Though there are many aspects to enlightenment, my “center” seems to shift and flow primarily through these three states:

• Passion (Love)
• Stillness (Presence)
• Oneness (Clarity)

The Enlightenment of Passion is Yang (Active), the Enlightenment of Stillness is Yin (Passive), and beyond both–arising from the merging of the two–is the Enlightenment of Oneness.

Update November 17, 2009: Download a guided meditation to help you experience The Three Enlightenments.

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Tomorrow: The Enlightenment of Passion.

Passion. A flower, turning gradually, follows the sun as it arcs across the sky. Two kittens, one crouching down while the other rears on hind legs in a playful attack. A lone sparrow, high in a deep forest pine, sings joyfully. A young woman, taking the arm of her companion, nuzzles close in the cool evening air.

Passion. Life living. For a lack of better words: Love and Light flowing through. All creatures experience it. All creatures are alive because of it. It is the Tao within everything. It is Spirit. It is the Divine Essence. It is the Beloved.

Passionate Enlightenment feels like Light and Love flowing through you. It feels as if you are nothing but an outline, a thin portal for the Divine to enter the world.

This is the love that Christ taught. This is the compassion of the Dalai Lama. This is the non-violence of Gandhi.

Passion is Moving. It is Flowing. It is Beauty and Appreciation and Radiance. It is Life living through Life.

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Tomorrow: The Enlightenment of Stillness.

Stillness. Thoughts drop away. Movement ceases. Time no longer has meaning.

The eye rests on a flower–the colors, the textures, the subtle shape and softness. A raven caws in the distance and the sound, like music, rises then drops away into nothingness. A breath is drawn, held momentarily, and a faint lightness is felt as Life celebrates another moment in the body.

Stillness. This is the Eternal Now. The past is seen as a collection of ancient and dusty thoughts. The future as fantasies and imagination. In this moment, there can be no ego, not personal story. In the Moment, there is only Reality.

Stillness is a release. It is a letting go. It is surrender.

In Stillness there is no trying, no manipulating, no doing.

In Stillness, there is only being, only total acceptance.

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Tomorrow: The Enlightenment of Oneness.

Oneness. A daffodil is seen, but there is only Living. A bird sings but there is only Singing. Though the mind says, “I am walking through the forest,” there is only Walking.

There are no trees in the forest, just Growing. There is no breeze, just Breeze-ing.

There is Breathing, Shining, Clouding, Chirping.

Seeing is as intimate as Touching–Hearing as intimate as Tasting.

All borders and boundaries drop away. There is only Oneness. You are gone, dropped away into the Oneness. The trees, the sky, the clouds, the rivers, turtles, frogs, and deer all drop away into the Oneness.

There is Seeing, but there are no things seen. There is Thinking, but no thoughts grasped. There is the Feel of sand between your toes, but no sand and no toes and no you.

Though the mind says, “Sparrow,” there is only Living.