Why enlightenment is not going to make you special

Over the last couple of years, I've written and rewritten blurbs, stories and thoughts about that little niggle that often makes me feel slightly uncomfortable when I'm in a so-called "spiritual" event/gathering/conversation.

And today I stumbled into a quote that expressed it so perfectly, I just had to share it.

Ok. Here we go:

“Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special, it’s not.

If you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred.

I meet a lot of people who think they are enlightened and awake simply because they have had a very moving spiritual experience.

They wear their enlightenment on their sleeve like a badge of honour.

They sit among friends and talk about how awake they are while sipping coffee at a cafe.

The funny thing about enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no one to claim it.

Enlightenment is very ordinary; it is nothing special. Rather than making you more special, it is going to make you less special. It plants you right in the centre of a wonderful humility and innocence.

Everyone else may or may not call you enlightened, but when you are enlightened the whole notion of enlightenment and someone who is enlightened is a big joke.

I use the word enlightenment all the time; not to point you toward it but to point you beyond it.

Do not get stuck in enlightenment.” ⠀
― Adyashanti