Enlightenment - what is that?
A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger
walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old
baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked: "What's that you
are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as
long as I can remember." "Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "No," said the beggar.
"What's the point? There's nothing in there." "Have a look inside," insisted the stranger. The
beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the
box was filled with gold.
I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not
inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer inside yourself.
"But I am not a beggar," I can hear you say.
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the
deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material
wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security,
or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is
infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
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