The Buddha taught that spiritual enlightenment means to "recognize your essence" and all his 84.000 teachings can be condensed into this. One good path to realizing your true nature is to have a direct experience of the Buddhist concept of "Emptiness." Here we have to go back to the mirror as a metaphor for the mind, or consciousness. Our mind is an empty mirror in which thoughts occur as reflections. Our true nature is the mirror - we are the mirror. Our thoughts, as reflections in the mirror, are our subjective self, or ego.

So, how can I achieve spiritual enlightenment? As we learn to control our mind and practice mindfulness, we discover our true identity more and more fully. We find that our true nature is positive and loving as the mirror is clear and bright. The Buddhists say that the mirror is empty—not in the Western understanding of nothingness, but empty of thoughts. As quantum physics tell us that space is full of energy, so too, is the true nature of the mind full of unborn and unlimited possibility. We could call this unborn and un-manifested reality quantum superposition in which everything is possible and in spiritual terms this is also called the great awakening.   

   A movie projector is also used as a metaphor for the empty mind. The empty mind is the light of the projector in which the film (our thoughts) is projected. In other words the empty mind projects awareness onto the thoughts within our mind. By going really deep within the mind, we can discover that all we truly are is the clear light of the projector, and we can observe that the film is not created by us, but by the outside world as reflections in our mirror. Thereby, we can see how all the reflections are really impersonal—the only thing personal is the light behind the reflections. The reflections are karmic patterns in the world outside, but here inside, we are free to see beyond this game of life and let the light of our mind shine through it all.

   To arrive at this realization, meditation is used as a tool to calm the mind. It is clear that in a hectic and busy day, it is all too easy to get caught up in the game of life. For a Western mind that operates by logic and is always busy analyzing, meditation can seem quite foreign. Personally, I know this to sometimes be a problem. But what is even a bigger problem for our Western mind is our either/or logic. This thinking in black and white, which constantly seeks the negation, can be a damaging element in critical rationalism. Most of us know (or try to escape) people who are always negative and always criticizing. These are not bad people; they are simply prisoners of the Western black and white logic that constantly seeks the negation.

   The Buddhist tradition tells us that negation lacks the oneness with the parts, and therefore, we should abandon “the poison of contradictions.” Being able to discriminate is an important function of the mind, but a dualistic mind ruled by negation is not a happy mind because it is disconnected from its own true nature. Our true identity is beyond conceptual thinking, and it is by redrawing this conceptualization that we can experience the true nature of the mind.

   This is a very subtle process of the mind as the energy vibration of our true nature is extremely soft. One way to experience the subtlety of this energy is through conversation. By following the flow of energy in a conversation, we can learn a lot about the subtlety of our mind. We can see that to be completely clear and open in the mind requires considerable effort. The slightest aversion or attachment changes the energy of a conversation instantaneously. By observing the causes of the changes in the flow of energy, we can see our unconscious patterns of behavior. And if we look even closer by being very mindful, we can see that the energy actually speaks. We can read the energy of other people as they can read the energy we send out. The energy does not lie—it speaks the Truth—about our intentions and who we really are.

Thus, by being fully present we can see the true nature of other people, while being mindful of ourselves and what we reflect on to the world. This can then transform our own interaction with the world towards being more truthful, while at the same time help us to see the true nature of others. Underneath the manifested reality beyond the patterns of behavior, we can see the eternal and true nature of all of humanity. By holding on to the true nature of ourselves and others we can see the lie without becoming the lie. This is the element of enlightenment that transforms our world by letting in the light from the true nature of reality.

   To calm and fine-tune the mind to these subtle energies, Buddhism uses meditation to practice mindfulness and reach enlightenment. Meditation is basically a technique of stilling the mind’s “business” to reach a mindful or empty state. Many people are mindful naturally, while others have never had the experience of the true nature of mind. If you have not experienced meditation and feel that you would like to be more mindful, then I highly recommend meditation. There are many places to do meditation, and for me, the deepest and best meditation is experienced through Vippassana meditation. This is usually a ten day retreat of silent meditation that helps you go very deep within the mind and clear many layers of confusion.