The awakened person sees what is wrong with the world.
The enlightened person sees what is wrong with themselves.
The awakened person wants others to change and as a result is plagued by feelings of frustration and anger.
The enlightened person knows they can only change one person, themselves. They are filled with hope. They know if they can change, so can all others.
The awakened person sees what they are doing right and what others are doing wrong.
The enlightened person sees what they are doing wrong and what others are doing right.
The awakened person believes they have arrived.
The enlightened person knows that they will never fully arrive and therefore must never stop continuing along the path.
The awakened person believes they are better than others who are not awakened.
The enlightened person knows they are not better than anyone else.
The awakened person doesn’t understand.
The enlightened person tries to understand.
The awakened person still clings to old values: trying to obtain peace through anger or name calling or shunning, discriminating against others, withholding kindness.
The enlightened person knows anything less than peace never yields peace, that discrimination against anyone or anything is the root of every problem in the world and therefore the enlightened one withholds kindness from no one or no being.
The awakened person sees themselves as apart from the problem.
The enlightened person sees themselves as part of the problem and works daily to make this not so.
The awakened person is critical, gathers knowledge to use against others, separates themselves from others.
The enlightened person is complimentary, gathers knowledge to help themselves understand better, sees their kinship with all others.
Awakened persons are unable to change the world because they cannot change themselves. They are aware beings but they are filled with negativity so much so that they might be cruel or unkind to those who are not yet awakened and this adds to the problems they wish to solve versus solving them.
Enlightened persons are able to change the world because they are able to change the only person in the world they can change: themselves. They are aware beings who do not express cruelty or unkindness towards anyone or anything. They realize that this is the problem.
Awakened persons want the world to change.
Enlightened persons are the change.
There is nothing more difficult in this life than to be kind to every living being*. There is also nothing more important for this is what we all want for ourselves and our loved ones: kindness. Kindness begins and ends with ourselves. When we grasp this completely our feet will once again be moving along the path.
~Peace
Some quotes to ponder while on the path:
*Self defense is a different topic and happens when our lives are in danger but 99.9% of the time we are not in a position of self defense. Since we are not in danger right now we can choose kindness even if we do not like someone we can still choose to be kind. Try being kind to someone that doesn’t deserve it and watch the magic, both within yourself and the world immediately around you.
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