Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

In the West, enlightenment is closely tied to self-awareness, comprehension of your own motivations. However, in Eastern religious doctrine, enlightenment is the casting off of indoctrination and conditioning, going so far as to discourage the acquisition of knowledge, as a way of escaping the propaganda that is ubiquitous in life. Their intent is an attempt to supersede the basic emotions with intellectual emotions, which puts Eastern enlightenment in direct conflict with Western enlightenment, though to be fair, Eastern practitioners do allow that knowledge can be used discreetly when appropriate.

Enlightenment is a purely human trait: dogs and gorillas give little thought to what motivates them to eat, rut, or fight. Many people don't either, which is why where enlightenment comes from is so difficult to determine. It seems to be tied to mental capacity, not just person-to-person, but within the same person, who sometimes can overcome their base motivations, but often slip back into old evolutionary habits: getting angry, exerting dominance, coveting the wife of a neighbor. In fact, these activities are celebrated in modern tabloid magazines which wallow in unenlightenment. There seems to a race on, to become more enlightened or less so, and it's difficult to tell who's winning.