Dear Lightworkers,

You know, there are as many paths to enlightenment as there are souls living on the Earth. There are far fewer, yet staggering in number, methods, practices, and "systems" for getting there including the world’s religions, philosophies, and teachings of spiritual gurus, living and dead. Gets pretty complicated trying to figure out which one to practice to achieve enlightenment; I know lots of folks who have tried many approaches. Sometimes we are called or nudged to pursue a particular, predefined path. I know that I was once upon a time. Sometimes we simply jump in and give something a try in the hope that it is the "right" one for us. I’ve done that too. What I discovered is there is one commonality of all paths whether it is obvious or not.

It (enlightenment) is simple but usually not easy; in fact, it is rarely easy.

Why is achieving enlightenment simple? I think the simplicity was designed into the "system of human" for the "simple" reason that the Creator (call Him, Her, It whatever you like) intended for us to be able to find our way back home without the NECESSITY of a class of people who somehow were granted the authority to intervene between the rank and file souls and the Creator. People who tout they have THE answers for everyone else, simply don’t. They may have answers but not THE answers, whether they are priests, popes, ministers, medicine persons, shamans, gurus, or avatars.

Now, before you empty the pillowcases of feathers and heat up the tar, please read a bit further. I am NOT saying that the people occupying the roles listed above are without value to those of us finding our way. They can provide guidance and knowledge that can help many people find shortcuts to consciously follow their own individual paths.

The problem comes because we humans seem to have a penchant for making the simple complicated. If you don’t believe me, find a US federal government publication and try and understand it. A "hoe" becomes "a manually operated earth penetration, evacuation, and reassembly device." We as a species seem to love ritual and ceremony, the more complicated, the better. That’s okay. It is when we substitute those practices for the awareness of our individual paths, that we become stuck in our growth and evolution as spiritual beings. I know. I was stuck for years.

You can tell if you are stuck (or at least I did), when you are doing all kinds of stuff to reach enlightenment (seminars, readings, treatments, books, tapes, services, ceremonies, rituals, and so forth), yet the quality of your life is not improving. Things are not getting any better and may even seem worse. The value of all these practices is as tools; they are not the means to the end of finding enlightenment. It is like taking the hoe, placing it in the middle of the field, praying to it, and then expecting to find the field tilled the next morning. It isn’t going to happen. You have to do the work; the hoe is there to help you.

So, what is the underlying simplicity of all spiritual systems that I alluded to above? I truly wish that I could reveal some incredible idea that you have not come across before now. Alas, I cannot because the simple key to enlightenment has been available for millennia. I wrote about this at greater length in the August issue of PlanetLightworker (see the Ultimate Guide to Enlightenment); however, in the interest of extreme simplification, here is the one sentence version:

Love and accept yourself unconditionally.

When you do this, the rest falls into place. To be sure, there is a body of knowledge informing us about what we can do once we do love ourselves, but that is mechanics. The real juice is to simply love yourself. Is it easy? No, for most of us (me included), it is not.

Simple but not easy.

It’s not easy for most of us because we need to look at the aspects of ourselves that we judge as sinful, bad, evil, inadequate, unworthy, and downright shameful. None of that of course is true. I don’t care what you have done in the past. Not only do we squarely look at these aspects of ourselves, we must do whatever we need to do to heal them. That is where it is great to have support from someone who understands how to help us process our dark or shadow selves. I found that support, and it was transformative. My life did improve after I faced and healed my dark side. Shadows cannot exist in the presence of enLIGHTenment. Not only did my life improve, I manifested what I truly needed to pursue my passion.

Providing the tools, support, and inspiration to heal our dark sides is the only useful role of priests, popes, ayatollahs, ministers, medicine persons, shamans, gurus, avatars, seminars, readings, treatments, books, tapes, services, ceremonies, rituals, and so forth, namely to support you in doing your own healing. No one can heal you of your dark side but you. Simple but not easy. Remember, sticking your hoe in the middle of the field, dancing around it in the moonlight, and expecting the field to be tilled when you get up the next morning is not realistic. Understanding the hoe, giving thanks for what it can enable you to do, and then working up a few blisters hoeing will get the seeds planted, the crop grown, and provide the sustenance that you need on your path.

Simple but not easy.

Your comments are always welcome.

Ron McCray

Associate Editor

ron@planetlightworker.com