Ascension is obviously about rising upward; enlightenment is to be filled with more light. Spiritually speaking, to the best of my experience and knowledge, the two go hand-in-hand. When we are filled with more light we are lighter in our vibration and frequency, giving us the sense that we are floating and expanding our energy fields. When we ascend, we are not going anywhere at all. It is an energetic idea that occurs within and radiates outward. It is a raising of one's consciousness, our cells expand and vibrate faster and become clearer, and our brain gets rewired, which increases our ability to be, hold and radiate light.

Why would ascension and enlightenment be important? How do we attain them? Ascension and enlightenment are natural processes that occur when we're ready for them to occur, when we're ready to make a shift. There is no specified timeline or deadline. Each person is on their own course in this and still connected to the collective consciousness. What we do individually will impact the whole. When a certain number of individuals make their own internal shift, we have what is called critical mass, that means that they will then create enough momentum to help the rest of humanity shift up a level.

We can begin this process consciously, or let it take its natural course. No one is left behind and each person will go through many shifts in consciousness. I think, however, that when we're ready for the shift, something within us knows it and we become more aware and involved in this process. We can begin this process by allowing our heart to open up and feel more love and therefore light, into our lives. Feeling more love includes feeling more gratitude. More gratitude opens us up to more love and light.

When we sit in a relaxed state, or meditate, breathing slowly and deeply, we connect with whatever or whomever brought us the most love we have felt. Love is our true natural state. Allow that feeling to encompass you now. Use whatever works for you to remember the love of being with that person, or an event you experienced, a piece of music you heard, a smile you received from a baby, whatever it is, and fill your entire being with that love. Be with that feeling in the present for as long as you can and don't contain it - let it radiate outward and you can direct it wherever you wish (to any living being, to a country, to the planet, to the universe). Let your body do what it feels comfortable doing in this state of love, bliss, joy and in sharing it. Send it out without any requirement or expectation - it is free, it heals, and can do no harm. Love and fear cannot exist at the same time and in the same space. Love is a never-ending supply that is always available to us. Recycle it is often as possible and observe how your life changes. Do you know the Beatles' song lyrics that say "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"? What you put out you will be returned to you.

We are at our closest with our Source and being our natural self through unconditional love. Our illusions of separation diminish, the veils thin and we know we are part of something so amazing that we begin to remember who we really are. Love and information/knowledge/wisdom enlighten us further. When the student is ready the master appears, so the saying goes. When we are in this state of receptivity and love we can also receive messages from our soul, our higher self, or our guides or whatever you consider to be God. The goal is not to know it all, and no one ever can know it all because of the nature of the Source is always changing and experiencing itself in new ways. But, this never stops us from seeking more, because each step takes us to a new level of awareness, new perspectives, and therefore more understanding of how we co-create our experiences and what are the consequences of our creations. It is our own challenge and excitement, our own process that is not to be compared or competed with any other's. We become masters of ourselves, which also tells us how we fit into and contribute into the whole of creation. That is the purpose of enlightenment.