Zen story: The Zen master describes enlightenment to be like a tree

Who we really are is a soul, that God placed into our body. Some people think they are only what they are, (a human body) but the enlightened person knows who they are too, a soul in a body. It has been said by other people too, as in this quote: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Philosopher, (1881 to 1955), said that. We are a soul in a body, then, not a body with a soul.

@innertalks This is great enlightenment you pour out. Thank you.

@Nakitakona You are welcome.

Yes, everything else has its own reason for being created too. Enlightenment allows us to identify that reason, and to live from it. We can then work with God, not against him, in the living of our own life.

Selfishness, and self infatuation, lead for a self centred life. “Rest in the Self.” — Ramana Maharshi, once said this. It is not telling us to rest on our laurels, but to be our real self, without resting too much only in our own body/mind self instead. Yes, our own God given talents, and gifts, are meant to be developed in us, by us, not buried deep, and never allowed to shine.

@innertalks That is the reason I did not go after material pursuits that can overwhelm our lives at the cost of what life is really about. I recall one of my friends getting consumed by work to an extent he did not have any other interest. He was a forex trader and had two terminals at home. He used to get up during his sleep to check on the rates. He brushed my concerns away with a brusque " I am used to that lifestyle". That is a clear case of brushing away soul's calling. Many rich end up with restless lives as close family members start counting their shares like vultures circling a dying animal! I keep in mind the material possessions will be left behind lock, stock and barrel when we bid goodbye. "The phrase "leave my arms around me" isn't a direct quote, but it relates to Alexander the Great's famous dying wish for his hands to hang out of his coffin, symbolizing he came into the world empty-handed and would leave it the same way, a profound lesson on mortality and the futility of material wealth, alongside wishes for doctors to carry him and his riches to be scattered."

@Shiva49 If we really leave the world with nothing to show for it, our life, just lived, life here must be a great joke, in some ways, as it would effectively all amount to being just a waste of time, in my book. Something from each life lived must be carried forwards, and be utilised in the next world, in some way, but even if not, a life lived has changed the history of the Universe, and made some changes to it in some small way, that would not have happened without that life being so lived in it, so every part of life changes and effects every other part, in some way forever, for all is connected, and all is really just one great whole, doing the rounds, this time around. Whether there is a God behind it all remains a disputed point.