Enlightenment: What is It?

I suppose it could be said that Enlightenment is that what allows us to survive at all here on Earth. It could also be said as being that which brings a quality to life that makes it worthwhile to stay alive and not just jump off a cliff. So then, thought enlightenment is a very individualistic thing, to some degree it is universal among those that survive past 10, 20, 30, 40 and beyond. Without enlightenment none of us do more than just barely survive. Enlightenment brings quality to our lives and that sometimes gives us the capacity to give our children more of what it takes to become enlightened too. For, in a way you can't really teach anyone anything unless they want to learn from you. It is said that "You can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink." The same is true about your teaching anyone anything. They will learn only when they want to which is why public school can be very counterproductive for some children as well as adults.

So, the first hurdle to overcome as a human is to desire to become enlightened. Once the desire is planted in someone to "be everything amazing that they are capable of" the journey to enlightenment has begun. Even if the attitude within someone is "I am just so tired of suffering I need to find a better way to even consider staying alive at all". This is also a path to enlightenment when handled correctly by the individual deciding to become enlightened.

I grew up in a different era than today and in some ways the path of both survival and enlightenment was both harsher and in some ways much easier than today. I grew up in the 1950s because of being born in 1948. So, I was 12 in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was elected President over Richard Nixon. Nixon, though he was vice president under Eisenhower didn't become President until 1968 until I believe 1974 when he had to leave office two years before finishing his second term.

In those days everyone was just more extreme about their points of view than today. Political correctness didn't exist at all yet. I would define political correctness as "Being so polite you are lying."
So, in many ways political correctness is what is wrong with today's world because without enough honesty nothing works. What if I didn't want to embarrass you because you were drunk and driving off the road into the rocks and trees by telling you the truth. This kind of politeness only causes everyone in the car to die or get severely injured. So, even though it might prevent wars because politeness in groups might better prevent wars  It also gets individuals killed regularly when practiced on an individual basis.

So, to combat "murder and mayhem by politeness" one must combat this kind of insanity by enlightened thought and enlightened behavior. So, one must realize when getting into a car that one can say anything one needs to say to stay alive and not be bound by political correctness. Otherwise, one must not get into the car in the first place. Of course this is just one example of using riding in a car and how political correctness just doesn't work in real life situations of under 100 to 1000 people or more. Even then this politeness to the point of lying still kills only then it kills slowly and one watches societies crumble under the weight of lies of political correctness just like the U.S. and Europe are now. So, political correctness right now IS the death of the western world!

So, one must also say that "political correctness" is the death of free thought. It is possible that there will be some actual way forward but I just don't see it happening until political correctness becomes a thing of the past much like "Prohibition" of the early 20th century.

I'm sorry I digressed into Political correctness. I just never have seen it useful in any real way but to screw everything and everyone up.