I take up the challenge! It might take a while to understand it all but I have started looking into it.
More along the line of Post traumatic stress disorder. "Think Different: On post-traumatic growth" http://mindfulnext.org/think-different-on-post-traumatic-growth/
Enlightenment in 3 quick and easy steps I can beat that. 2 steps. Step 1. Sit somewhere quietly. Step 2. Clear your mind of ALL thoughts. If you can do that for 10 minutes you are enlightened.
It's been my experience that it's not the absence of thoughts. You can't stop your mind from stream of consciousness, but you can disassociate yourself from it. And I would add that disassociation is not an illusion, you really aren't those thoughts.
Sogyal Rinpoche................... frames the importance of the stream metaphor in relation to meditation and the nature of mind, the objective of a meditative sādhana: "In the ancient meditation instructions, it is said that at the beginning thoughts will arrive one on top of another, uninterrupted, like a steep mountain waterfall. Gradually, as you perfect meditation, thoughts become like the water in a deep, narrow gorge, then a great river slowly winding its way down to the sea, and finally the mind becomes like a still and placid ocean, ruffled by only the occasional ripple or wave." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindstream
I like uninterupted steep mountain waterfalls. I like great rivers that slowly wind their way to the sea. Why are they the diminutive to still placid oceans so far as enlightenment is concerned ? Edit - formatting
Meditation is not the same thing as enlightenment. I think it was Allan Watts in The Three Pillars Of Zen who said that, when meditating, thoughts will arise 'like bubbles floating up from the depths of a deep, placid lake'. He advises 'do not deny them, do not follow them, do not attach to them, merely note their passing and continue to concentrate on your breathing'. Years of daily meditation has been shown to thicken the myelin sheathing in the practitioners cerebral cortex, an observable physiological benefit. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
OK, though we still don't have some consensus, or even individual views, on exactly what enlightenment means. Very good. Quite similar to some passages in the Orphic Hymns c.600 BC, Yogic Sutras of Patanjalli, etc. Even the Mahareshi Mehesh (sp ?) Yogi of 'Transcedental Meditation' fame, quotes exactly this - obviously having taken it from earlier sources. Years of mediation on my part, have been shown to increase the thickness of my emm, cranium, an observable physical benefit in some cases .. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Edit, various
I have .. in my case I end up brimming with admiration .. kidding .. I find it quite disconcerting. Particularly close up, when staring straight into my eyes - I find I have to look away after half a minute or so, as some intense, nervous feeling comes over me. It's one of the weirdest things I've ever experienced.