After enlightenment, what's left, what's the point

Someone wrote in with the question what's left after enlightenment.

What's the point?

The best way to deal with this question is to look at the question itself. Actually, it's 2 questions. What's left after Enlightenment and what's the point of the whole thing.

Let's analyze the questions themselves because they contain certain.

Presuppositions.

I'm looking at those presuppositions will be helpful in answering the questions.

If you say what's left after enlightenment?

The implication of that language is that there is a single moment of enlightenment.

And that basically enlightenment is this binary system you're not enlightened.

Then you are enlightened and it's these 2 things.

However, it has been my experience that it's not at all like that.

Um.

That although some People have a dramatic moment of Enlightenment, it does happen.

For most People it's sort of sneaks up on them.

And unless it's pointed out to them, they might not even be aware of quite how enlightened they become.

Because they've acclimatized to it, so enlightenment experience does not necessarily involve one or a sequence of dramatic sudden experiences. It may but it doesn't have to sometimes. It's a more gradual process. In fact, usually it's a more gradual process. If you look at nature. You'll see that some processes in nature, discontinuous, they jump, some processes in nature and continuous.

And took mathematicians quite a long time to develop a an advanced form of calculus that could simultaneously deal with both continuous and discontinuous functions.

But they had to because the nature of nature is that way. And since enlightenment is part of nature, it's a natural process.

It's even called seeing your nature 10 show to see your nature.

So because it's part of nature, we shouldn't be surprised that.

There are both.

Sudden and gradual components to the indefinite so if you say what's left after enlightenment. It implies that there's this single sudden thing that somebody goes through, and there's a before and an after even if one had one of sudden types of experiences.

There's still a lifetime of.

Working.

Out the consequences of that.

Improving behaviors working through negative patterns in my own case. I did have a sudden experience that is true as the result of systematic cultivation. Some People have suddenly experiences without even having practiced that's quite extraordinary, but it does happen just out of nowhere. Suddenly, they see what in Buddhism. We call the nose. So it happened to me. Rather, along time ago, I'm 65 now and.

It was a while back.

But I've had to spend my entire life refining.

The implications of that realizing how screwed up. I was in so many areas. Even after that experience. It wasn't all that many years ago that I saw Psycho therapist psychiatrist and MD.

For 18 months to workout so behavioral issues that I felt.

I needed something besides the meditation practice.

So.

One shouldn't think that there's like there's like Enlightenment and then there's this after enlightenment thing.

It can be more gradual for one thing and even if it's sudden you got.

The long, long way to go after you've seen the no self. You've got. Just seeing the ox look at the ox area. Pictures you gotta get on that Hawks gotta ride that ox in daily life so part of the problem is the formulation of the question, implying there's like Enlightenment and then there's after it like there's Enlightenment and then there's a lifetime of after if it's a sudden alarm so it's still a lifetime.

Now we can have been cleared that away we can talk about well what's left.

If you want to say what's left.

Well let's left is a whole bunch of Screwups and bad habits.

And the effort was flow of.

Emptiness.

And as time goes on the effort was flow of emptiness more and more eats up.

The school apps in the bad habits, etc, etc so.

As time goes on more and more of what's left is the effortless flow of emptiness, which doesn't sound all that appealing until you actually experience it?

And then it's like.

Well, if you had a choice of living. One day that way or living your whole life. Not that way would say well. I'll take the one day and you could kill me at the end of the day. That's how good the effortless flow of emptiness is more and more of what's left is less and less something and more and more doing? What's the point well.

That also sort of goes to an issue of meaning.

It's asking what's the meaning what's the Ultima meaning? What's the meaning of the path? What's the purpose of that.

But The funny thing is, is that you have to work through the need to have meaning.

Um by giving some talks about that.

So that in a sense the answer to that question what does it all mean or what is the purpose?

Once again, you have to look at the question and realize that there's an implication.

As you begin to work through the need to find the purpose.

The purpose arises spontaneously now.

Could I put a word 2?

The point.

If you ask what's the point? Could I put a word to that point.

Where the aux takes you?

Would sort of be making the point everything?

So yes, I can put a word to that point.

That word would be love.

Test.