A beginner meditation student went to his teacher and said earnestly, “I am devoted to  consciousness work, meditation and enlightenment. I want to cure my depression, anxieties and obsessions. How long will it take me to master this?”

The teacher’s reply was casual, “Ten years.”

Impatiently, the student answered, “But I want to master it faster than that. I will work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?”

The teacher thought for a moment, “20 years.”

Explanation Of The Wisdom

Most often in life, we set ourselves a goal and work really hard to get there.

This strategy works perfectly fine in relationships, business and health.

But the moment you set a goal like “I want to be enlightened” as you work on your psychology and meditate, you make a fatal mistake.

The reason is simple.

The solution to your sufferings in the present moment. The deeper you are in touch with the moment without obstructions like thoughts, images and urges; the more closer you are to enlightenment.

And the moment you have a goal like “I want to be enlightened.” And when you eagerly work for it. You subtly condition enlightenment to the future. 

“I will be enlightened when I have trained some more.”

This sort of devotion to your craft is great but realize that you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

Enlightenment, the end of suffering, is right here. In this moment. You can be enlightened right as you are reading this. There are no “conditions” and “requirements” for enlightenment.

The whole point of training and meditation is to make the mind as acceptant towards the present moment as it can. That is why you are slowing down the thoughts and increasing your awareness skills.

But when you create a condition, you delay the present moment. And project it to the future.

So every time you sit down to meditate, always sit down with the intention of getting enlightened. Slowing down the thoughts and sitting motionless basically help you facilitate this.

Realize that life happens “right now” and all you have to do is to be aware of it without judgements and thoughts.  Look at Eckhart Tolle’s enlightenment experience. He had it without any form of spiritual practice as he struggled with intense depression.

So these rare cases show us that if your intentions are present moment related, then enlightenment is possible for you.

But don’t get me wrong, obviously you’ll train and practice. You’ll have a daily meditation routine. I want you to be really patient at this.

Rarely, people just get enlightened without any kind of spiritual practice. Eckhart Tolle is just a rare example. In fact, his intense depression helped him to break free from the ego. So in some sense, the depression was his spiritual practice. For almost everyone, the mind not only requires training but also time to heal itself.

But that doesn’t mean you can just condition happiness to a future circumstance. That would go against the fundamental principle of “unconditional happiness”.

To realize this, you must meditate and self enquire.  In essence, you must start living from the present moment. This requires concentration, awareness and mindfulness skills.

There is only one way to put this wisdom into practical living: start a daily meditation practice and start an investigation towards enlightenment.

Theory, debates, reading, listening, talking, arguing and knowledge will only get you so far. 

You must “walk the talk”.

If in doubt, remember the priceless wisdom.

“Meditate on the breath (mindfulness meditation to build concentration and awareness skills) and then self-enquire (the teachings of Ramana Maharshi) until you are free of all psychological sufferings and ego. (aka enlightenment)

Do this everyday and trust in the process that eventually your mind will be healed.

Why?

Because all good things require training and patience.

Know that as long as you do the work, the results will eventually follow.”

If you liked this article, you might also like these:

• Mind Blowing Interview With Massimo Pigliucci
• Stoicism on Wisdom: You Don’t Have Problems
• Stoic Book Review: Ego is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• Stoicism Training With Epictetus
• Stoic Reading List: 6 Must-Read Books To Get You Started
• Stoicism on Wisdom: Don’t Rationalize Irrational Behaviour
• Stoicism on Morality: Consequentialism and Virtue Ethics 
• Stoicism on Courage: How to Develop Self Esteem?
• What is Stoicism? A Definition and 3 Stoic Exercises To Get You Started
• Negative Visualization: An Ancient Stoic Technique For Creating Happiness