Why Be Enlightened?

Would you rather suffer your whole life?

Or would you rather be enlightened?

I prefer to be enlightened.

I've watched people suffer and die my whole life and then I have also met enlightened wise people too.

Enlightenment doesn't have anything to do with whether you have good physical health or not by the way.

It has to do with your attitude towards life.

"Attitude is everything!"

Would you rather be terrified and screaming your whole life or would you rather not be terrified and screaming your whole life?

It's about attitude.

"There is Nothing to fear but Fear itself!"

This is a true statement.

Diet can help a lot for example.

Attitude is also everything.

Removing yourself from murderers and bad people and people who are harming you is helpful too.

Do whatever you can to get away from people destroying your life and your capacity for compassion towards yourself and others.

For example, at one point I left Los Angeles never to return to the area to live. I just couldn't handle being around this many people the rest of my life. And I had grown up there from age 6 in Tujunga to age 8 in Glendale until I was 21 years of age. So, Los Angeles County was my home from 1954 until 1969 when I left. I returned to Pasadena around 1977 to attend a seminary in Pasadena then and worked part time in a hospital in the computer department in Glendale for a few months. But other than that I stayed away from Los Angeles County the rest of my life for my own enlightenment, calmness, living in nature far from the maddening crowd whenever I could. For me, this helped bring me enlightenment. Traveling to Thailand, India, Nepal, and Japan for 4 months in 1985, 1986 helped me become more enlightened too with my family.

I moved in 1976 with my first wife to Mt. Shasta. By 1980 I had bought 2 1/2 acres so remote it was 10 miles to the nearest gas station or store of any kind. There was no electricity. There were no phones anywhere nearby.

I was at peace removing myself from the pain of civilization and home schooling my family (children ages 5 to 8 when we moved there) and I built us a house, an A Frame to shed the 7 feet of snow that often fell there in the 1980s then. It doesn't snow as much at 4000 feet as it did then by the way. "Global Warming" like everywhere else. You might be lucky to have 1, 2, or even 3 feet at a time now in any given week during the winter at that elevation (4000 feet). But, if you  expect 7 feet of snow a at a time like during the 1980s you better have an A-Frame, especially if you are not there to shovel the snow off the roof before the roof collapses on your house.

Somehow, living remotely mostly for 5 years reset my nerves. I was again able to consider living in a nice suburb somewhere by the time the oldest was 12 years old and wanted to go back to school.

So, my discipline in some ways was as a householder yogi which means my discipline was staying married and raising my children. That was my personal path to enlightenment. Yours might be the same or different.

But, compassion towards yourself and all other beings is the key to enlightenment however you want to do it.

By God's Grace