Enlightenment

Most of this week I have been helping my parents prepare for the winter by cutting up and splitting several dead trees on their property, so preparing a post for my blog this week has been a real challenge. I have read several things and I also have a couple of DVD's which mention the subject of enlightenment. Have you ever heard about people becoming enlightened?  It almost sounds like some kind of mystical mental state.  Or maybe it is some kind of awareness or special perception, I don't know, the material I have seems to find it hard to describe what it actually is.  I guess it's like a catch-22, we can't tell you what it's like, but you'll know when you get there.  Is there really some deeper truth about reality that years and years of meditation reveals?  The book I'm reading seems to indicate that that is the case.  It does mention seven attributes of enlightenment: mindfulness, effort, investigation, rapture, concentration, tranquility, and equanimity.  It suggests that these are areas of your life/brain that need to be cultivated in order to achieve enlightenment. But I was a little disappointed in these areas, I guess I was expecting something more exciting.  Ok rapture and tranquility would be great, but the other areas just seem pretty plain.  I have often heard, however, that the simplest answer is usually the right one.  They also somewhat fail to describe what a state of enlightenment actually is.  As near as I can tell, it is a point where you have mastered your thoughts and emotions, to the point where you are now in control.  You have also cultivated circuits in your brain that effectively generate bliss.  Who wouldn't want that?  I've also read that it takes approximately ten thousand hours of practice to master anything. At an hour a day that would take approximately 27 years.  That's not so bad to actually achieve enlightenment, is it?