Enlightenment has been pooh poohed as highly overrated.
The concept of reaching some "higher" plane of consciousness, or gaining an understanding that allows us to shed the shackles of a world of suffering.
Perhaps enlightenment is more of the simple moment to moment awareness of life and our actions.
What if enlightenment is about acceptance without reservation. Not just people but all of life.
Not to "surrender" or "submit". But to really look deeply without analysis, at our life.

Looking at something as mundane as getting dressed, fixing the car, doing the laundry, washing the dishes. Looking at these as not chores to get out of the way but moments to enjoin. There is no hurry. Not for some of us. Nothing so important that we ignore family. Ignore our pet, our friends, our neighbors or push aside a conversation.
Wash the dishes by hand, enjoy the flow of water, the smell of the soap, the light sparkling on the dishes. Relax and get into it.

Think of it as a ritual connecting ourselves to the stream of life, confirming our existence and our sense of community, or humanity and the family of humanity.
Let the smooth running of water move across your hands and let the life giving clarity to sooth your spirit.

Sunshine. The eternal brightness of light from our engine of life.
Sunshine bringing contrast and form, allowing us to discern objects we can approach, avoid, or simply regard.
The incandescence of life on our earth.
This grand illumination filling our sky on a clear day saturates us with an abundance of life sustaining energy.

Just to roll down a hill of electric green grass in the Sunshine. To watch the colors of Sunlight exposed through the prism of a rain shower. And to feel the warmth on our body after coming out of a cold river swim.
So sublime and yet this wonder is driven by an engine which is one of legions.
It is that single photon, that particle of light that is only a small part of what our Engine pours forth, we see. That photon traveling 92 million miles to us and then when night falls we look to the stars. We look to the Legion our Sun is part of and we experience photons, those wonderous particles of light, touching our eyes. Touching us after millions of years of travel. To be touched by light traveling the eons of the universe!
What a wonder we are, what a wonder this life!

We practice our freedom through action.
Let go of fear. Let go anxiety. Let go of anger. Let go of emotions that are pressed on to you from others.
If you must watch television, watch nature programs, the NASA channel or something informative. News is entertainment and sensationalism. Better to find out what is going on in your community.
Attend community meetings, attend local government meetings. You pay for it, make it work for you.
Freedom can only work with participation.
IF it makes you upset a Grandmother is strip searched at an airport.
Call or write your representative. If you don't know who represents you in government then you are giving away your freedom and your rights.
IF it doesn't matter to you then think of the children, children who will become slaves while believing they are free. Believing a lie. Children whom we could have spoken for.

I wonder if we are those children. How would we know?

She worked in San Francisco at a popular radio station. Her voice was a mixture of sultry and lively. We were doing production work there and when I met her she was nothing like the image I had in my mind. But the heart and soul that was in that voice was there. A lesson from Dusty Roads.
Life is full of Dusty Roads. What we see and how we react. Our visual judgment tends to weigh heavily in our meetings with others. And, as we get to know someone, the dust clears in time and we see the whole person.
We know them better and they change before our eyes. Sometimes a disappointment, sometimes a joy and always something more.
In communication, talk, written, and body language, there comes connection. A connection that will be with us no matter how many Dusty Roads there are in life.

Kids out in overcast weather churning around a Blueberry farm with the curiosity of Raccoons and squawking Crows. Picking and eating with little knowledge as would a Deer in headlights, and happy as Otters.
Jacket floundering, hair tousled, bright smiles and laughing words.
blue fingers and blue tongues.
Kids as simple and free as a summer breeze.

Never let it go of the good time and yet to hold on to it is as easy as climbing smoke.
Now walk with eyes of a child and see without judgment or fear even if it only seems to last for the blink of an eye.
Fear is only feeling, an idea sold to us as a dark promise, and nothing more. Give up fear and let the heart of the child you grew from reach out. Forever.