God helps those who help themselves.

Illumination, like many other things in life, is something only you can do for yourself. No one else can make you happy - while others may contribute to situations in your life that please you, happiness is an internal state and an internal decision you make on your own, regardless of the situations in your life that have contributed to it. So, too, with illumination - while external situations in your life may conspire to show you your own greater reality, the decision to actually *see* that greater reality is all an internal decision.

That's not to say this is easy.

While in one sense it is an internal decision, in another sense self-illumination seems very like trying to pull yourself up by your shoestrings: the two opposing forces of 'status quo' and 'breakthrough' come from the same entity, and neither seems to be stronger than the other. How can you teach yourself lessons that you don't already know?

In truth, the situation is a lot more complicated than that. How do you make yourself think interesting thoughts? Like being told "say something interesting", when you directly go about trying to think "interesting thoughts", you'll probably come up blank. On the other hand, if you pick up an interesting book, watch a stimulting movie, talk to a friend, or engage in some new hobby, you'll find yourself thinking interesting thoughts completely on accident. Illumination is the same - if you go about trying to "attain enlightenment" directly, you'll probably come to a dead stop. That doesn't mean you can't do it alone, though - pick up a good book, watch a good movie, utilize some of the suggestions in this section, and you'll be well on your way.

Like illumination, initiation is something you can do yourself. Waving your hands around and reciting magic words won't do the trick, but like in an initiation performed for you by someone else, the arm-waving and word-reciting isn't where the magic(k) comes from in the first place - it comes from inside of you. The robes, the ritual tools, all of that is dress-up aimed at getting you to the right frame of mind; the frame of mind is the initiation, not the costumes and ceremony. Self-initiation takes a little bit more work (think masturbation compared to sex - sometimes it's hard to forget that this is *your* hand, but if you don't forget and just go with the sensation, you'll never get anywhere with it), but it is possible. You just have to figure out what would get you to that frame of mind.

This section isn't just for things you can do alone, though we have emphasized this because of the many inquiries from disconnected Discordians who are looking for things to pull with just themselves to work with. Some of the activities below may involve other people, but the goal is always working with your own head.

What do we mean when we say "illumination"? It goes by a lot of names: nirvana, enlightenment, gnosis, many others. Whatever you call it, it's an internal state of "being one with God", "being at peace with the Universe", and a ton of other new agey phrases that sound embarassingly fluffy when used in most situations. Fluffy-sounding or not, though, that's about the best way to describe it. Imagine that you are connected to every other living being on this planet, and imagine the confidence, comfort, and ease that come with that knowing: it's like that.