It's sort of like learning to drive a car or fly a plane or learning to type and about computers and programming and psychology and philosophy and engineering and everything else. Many people don't like the responsibility of knowing so much and being so capable that they just can't sit on their butt and do nothing the rest of their lives.
Because being enlightened usually requires a person trying to help the world with what they know about when they are able to.
There is a story I like to tell about my wife. Her mother had just passed on and she was quiet all day long. Since my wife is extremely intelligent but also very talkative when she hadn't said a word to me all day long I started to get worried.
I asked her, "What's Wrong?"
She was outside gardening and said to me, "I see the whole world and everything good and bad and I don't like it. It scares me what I see. But, I see everything good and bad at once."
I said to her, "When I studied with Tibetan Lamas and other Gurus along the way this is how they described enlightenment. What you are describing to me is a level of enlightenment!"
She said, "I don't like it! I hate it!"
I said, "It doesn't matter if you don't like it. It's the way life really is. You are very lucky to have gotten here."
She again said, "But, I don't like it."
I repeated, "You don't have to like it but it's like learning how a car is built and works and understanding the technology behind how life really really works."
She nodded but wasn't happy that this had happened to her.
But, this is very much what enlightenment is.
It may make you upset and bring you to tears. But, it's sort of like learning to drive a car and all the places you can go, or places you can work, or places you can visit or people you can rescue in your car.
Enlightenment might make you cry while you save the world from destruction. But then, you may have saved the world from destruction and you might not have to worry about the world blowing up for awhile. Think about that!
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