Higher states of enlightenment and wisdom arrive and pass. And that is good that they do not stay forever, or even for too long. I can wait until next time they come, and experience life as it is, the banal and the dull, the workaday world where I go from attending one task to another, with its stresses and frustrations, big and small, showing up here and there.
Then when higher states of enlightenment and wisdom arrive, I can fully sit back and appreciate them as host of these two famous stars, dedicating my time and attention to them with complete engagement, listening deeply to their insights. I can do so because I have attended to what is needed in the ordinary in my life, which being under the spell of enlightenment and wisdom is ill-suited for. The higher states have their time and place because the ordinary in life has its time and place. And perhaps a different type of charm, if you think of it.
I can allow myself to experience the dark and challenging states of mind too, and thus have a taste of bitter, broadening the tolerance and strength of my palette to go beyond the narrowly sublime. I can appreciate the higher states of mind because I made room for myself to feel terrible and awful, to be upset, angry, depressed, defeated, to think my bad thoughts when I need too. All of it gets shaken through and out my system. And as unpleasant as it is, it is better than a forced entry of a higher state of mind when all of that “ugly” stuff is still stuck inside.
And without the dark and challenging states of mind, the higher states of enlightenment and wisdom mean little. True enlightenment and wisdom judge no state of mind, and see them as part of the human condition, as part of the whole, as having as valid an existence as their own. As part of a cycle that winds to and fro—between high, middle, and low.
Often higher states of mind follow after a plunge into darkness, for it provides meaningful fodder for its insights. Enlightenment and wisdom often arise from the experience of suffering itself, and are not simply its conquering panacea. This happens not by forcing oneself out of darkness into enlightenment and wisdom but by allowing a natural rise out of darkness to happen with time. Trying to control oneself to always stay in a higher state of mind is the worst way to go about it, making insights seem forced and superficial, and suffering worse.
No state of mind—high, middle or low—needs to go beyond their own stay. And when they do not go beyond what is necessary, that is when each find their place, value, and meaning in life.
