Jack--"" Both are cherished episodes of transcendence from material concerns in their respective mythic traditions and are, therefore, analogous as far as those traditions can be analogous. It was you who drew the comparison - I was just pointing out how very different they actually are." "

Here I will try get you up to speed and as easy to understand as I can. What you typed there is irrelevant,not trying to be a smart arse just we could get bogged down.
                "Spiritual" Enlightenment is when a human being experiences pure consciousness. When experienced all realise that consciousness is not quite how most of us think it is. I'm getting no more descriptive than that except to say it feels like home. It is so familiar that it feels more like rediscovery than discovery.Are we born in this state ? I dont know.
                  To experience this the bodies of Christ or Buddha will of gone through a physical process. The physical process has been mapped to some degree and labelled kundalini. I'm going to give you a link but ignore the terminology they use like "Spirituality" and words like Chakra,as they have baggage, what you have to do is see past this. Dispassionately look to the process mapped. People go through this process without knowing about "Chakras" or being spiritual. Far healthier imo is to view it as the intelligence of the body,but this deep intelligence is stopped from happening because of our conscious thought. Your conscious thought needs to be stilled long enough for your body to do its thing. It is very subtle when it starts most of the time but gets very unsubtle as it progresses . Part through it, the brain starts to resonate (for the want of a better term) differently and it is quite intense. When you have reached this state visions,demons,angels,aliens,leprechauns, fairies etc is imagined and a host of other phenomena.This is a truly fascinating state but you can't indulge it as after a period of time all this delusion stops. I and many others think this is us navigating our subconscious and a lot of it is culturally implanted. Once you and the intelligence that is your subconscious has been navigated/ stilled your brain kicks up another level and you see reality and it is experienced as Heaven,Nirvana,Bliss etc..enlightenment.
                  The period of delusion experienced has gotten mixed up in a lot of religions which hasn't always been helpfull to us.There is no one right way,many tribes and people have had no religion,there are many paths grasshopper 8) Wasn't it you who posted that you had started tai chi the last time I was reading here... a few months back. If I'm mistaken well never mind,but if I'm right google Tai Chi and enlightenment. Tai Chi seems a very gentle healthy way of exploring this. Warning though sometimes it can be a long drawn out affair that can be a serious problem for a while.
                Your probably going to think this a crock of shite but remember many many people from every generation go through this and always have.It needs addressing and we need Science to go after it to clear it up as much as it can,because it's not going to go away. The God helmet (google it) might of been a way to start understanding this as it seems to trigger part of the kundalini process phenomena, but no real hard data as yet.No one is going to be told this,but by studying the process it is a way of starting to understand it,once understood look for it in all religions, traditions,practices and it's there. Ignore labels, imagery, conclusions,look for the process. Written far more than I wanted and skimmed over a lot, but any further chat is fruitless.If you're interested you will make your own enquiry.
Rgrds
          Don't know if it was intentional but your reply to Pete, Dave, was back of the net,also the 40 days in the desert episode which was Jesus raising the kundalini.
          Busy all next week so that's me done.GL... Was that a "Thank Christ for that ! from DtG I hear 8)

--kundalini link,not that informative but it's a starting point...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini