In these times, when more and more people are looking for spiritual truth and engage in practices like meditation, it’s hard to know what to expect from attaining a lofty goal like Enlightenment. What does Enlightenment look like? What happens when we attain it? What does it mean in terms of our relationships? Our families? Our jobs? In his book Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be (Changemakers Books, 2011), spiritual teacher and religious scholar Robert K. C. Forman explores the illusions we buy into when we enter and walk the spiritual path. “People so want a life that is easy, effortless, satisfying. And the promise [of enlightenment] itself becomes part of the problem. Because now you have a strong wish for that kind of perfection”, he says in our interview. “And that gets in the way of recognizing the transformations that are actually taking place. The drive for a perfect marriage gets in the way of a good enough marriage. The drive for having a perfect life gets in the way of what we do have.” Enlightenment is not about attaining some perfect state of mind, but to be honest to oneself and others.

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