What is Enlightenment?

                                                                    
        Physicists insist time doesn't flow at all, it merely is...what if science were able to
        explain away the flow of time?  Perhaps we would no longer fret about the future
        or grieve the past.  Worries about death might become as irrelevant as worries
        about birth.  Expectation and nostalgia might cease...Above all, the sense of 
        urgency that attaches to so much of human activity might evaporate.
                                          A Matter of Time, Paul Davies, Scientific American

   The first thing you need to know about enlightenment is that she's a stern taskmaster who requires your utmost effort every  moment of every day.  There's just no time for fooling around, I'll tell you.  And you'll toe the line because you lust in your heart for the grand prize behind door number three.  You're Miss America dying to land that Triple Axle.  You dream of Noble Prizes, Academy Awards, toe curling orgasms, winning the World Series of Poker and Enlightenment.  No one will catch you lollygagging.  Your whimsy is industrial strength with a lot of plain, unvarnished, All-American get-up-and-go.  And yet the real point here is that no matter how successful you become, you'll remain the same humble person you are today; not matter how rich, you'll never quit your job or leave your spouse; no matter what stupendous heights of spiritual realization you attain, you'll never see others as the impoverished miscreants they are because, above all, you're about real values--you're deep.  Which is how you became so successful in the first place.  That is, when you do become successful people will admire you for your character as much as for your success.  And you will achieve those dreams, someday, if you ever stop this daydreaming.

     Transcendence is to act and interact without self-seeking...to act without seeking to
     enhance one's sense of self through one's actions or interactions...Ultimately it 
     means not needing the future...for one's fulfillment...In the normal state of
     consciousness what people are looking for...is to be more completely themselves
     ...The person who is striving for enlightenment is...looking for it because he or she
    is seeking to attain a state of perfection...at some point in the future...They are 
    seeking themselves where it can never be found, in the normal, unenlightened
    state of consciousness, because the unenlightened state of consciousness is 
    always in the seeking mode...the world and time are intrinsically connected.
    When all self-seeking in time ceases, then you can be in the world without being
    of the world.  The basic message is that you don't need more time, you don't need
    any more suffering...There are still millions...who are not listening...But I am not 
    talking to them.  You are hearing that you don't need more time...and you don't
    need to suffer anymore...And that can be the moment of transformation.
                            Eckhart Tolle in What is Enlightenment?