Enlightened Men

EnlightenedMen are men and women who recognize all that appears before them as their own projection. They see everything as having the same sparkling nature (Tibetan: rig rig thur-thur-po) as their own mind.

Ya wanna be enlightened? Cost ya five bucks. Ya wanna be enlightened again? Another five bucks. --EasternWuss

A crow studies his reflection in a well then flies off! --Padmasambhava.

A cow studies her reflection in a well then falls in! --EasternWuss.

Pretentious?

yes, well, er, I chose language that's a thousand years old to express. Sorry... Let's see if I can put it in East-Coast American:

Do you suppose that your father, daughter, friend or even you wife (take my wife... (please)) Do they see things as you do, generally? Do they see the world remotely as you do? Maybe you're different...

On my planet they see a different world completely. Which personal universe is inherently real or findable from outside? Perhaps all of them. Let's call that the Eternalist view. Perhaps none of them can be real. Call that the Nihilist view. The Eternalist argues

: My world is obviously real. I refute your arguments with this, and he kicks a rock.
: The Nihilist argues that none of it has any inherent existence, None.
: Perhaps he kicks a bigger rock, or his dog, PerpetualBeta.

The MiddleWay teaches that falling into any extreme view would be WrongView.

Looking now for a place to draw the line between You and That, "ExternalReality?" fails every objective test:

Only things I see are me. No... Only things I love are me. No... Only things that enter my nostrils and mouth are me. No... Oxygen is not me until it enters my blood. No... It is me only as it is being converted to CO2 by my system. No... I exist only between my ears.

No, all false. No separation. Recognize projections of your mind as having the NatureofMind? also.

I did not think this up! It's (roughly) from the Tibetan threg-chod, CuttingThruSolidity?. (ISBN 1881847071 )

Forgive me if I have offended anyone with my temerity. -- PaulTaney

ChuangTse refutes this silliness quite easily on the PageOfFish?.

LarryWall agrees with the threg-chod, I think, as he said pointedly, The road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.

Actually it seems that EnlightenedMen need a combination of

 good circumstances (luck),
 protective environment (good government),
 fortunate birth circumstances (born in the right place at the right time), the
 support of many like-minded individuals including neighbors, and family (good society).

The fortune of having a

 stable economy,
 good health and the
 protection provided by others including the mysterious or supernatural.

Not many EnlightenedMen exist in circumstances opposite to these mentioned.

Without these good circumstances, it would be quite impossible to see that there's no specific, findable separation between oneself and one's world.

With these good circumstances then, are we perhaps obliged .. no that is too strong a word .. to make honest efforts to become EnlightenedMen? Then again, I think this only because I imagine that such (men) are good for a society.

Obligation, effort, yes. Sanskrit virya, effort is one of her traits. She walks on two legs just like you and me, only improved by balancing wisdom (The View) with meritorious activity.