Is Enlightenment a goal or a process? I believe it is both. To walk a path of enlightenment is to listen to the true calling of your soul to reveal itself in all of its divine glory.

Enlightenment has to be consciously engaged with as a real process of personal transformation. This is the true goal of the Alchemist, not to turn base metal into gold, but to burn away the accumulated dross that we all carry in order to reveal something much more precious; our pure essence. In the process of becoming enlightened you become lighter, less energetically dense and more filled with light.

So how can you obtain enlightenment? You can read a whole library of books describing spiritual techniques and pathways and become very knowledgeable on the subject, but yet remain largely unchanged. You can spend large sums of money on courses or initiations and be rewarded with impressive qualifications, but stay pretty stuck. Why?

To walk a path of enlightenment you must be prepared to go within. The Oracle at Delphi bore the inscription ‘Know Thyself’. Thousands of years later those words remain the basic tenet of spiritual growth.

Enlightenment isn’t a process done to you from the outside, you have to transform yourself on the inside. Reading books can open up your mind to the possibilities, a good teacher can guide you and a skilled healer can help you with the process once you have engaged with it. Spiritual practices can steady you through the turmoil that deep inner transformation stirs up. All of these things are valuable, but nobody can do the inner work for you.

Enlightenment isn’t a hobby for weekends, it has to become a part of the fabric of your life. You have to live in a more conscious and aware state. Staying on this path requires dedication, focus and regular, honest, self evaluation. Michael Moskowitz uses a fun analogy in the Power of Kabbalah. He compares our quest for spiritual enlightenment as like being a radio. You can choose to turn the dial and tune into Radio L-I-G-H-T but the default frequency on Planet Earth at the moment is Radio C-H-A-O-S. You have to consciously keep the dial turned to the LIGHT station as without your vigilance it just slides back to its old accustomed frequency. I would say that with practice it gets easier to ‘stay tuned’ but that you will get tested and need to stick with the ‘LIGHT Programme’.

Once you are truly ready the right teachers, the right healers, the right experiences and the right books will present themselves to you. The teachers may not call themselves teachers of course, and the healers may not call themselves healers. My greatest healer and teacher who guided me steadfastly through the intense enlightenment journey I wrote about in Light behind the Angels was my own partner. At times he felt more like my tormentor, and I went through some of the most difficult challenges of my life. Be prepared that such teachers can be stern and the process isn’t necessarily comfortable!

My own enlightenment process involved a very intensive phase of past life healing as many of my blocks and patterns were set up in a life in Ancient Egypt. By fully surrendering to this process so much energetic baggage was shifted that I can see and feel a real change in myself and my way of being in the world. Hence I am technically an enlightened being, just as all who walk this path of profound healing become enlightened. This is not to say I am confusing myself with the Ascended Masters such as Jesus Christ and the Buddha! I’m well aware I haven’t finished my own process. I am still on the path of enlightenment and expect to walk it for the rest of my life.

I do sense that as we enter the New Age the time and opportunity is right for the old burdens we have carted around in our energy for millennia to be cleared out. We need to make ourselves whole by healing our fragmented selves and we must strip away the layers of ego based protection we have cloaked yourselves with. In the process that which is no longer good for our growth needs to be allowed to fall away. As we heal and release the hurts, sufferings, guilt and pain we make space for more light to enter our being and literally become enlightened.