What is 'Enlightenment'? Options

[Shawn]

It's certain that enlightenment means different things to different people, and so I'm curious what it means to other people, and also to throw out a few questions to provoke thought.

Is Enlightenment an experience, process, realization, way of living, or what?

Is Enlightenment a multi-faceted word that is context-dependent and relative, or are there absolute truths that are invariably associated with any type of Enlightenment?

What are the 'truths', if any, that would invariably be realized/experienced thru Enlightenment?

Is Enlightenment an all-or-none experience (AHA experience) or is it a gradual accumulation of wisdom?

What is the relation of Enlightenment to mystical experience?

Please note that the above constitutes a partial list and is not meant to exhaust the range of questions that could, and should, be asked.

Personally, I believe the statement, "We are the Universe conscious of Itself", is on a par with Buddha's "All that we are, is the result of what we have thought" from the opening of the Dhammapada, and that both constitute part of a collection of truths that are invariably experienced during what I think many would call Enlightenment.   The task at hand, though, is to clarify this notion of Enlightenment to the best of our abilities thru mere verbal communication.  Is anyone up to this challenge?

[synchronox]

Tim,
My sentiments are similar.  Incidentally,  my NPD coment was not directed at you, but at someone who had just draped god around themselves and 'disappeared'.
My jesting posture that was also serious in its nature indicated that only as a boy can I approach this material.  I can find no other approach that does not unbalance the inquiry with technique.  I need the wonder and excitment.  I do not want the adults to come in and spoil the game at this point.
Who better than a child should do this exploration?  The only tool of the child to explore or escape is imagination.
When serious inquiry leaves what is left is soon turned into fixed opinion.  This life, if lived fully is one of continuous growth, to stop is to go unconscious.  That also is one of the premises of my two world theory.
On one side is consciousness, the other awareness driven by unconscious contents.