Enlightenment and hope...

Enlightenment is not about hope. If you have hope, the mind is still locked in its dream of future. The idea that the future will be better has the story “right now is not enough” built into it. Hope arises from a present sense of lack. It’s the perfect recipe for continuing unhappiness. Once it is seen that future is just thought arising now, it is seen that living for a future moment (i.e., hope) is just identification with thought. It’s the “me” that will never truly be happy because it is always looking for something else in some other time.

Enlightenment is about hopelessness, but not the hopelessness the mind knows. The mind only sees the world dualistically. It’s in the business of labeling everything as good or bad. It sees hope as good and hopelessness as bad.

Hopelessness, the way it is used here, means the absence of the need for hope. It is the absence of the need for a projection towards future. It may be more precise to say that enlightenment (i.e., presence) is beyond both hope and hopelessness. This moment is all there is. It is already abundant.

When that is seen fully, hope is seen as irrelevant. There is no need for it. “Hopelessness”—as in utter despair—is also seen as just another harmless dualistic story the mind tells. These stories disappear on their own when they meet the light of present awareness.



-Scott Kiloby. Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment