Funny how talking about enlightenment as an event or achievement ruffles so many feathers.

There are people who claim extraordinary transformations of baseline perception, and profound reductions of psychological friction, which seems to have shown up for them after engaging in meditation (or something like it) for some period of time. Hypotheses are offered, which are then more or less supported through scientific experimentation. So far, so good -- one would hope.

So, what’s all the fuss about? I see no reason to jump all over someone like Kenneth Folk simply because talks about enlightenment like he knows a thing or two about it. I’m pretty sure he does; I have no reason to suspect that he doesn’t.

What we need is to broaden our perspectives on this issue. It’s easy to make a villain out of an ordinary, enlightened guy when we opt for sticky, loopy language traps rather than direct experience. It’s worth noting that what gets negatively evaluated most often are those ideas which take the energy out of evaluative processes, seeing them for what they are, rather than what they say they are.

@John: "Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj refutes Ken Wilbur by stating "The jnani's state is like the child's state, when the child was not knowing itself." (Prior to Consciousness)"

I don't know that I would call that a refutation so much as a difference in opinion. And that difference of opinion is more than likely due to Nisargadatta's lack of understanding with regard to the major advances in "Western" psychology, which Wilber has done a good job of staying up on. Personally, I'm with KW on this one. Though, I can't deny the brilliance of Nisargatta's teaching from the perspective of the awakened adult.

@Brian: "Doesn't matter what they come to understand as long as it makes for a better life."

It's hard to argue with that, Brian. And yet, and yet... is there no Truth to be discovered? Is it not the Truth which sets us free?

Somehow I don't think it's all about simple diagnostics in regards to suffering. There's more to it than that.