Enlightenment As Simple Concept. (but Enlightenment Is Not Magic Bullet)

[Sabaidee]

Enlightenment really is rather simple at its core, and will greatly improve your life. At the same time it is full of subtlety and nuance and runs in contradiction to all that the unenlightened hope that enlightenment will be. It also fixes nothing about your life to know it but not to practice it, it is also possible to be fully enlightened but to live an unskilled life. You must be skillful in the application of the wisdom that is enlightenment to live as an enlightened being.

Simple definition of enlightenment below (it will look stupid and nonsensical if attempting to understand this without understanding). Attempting to apply logic will not work either since enlightenment is non-dualistic and logic is. Also, the words get in the way since many words here a dualistic and being used to define the non-dual.

"All that is: IS. IS is truth. NOT IS is not IS and is not truth. NOT IS arises from attempting to make NOT IS into IS we call this striving. All beings do this To further their existence, this is how we eat, procreate and do. NOT IS is also thinking as thinking is NOT IS. As all beings are within IS, NOT IS is part of IS and so we can say that NOT IS and IS are the same thing but different. Suffering comes from striving. So we can say that suffering comes from the arising of NOT IS into IS. But because IS holds NOT IS within it IS holds all suffering. IS cannot be escaped and so suffering cannot be escaped since NOT IS is a part of IS. So least suffering comes from accepting IS fully and not denying IS. This is truth. IS is also NOT IS and so one suffers less from also accepting NOT IS, since NOT IS is a part of IS. One must strive with IS to further existence so one must also not accept IS and create NOT IS within IS and so create suffering. A skillful life is one that accepts the NOT IS/IS as much as possible as well as strives to make NOT IS into IS the least possible. All that I have said is NOT IS but also IS. Full awareness of this is wisdom. Wisdom is enlightenment. An enlightened life is one that is lived in this wisdom.  An unenlightened life is one that is lived in ignorance of this Wisdom. To understand this you must be enlightened."

Some life examples can help to tease out how this knowledge creates an enlightened life.

Example: You were horribly abused as a child. This is truth as it happened is therefor IS. The abused caused you suffering - this is the suffering that arises from IS.  Since suffering is contained within IS you suffered. This is a fact that is best accepted and surrendered to fully. Full acceptance will end the suffering since you are no longer being abused. 
Refusal to accept this is to attempt to make that which is NOT IS into IS.  This will extend your suffering into the now even though the suffering within the IS has long past since you are holding within your mind a refusal. Your suffering extends to now because you use thought to still push away what was done to you. You cannot push it away since it happened already and is already written into your life. You use thought to bring the NOT IS into the IS, as this is suffering you are clinging to a concept of NOT IS: "My abuse was wrong and harmed me and should not have happened and this is causing difficulty in my life" and so you have difficulty in life. If instead you accept the IS: "I was horribly abused as a child and this created great suffering, I am no longer being abused". This acceptance of IS takes you out of conflict with IS and no more thought of this is required. The problems in your life surrounding your refusal to accept can begin to unwind themselves. 

Very simple and very hard without enlightenment. The unenlightened would fully refuse to accept this abuse from their past they would continue to hold onto thinking of how they were wronged and continue to suffer in all kinds of ways in life.

 

On the flip side, you can fully accept IS and lay down on the grass and watch IS unfold before you. You will quickly begin to suffer since IS will not deliver food/water to you so to reduce your suffering you need to think/plan/do and get yourself food/water to reduce your suffering. This is the part of you that can't just accept IS completely lest you suffer and perish.  You will have to strive (create the NOT IS) within the IS. This is your non-dualistic nature. Doing this poorly will create suffering for you and other beings. 

Hope this helps to demystify enlightenment and how you still have to apply this knowledge in what you do and how suffering still exists but your self-imposed suffering can be avoided.

[vizual]

No, this is wrong. An enlightened being does not suffer when he is hungry or thirsty, hunger or thirst also arise in what 'IS' therefore does not create suffering. 

Also, an enlightened being is not striving at all since there is no one anymore there to be striving for anything. There is just being, and just being can take care for itself just fine.