous as a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art, but the special significance of this part of the ceiling is not at all well known. Here Michelangelo is communicating the state of enlightenment. Continues...