Read the passage given below and answer the following questions.
A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. "Spare some change?" mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. "I have nothing to give you," said the stranger. Then he asked: "What's that you are sitting on?" "Nothing," replied the beggar. "Just an old box. I have been sitting on it for as long as I can remember." "Ever looked inside?" asked the stranger. "No," said the beggar. "What's the point? There's nothing in there." "Have a look inside," insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold.
I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself.
"But I am not a beggar." I can hear you say.
Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some super human accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form. The inability to feel this connectedness gives rise to the illusion of separation, from yourself and from the world around you. You then perceive yourself, consciously or unconsciously, as an isolated fragment. Fear arises, and conflict within and without becomes the norm.
I love the Buddha's simple definition of enlightenment as "the end of suffering." There is nothing superhuman in that, is there? Of course, as a definition, it is incomplete. It only tells you what enlightenment is not: no suffering. But what's left when there is no more suffering? The Buddha is silent on that, and his silence implies that you'll have to find out for yourself. He uses a negative definition so that the mind cannot make it into something to believe in or into a superhuman accomplishment, a goal that is impossible for you to attain. Despite this precaution, the majority of Buddhists still believe.
What is the meaning of the 'paradox'?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → a statement that contradicts itself
A paradox is a statement or situation that seems to contradict itself and yet may be true. The passage uses the idea when it says that enlightenment is connection with something that is essentially you and yet much greater than you.
Example: "The more you learn, the less you know" is a well-known paradox.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: an idea that cannot be lucidly explained — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: lucidly means in a clear, easily understood way. An idea that is hard to explain is obscure or vague. A paradox may be stated plainly, its point is the contradiction.
Example: The teacher explained the theorem lucidly.
Option 2: something that is much greater than you — Incorrect. Wrong link: these words are lifted from the passage, but they describe the thing one is connected with, not the meaning of the word paradox.
Option 4: when two ideas have the same or similar meanings — Incorrect. Opposite meaning: ideas with the same meaning are synonymous. A paradox brings together ideas that seem opposed.
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