something that mystic said

The mystic philosopher Georges I. Gurdjieff once suggested that the most important thing anyone ever needed to know for 'enlightenment' was that they are going to die; all wisdom would follow. In the face of our personal discontinuity, doesn't life's little consistencies begin to make more sense? For example, those 'flaws' and shortcomings of our character that never seem to change or go away. These same ones seem to refuse being cured, healed or 'improved.'

Gurdjieff called this tawdry set of consistencies our 'chief feature,' something we are identified by no matter how many changes we undergo in life. As change is accepted as a constant, it becomes evident that if there is to be anything of lasting value in our lives, we must be willing to make an investment of our time and resources to start building and sustaining and preserving it ourselves. Such are the ways the deeper outside shocks of death, loss and change can be polarized and handled with strength and will.

This whole idea of 'enlightenment' however is quite a quandry. I tend towards curiosity on the way this term is is defined by a variety of individuals. I will say, to me, 'enlightenment' is not overrated, it's misconstrued. It's more of a continuous process of improving the self by way of self knowledge and developing greater empathy for man(or woman)kind by a deeper set of knowing that insists we are all going through the same shit one way or another.

And that's all I have to say right now.