I'm of two minds about enlightenment. On the one hand (maybe the left one...), I expect that meditation and esoteric inward-facing practices can meaningfully lead to true Gnosis, mostly due to my own experiences. On the other hand, I have to believe that there is a reason we were given (or chose to take) these forms, and that the "comes by default" activities like love and kindness and making babies are just as important to the lessons we are meant to learn here as learning the true names of God. Perhaps, for the more occult-inclined spirits like myself, one of the greater challenges is embracing the exoteric, and leaning wholeheartedly into the life that we all live *together*. We were all born to mothers, mothers who love us - we can't be meant to leave them such that we find enlightenment in some cave where they never see us again. If that were the case, it would just be cruel, and if wisdom is such I would rather be a fool. I structure my life to balance these two things. I think it is the best way to do it.