Nampa, Idaho - June 27, 2026 - When I first heard the term “enlightenment,” I assumed it was merely a grandiose label for an alcohol- or drug-induced euphoria given by societal rejects who couldn’t keep up with the demands of mainstream living. Then, after learning more about what it means to be enlightened, I figured this level of spiritual insight was reserved for special people, like monks, swamis, and gurus, who are willing to live under extreme measures and look a certain way to achieve such lofty awareness. I imagined an old man with a long, white beard, sitting in the lotus position on a mountaintop, looking oddly like Kwai Chang Caine’s master from the 1970s television series “Kung Fu.” Now, after having taken the path to enlightenment for myself, I realize that the journey is not only a rite of passage, but it’s also open to anyone (at any age) should they possess the desire and courage to do so.
I came up with the idea to write “First Day (of Enlightenment)” after reading Hermann Hesse’s novel, Demian (1919), a coming-of-age story that follows ten-year-old Emil Sinclair from his elementary school days to his first year of university studies. As he transitions from childhood to adolescence, Sinclair meets and befriends another boy, Max Demian, who turns out to be his fated spiritual guide, turning up time and again in moments when Sinclair needs him most. It was then that I realized that the path to enlightenment can begin as soon as one enters the world without Mommy or Daddy. But that wasn’t the only revelation; I soon discovered another aspect of enlightenment—one that I had failed to capture in my book, Pillars of Society (2026), an allegorical tale of personal transformation revealing the true costs of enlightenment: that society is more than just an amalgam of evil-inspired abominations.
“First Day,” like Pillars, offers an emblematic premise disclosing the harsh realities and social costs of budding awareness; however, it also sheds light on the elusive upside of enlightenment—that moments of splendor do exist if one knows where to look. In “First Day,” a fictional family dinner frames a deeper philosophical discussion on the true nature of enlightenment—a strikingly different setting than the make-believe caterpillar colony in Pillars. “First Day” opens in its first section with a young mother anxiously waiting for her five-year-old son, Christian, to return home from his first day in kindergarten. In the second section, you’ll learn why Christian stepped off the bus in tears, and by the end of the third and fourth sections, you’ll come to understand why he has trouble relating to the outside world.
Over the last three sections, where the family of five is gathered for dinner around the kitchen table, the story’s emphasis shifts from Christian’s inner world to his parents, who use their son’s first-day-of-school experience as fodder to launch into a lecture about the path to enlightenment. Working together like tag team wrestlers, Adam and Eve teach Christian and his two older sisters, Mary and Josephine, how enlightened people differ from the unenlightened and explain what impact abominations and splendor have on each. It’s a story that will not only ease the mind of the enlightened—those who can’t help but see that the world is governed and policed by the blackest of hearts—but it will also offer the unenlightened a chance at personal redemption—a chance to reconnect to nature, spirituality, modesty, simplicity, fellowship, and, most importantly, themselves.
-Chuck Trunks
“This work was written independently by the author without the use of generative AI.”
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You can find “First Day (of Enlightenment)” on the “about” page of my website: https://www.trunksart.com/about.
Trunks Art moved from Columbia, South Carolina, to Nampa, Idaho, in 2025 and has made this city his home and writing inspiration.
To see more of my work, please have a look at more posts or email me at chucktrunks@gmail.com. Or, visit my website at www.trunksart.com. Also, you can find me on Instagram (chucktrunks) and Facebook (Chuck Trunks).
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