It's all part of the journey IMHO. We get an idea of what enlightenment is, it sounds exciting and alluring, so we read and research and find out how to 'get there'. The books, helpful to some extent as they are, do end up creating some confusion as the methods appear to be contradictory with myriad subtleties. You should do this but not that, and behave this way, but not that way. Then like many religious texts the messages get (mis)interpreted by people and beliefs start to emerge which muddy the waters.

I still see it as a path because we can expand our knowing, and one of the early lessons I found was that I had to read about enlightenment to realise that I didn't need to read about it. It just becomes another goal or acheievment for your mind/ego to get stuck into which is ironic really.

I agree with tatt, that it's not something to attain, it's already there. IMO it encompasses everything and is what we are. As a wise man once said "To understand what we are, we have to understand what we're not."