"I remember once being in a place that was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. My emotional reaction was, 'I can't see anything! I don't know what is there!' But then I thought, 'What is it, then, that sees darkness? I am looking at Darkness; my eyes are functioning and seeing darkness.' Then suddenly it became obvious to me that consciousness is light, that even in the dark there is light if you rest in conscious awareness. What your eyes see is darkness, but that is still seeing, isn't it? We usually think of light as coming from outside-- from the sun or an electric light bulb-- but consciousness is light, isn't it? But this is a light that is coming from within.

"Enlightenment is natural to each one of us; it is nature, not conditioned, not to be claimed as a unique gift that 'I have because I am a special kind of human being.' If you start operating in that way, you will be operating from delusion, won't you? But see that everybody is this; recognize it in everybody."

Ajahn Sumedho, Don't Take Your Life Personally, p. 394- 395.