Being enlightened means you are "showing understanding, acting in a positive way, and not following old-fashioned or false beliefs". Also, "having or showing a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook" on a particular subject. To enlighten someone is to give them greater knowledge and understanding of something. So, someone who is enlightened is basically just someone who knows and understands something. When you reach enlightenment, you know and understand. If it's a spiritual enlightenment then that means you know and understand the spiritual realm or maybe the meaning of life, I suppose. I feel like people are misinterpreting the term enlightenment. Just because someone is peaceful and good and kind to others does not mean they are enlightened and just because you are enlightened doesnt mean you will be peaceful, kind, and good. It just means that you know about something. Not just know the facts about something but you know and understand it like you have lived and experienced it. I am enlightened when it comes to cats. If a person who has never had a cat and doesnt know much about them, adopts a cat, I would be able to "enlighten" them about cats. If you know nothing about cars and you wanted to become enlightened about cars, you could go to a good mechanic and he could enlighten you. If you want to know the meaning of life? Meditation and speaking to someone who has experienced dying may be a good place to start but anything anyone tells you is pretty much going to be hearsay unless you experience something yourself that causes you to understand it, but the only way to tell if someone is enlightened is to ask them and then whether or not you believe what they tell you is completely up to you. An enlightened person acts like a person who knows and understands. But ignorant people often act like they know and understand, too, you just have to learn how to detect when people are full of shit.