Just like our universe we humans have three modes of being, namely, the dark mode, the glow mode, and the arc (luminous) mode.
The first mode is chiefly animal existence, being enveloped by a dark covering which puts us into a hostile world. The second mode is when we can put a little light on the subject as if seeing through a glass darkly, establishing a kind of order out of chaos. The last mode, the arc mode, is transcendence, an awakening to true reality. In such illumination there is no darkness or even a glow.
Very few get to the arc mode while the many creatures live and die in the dark mode with a few advancing and taking shelter in the glow mode.
The great sages of history, like the Buddhas, have told us of the arc mode. By their own effort and struggle they transcended darkness and glow. And were it not for the illumination of these sages there would not even be man's civilization, his community, and safety.
From this we can see that man's greatest enemy is his own darkness and glowing thoughts which he mistakes for illumination.
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