I don´t believe that there is such a thing as permanent enlightenment. All human beings can have moments of enlightenment. But the human brain is a highly flexable organ, so an 'enlightened brain' that doesn´t 'practice enlightenment' anymore, will at some point loose it.

There have been some debates about what the word enlightenement means and whether it exists. Most people here don´t believe that it can actually be achieved, but i think that this is because of how most people define enlightenment.

To me enlightenment doesn´t have any mystical, supernatural or otherwise outlandish dimension. I define it as a state of mind where you can let go of ego-related issues and act in an unselfish manner. Everybody can experience this and i think that most people have had such moments of a total lack of selfishness.

There are different degrees of selfishness. There is the simple degree of egotism, narcissism or egoism. A more difficult form of selfishness is not being able to accept that your views of the world are being shaped by the limitations of your own mind.

I believe that a human being can be freed from all forms of selfishness though. Even the manifestations of selfishness that are hard to detect and that are mostly hidden to yourself. But even the greatest persons on this planet have their moments of weakness. No-one can be totally unselfish all the time.