(Clearwisdom.net) What we can enlighten from the Fa and which cultivation realm we will arrive at largely depend on to what degree we believe in the Fa.

As Master said,

"The enlightenment that we actually refer to is a matter of whether in the course of cultivation practice one can enlighten to and accept the Fa taught by the master or the Tao taught by the Taoist master, whether one can treat oneself as a practitioner upon encountering tribulations, and whether one can adhere to the Fa while practicing cultivation." (Chapter 9 from Zhuan Falun)

I understand enlightenment to be belief to some degree. It is about whether one can act according to the Fa.

Master said at the beginning of Zhuan Falun, "You do not need to practice such low-level things, and we will push you beyond it, making your body reach a state free of any illness." However, due to various notions, practitioners start thinking about illness once they feel uncomfortable, or they handle cultivation tribulations with ordinary mentalities. For example, during the individual cultivation period, one may easily confuse tribulations with symptoms of a cold or flu after being caught in the rain.

From the perspective of Fa principles, we all know that any discomfort comes from karma. How can rain create karma? If one confuses tribulations with cold symptoms as a result of being caught in the rain, it shows that one's belief in the Fa is not very solid yet.

Before the persecution started in 1999, a survey of over 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners was conducted in Beijing and Guangdong Province. The questionaire had three choices about the perceived health benefits of Falun Gong: complete recovery, overall improvement, or no impact.

Many practitioners, including veteran ones, picked "overall improvement." "Overall improvement" implies that the illnesses didn't completely disappear. These survey takers still thought they were slightly sick. After cultivating for several years, Master told us that we are free of any illness. Yet some practitioners still thought they were ill. Thus, ordinary people's notions turned illness into reality.

Cultivators in the past couldn't obtain true teachings even after exhaustive sufferings. What's more, a lot of principles were up to them to figure out on their own. Now, Master has explained the Fa principles to us so clearly. We are not required to enlighten on our own regarding a lot of things. As long as we believe in Master and the Fa and act according to the Fa, it will do.

Master told us in "A Heavy Blow" from Essentials for Further Advancement,

"I suggest that everyone set his mind to reading ten times the book I wrote, Essentials for Further Advancement, which you call scripture."

How many of us did it?

In the Fa-rectification, Master told us that righteous thoughts can disintegrate all evil,

"Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos’s Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples’ rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings’ thoughts disintegrate." ("Also in a Few Words" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

When we don't completely believe in Master and the Fa, our supernormal abilities cannot fully function. Some of us are even skeptical of the power of our righteous thoughts, so we don't put enough emphasis on sending righteous thoughts. This is a fundamental issue of belief. If Master tells us that our righteous thoughts are powerful, it must be the case.

The Fa-rectification is approaching its end. If we still cannot understand the Fa on a rational level, cannot study the Fa with a peaceful mind, and cannot believe in Master and the Fa deep down, we create losses to our own lives and to the salvation of sentient beings.