4.4   THE ENLIGHTENED ONES In its time the world has seen a handful of truly enlightened beings: Buddha, Zoraster, Jesus, and Mohamed to name a few.   These beings caught a glimpse of the true nature of the universe and were able to convey its beauty and mystery to others.   Those these are extreme examples of enlightenment, many mortals possess a small glimmer of this insight. In children of Fire, enlightenment represents that part of the soul that is able to see individual threads of the universal web.   They can begin to see angels and demons when they are in an ethereal state.  They can sense celestial forces just as angels or demons can.    The enlightenment may even take the form of far sight (being able to see events distant in either space or time). But no explanation comes with these revelations.  No angels stand by the mortals to say, "What you saw means this."  The mortals see what they see and then their finite minds must interpret its meaning.  As a result, enlightened souls my see these mysteries in many different ways.   A child of clay who sees a ghostly apparition might correctly see it for an angel, while another might see a visitor from outer space. Faith and Enlightenment do not directly equate.  The most faithful adherent may spend her whole life without a hint of enlightenment, and the atheist may be shown a glimpse into the celestial realm.  In some cases, an increase in ones enlightenment may occur at the cost of faith if what they are seeing directly contradicts their beliefs.   The question then is what brings enlightenment?  What causes a person to transcend his mortal bounds?  In some case it is divinely inspired, the Almighty reaches down to touch one of His beloved children.  In other cases, the enlightenment is brought on by a traumatic event (such as a near death experience).  In some cases, a child is simply born with the gift. Whatever the cause, once a child of clay has received a sliver of enlightenment, he has one of two choice.   He can ignore it (trying to suppress what is often a terrifying experience) or he can embrace it.   Those who embrace their gift often go out of their way to comprehend it.   This process often, though not always, causes the mortal's enlightenment to gradually increase.   Those who have reached the highest level of enlightenment (20) feel no need to remain in the mortal world any longer.   There is nothing the material plane can offer them anymore.       Those with high enlightenment tend to be leaders.   They cannot sit back and watch while the world gets it wrong.  They must interject themselves and show the misguided the path of truth.  Ironically, many cult leaders (whose minds have been shattered by the things they've seen) have very high enlightenment scores.