The Word "Enlightenment"

Here Ken discusses the two most common understandings of the word "enlightenment," which translates somewhat differently in the West than it does in the East.  The Western Enlightenment was one of the most extraordinary advancements in human history, during which we awaken to the rational empirical sciences and the need to treat all people with the same universal code of fairness and dignity, helping the human race to free itself from the shackles of slavery and superstition.  While the Western Enlightenment refers to a specific stage of individual and collective growth, "enlightenment" in the East has more to do with ever-present states of consciousness—awakening to our own fundamental nature, to the infinite Ground of Being from which all phenomena arise, and to which they inevitably return.  He talks about why both of these definitions of Enlightenment are so crucial to today's world, and how failure to live up to either version results in various forms of suffering and "endarkenment."