The way I conceive of enlightenment in my mind is as follows:
Picture a landscape with many people staring into the sky. The sky is filled with light. Each person looks up at this sky of light. You see a light swirling in each person's head. The light beams up toward the sky. Some beacons of light go higher than others. The very highest merge seamlessly into the infinite sky, an ocean of light.
Whether that infinite light represents everything or nothing is a matter of perspective.
Does merging with that infinite light symbolize enlightenment or death? Fullness or emptiness?
What is the directionality of the light? Is the light shooting toward heaven, or is the light actually shining down from above into the minds of humans?
Or perhaps even this image is suffering from a false contrast. Perhaps everything is light. Or everything is darkness.
Poetry, art, and love are when you are soaring up into the light and trying to communicate your experience back to earth in a way that makes sense, but will always pale in comparison to the blinding barrage.
Enlightenment is climbing steadily higher up your beam of light until finally merging with the infinite light of heaven eternally.
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