Short Path to Enlightenment

by Paul Brunton

In Paul Brunton’s The Short Path to Enlightenment, he speaks of a direct realization—the awakening to the ever-present truth of our essential nature. Rather than slowly refining the ego through discipline and practice, the Short Path invites us to leap into Being, recognizing that what we seek has never been absent.

In our PlayfulProcess terms:

The triangle—Feelings, Thoughts, Behaviors—represents the Long Path, the traditional route of purification, discipline, and healing. Working within the triangle, we balance and transform the personality, aiming for a “Just-Right” integration. This work is noble. It prepares us to become clearer instruments of service, less reactive, more whole.

But hovering above is the sun of Being—radiant, changeless, always now. The Short Path is not a denial of the triangle; it is a shift in identity. You realize that you are not the triangle. You are the light that sees it. The sun doesn't need to be earned. It doesn't shine more brightly when your thoughts are aligned or your feelings purified. It is here. Always.

Brunton reminds us that what you are looking for is what is looking.

The invitation, then, is twofold:

• On the Long Path, we shape the triangle in service to others and the world.
• On the Short Path, we rest as the sun—Being itself—free, present, eternal.

Both are part of the journey. But sometimes, we forget the light was already on.