Enlightenment is elusive

The mere fact that each one of us wakes up every morning means we may be awake but it does not mean we are awakened. We awaken from the metaphoric sleep of ignorance, that dullness of mind where clarity and discernment are hard to come by. Awakening has nothing to do with the alternation of day and night, or the difference between sleepiness and alertness. It is of a totally different order and it would be a mistake to trivialize it and imagine that as soon as we feel bright and breezy we are in the enlightened state.