Why do humans struggle? If there was nothing in it for you, you wouldn't do it. This is important to understand because spiritual human beings tend to wonder, "Why can't I just let go of it?" You hang on because you get some perceived benefit from it - you get to have this experience of being me. It's not 100% terrible, and you can get come sense of satisfaction out of it. To the time-bound sense of self, there can be some temporary, great experiences. For example: you go to your neighbours and beat them at gin runny, and you feel totally better when you leave. Or you hit the stock market and for one year you feel wealthy and on top of the world, and then the next year, it's gone. Or you go to your therapist or spiritual teacher and start thinking you are making progress, and there is a sense of getting better. But this is false happiness, not real happiness. False happiness is a trance, an egoic deception. Freedom, certainly enlightenment, has everything to do with dying to what is. It's very simple. Enlightenment is nothing more than the complete absence of resistance to what is. End of story.