The Purpose of Enlightenment

The purpose of enlightenment is to make you and the people around you more happy and to suffer less. This is the best way to put it. Though there is much more to it than this, this is a good place to start. Another definition of enlightenment might be: Sanity.

Most people don't have sanity. This I think both you and I can attest to just by watching what they do.
Some people equate Enlightenment to God and some don't. But all people equate enlightenment to both peace and a sense of well being even during difficult situations.

So, you could be a Christian Enlightened person, you could be a Buddhist Enlightened person or you could even be an Atheistic Enlightened person.

We all start out in life as victims, victims of our parents, our culture, our religion, our schoolmates, bullies, teachers, and our own thoughts and feelings.

At some point to become enlightened we must stop blaming our parents, our teachers, our culture, our religions and everyone else and start to take responsibility for the rest of our lives and to stop being victims to anyone ever again.

I call this Critical Thinking or the ability to think yourself out of a paper bag. Until you learn to think for yourself you will be a victim to everyone and everything in your lives. But, the moment you take responsibility for yourselves in your minds you will never be a victim to anything else in your lives because you will give no one and no thing possibly with the exception of God or Buddha the power to have any sway over you ever again.

And this is the beginning of enlightenment and becoming a Free Thinker. You make the rules of what happens to you in your life and you learn and find out how to bring compassion to yourself and all the beings in your life. You become a parent to yourself and potentially to all other beings as you become more defined and responsible and trusted by everyone you meet. So, because of your integrity people begin to notice that you are enlightened and listen to you more. But always remember, you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. The same is true of all people. Free will is always present in all beings and so must always be honored. So, though you can be a good example, that is all you can do really. It is up to all other beings to decide to emulate you or not over time.