Aside from the run of the mill desires and cravings, the self will get bent on enlightenment. This is especially true if there has been even a brief exposure to a true bodhisattva. Under normal circumstances, this is a good thing. If left unchecked, however, this desire becomes another roadblock. The self will drive the acquisition of something new and different, something exciting, something it can enjoy. The quest for something valuable will go on forever and never be satisfied.
You know the catch already…Enlightenment only happens when the self is no longer around, it is given up, when there is only clear consciousness without the interference of a self. If the self is around to enjoy it, it cannot be genuine. This is a substantial misunderstanding, but very common. The delusion about the interplay of self and other is so subtle that it is very difficult to see through. It is so close, we cannot see it or properly detect it’s continuing distortions.
When the state of enlightenment is perceived as a freedom from self, that is getting closer, but it still infers something perceived by a perceiver. Just don’t be labeling things you experience, or be reflecting on your feelings, desires, and failures. To overcome the roadblock, work instead on giving things up. Give up your greediness, impatience, destructive habits, and enmity. When these are destroyed, you expose what they have been covering up, the original bright enlightenment. Who needs more than this?