#Buddhist #Enlightenment Will NOT be Downloaded, Downloadable—OR Televised…
In Spires In Thailand
Author’s note: in the style of Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will not Be Televised,” preferably with some light jazz music in the background…
Enlightenment will not be delivered to your doorstep by drone, from Amazon flown and by PayPal paid, nor Bitcoin bought, but traded in kind and in species of the heartfelt kind, love and forgiveness and kindness and compassion and submission and surrender to that higher power that represents us all in the courtrooms of consciousness, and the guard posts of Godliness, the board rooms of the Bhagwan and the after-death chambers of pure heavenly delight, whipped and battered and dipped in divinity…
But Enlightenment will not be downloaded…
Enlightenment will not be brought to you in a half-time show of the 52nd annual Super Bowl Classic presided over by Beyonce’, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande in glorious female profusion as they strut their stuff in sequins and fluff, while smoke and mirrors huff and puff in reflections and other assorted shiny stuff all around them…
But Enlightenment will not be downloaded…
Enlightenment will not be brought to you on the pre-recorded airwaves of Sirius, XM, Spotify and Pandora, comfort-food music of the soul, telling you what you already know and what you want to hear every day of the rest of your life, so as to not disturb you with the truth of your pathetic existence, that it is short, cruel, bitter sweet and sour and will soon be over before you know it…
Because Enlightenment will not be downloadable…
Enlightenment will not be available in smart-phone versions either Apple or Android, nor tablet versions whether Explorer, Chrome or Safari, so that you can conveniently carry it with you wherever you go, without really trying, Enlightenment Lite with no flavor or bite, just barely enough to fake your tweets through the weekend retreat with all the answers to all life’s questions embedded in code…
Because Enlightenment will not be downloadable…
Outlook, Yahoo and AOL will not have the latest upgrades, nor will Microsoft, Google or Apple be able to help you with status updates or other assorted questions about your breathing or your mantra or the latest translations of your Pali-based horoscope as extrapolated to the modern era free of any residual cultural baggage or genomic kerfuffle…
And Enlightenment will not be televised…
Enlightenment will not be brought to you in three easy steps, or even six empty promises, but through every word you hear and repeat and take the time to complete with respect and courage and the will to make your individual actions the universal standard for all mankind, and not for your own ego’s gratification, but for the mutual advancement of the species…
And Enlightenment will not be televised…
You can say that again…
No, your Enlightenment will not be televised…
Enlightenment will come to you in a flash of light, intuition and insight, in the foggy mists of meditation and bliss that can’t be bought or sold, claimed nor captured, only earned by blood sweat tears, and every available body fluid, permanent irreplaceable and irrevocable, if it is anything at all, that simplest way of being that is both now and forever, in this instant and the next, connected by reason and logic and cemented by foresight forgiveness and the keys to everlasting peace…
…it will be streamed live, directly through the airwaves of sub-conscious realization, and straight to your mind, once ready only for action, and food, now ready for enlightenment, too, fully conscious of itself if nothing else, with those little narrative voices that once did double-duty for God, now reduced to mostly back-room functions as cheap entertainment and party favors, pop music ditties and campaign sloganeering…
…it is only human nature to take the easy way out, take the path of least resistance, once the means of survival are assured and the kids are put to sleep in bed, visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads; but we didn’t cross oceans just because they’re there, but because we had little choice, and we thought that life just might be a tad easier once we arrived…
…but that was then and this is now, and it is time for a better narrative, with proper spelling, and the spells once cast in letters, and sentenced to paragraphs, to return to their privileged position and resume their appropriate function as the guide to Godliness and stairway to Heaven, the calligraphy of consciousness, little signs and symbols showing the way, and reciting the sacred incantations, narratives of the sympathetic kind, cool and sweet, and ready-to-eat, perfect for slow silent ruminations in this after-life…
Because Enlightenment will not be downloaded…
And Enlightenment will not be downloadable…
Nor will Enlightenment be televised…
So I guess you’ll have to do it yourself, non-self, Amen, Saddhu, Insh’allah, good luck…
streaming consciousness... 
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