Enlightenment is not necessarily a religious experience. It is an intellectual and emotional experience that each person can describe in their own way. It may come as a brief moment that passes quickly. Perhaps you are sitting and watching a sunset, and tears rise in your eyes as you feel deep gratitude for your existence. In that moment you marvel at creation and feel connected to the universe and all living things. Then the feeling fades.
For the shaman working with sacred plant medicine, enlightenment might appear as visions within a deep trance. For someone else, it might come during meditation, prayer, or quiet reflection. But enlightenment never comes for free. It requires work. No one is born enlightened, no matter what a poster or a story says about a guru reaching it at age three.
Enlightenment develops in the same way muscles grow in the body. The potential exists from the beginning, but it needs proper care, exercise, and nourishment to expand. Over time, through consistent practice and right living, the mind strengthens and becomes capable of deeper awareness. Nobody becomes an Olympic weightlifter overnight, and the same truth applies to the cultivation of the mind. Enlightenment grows through effort, patience, and a life lived with attention.
Talking about enlightenment is not forbidden. It is a duty to cultivate the mind toward the cessation of anxiety and stress. To discuss it openly and pursue it with sincerity is to honor the deepest human calling, to awaken, to understand, and to find peace.