Is enlightenment actually a mental illness? Feeling detached to everything, is it something we should actually strive for? Or is it because I don't really know what enlightenment is really about?

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If I had to consider it close to anything, it would be to what is now referred to in the DSM as Cluster B personality disorders, which specifically afflict the part of the brain responsible for relating to others.

But while “new” enlightenment could be considered a disorder by those not familiar with the condition, enlightenment is not pervasive.

Pervasive is when pretty much everything tends to get turned around to serve the disorder. The non-dual perspective is crazy and weird, but it’s ultimately under control of the being. He just chooses whether and how to express everything.

The detached aspect of enlightenment refers to lack of identification. An enlightened person can engage with things, but the engagement is typically brief and only lasts long enough to drive some result.

If you told me I’m a bad person because I don’t donate 10% of my income to charity, I would not be affected by this judgment at all. Most people would immediately get defensive, because they identify as a good person and want to be seen that way.

Instead I share with clinical psychopathy the trait that those feelings cast by that judgmental person onto me have about as much affect as losing a game of ping pong. I might appear to get defensive, but that’s just my practiced method for having conversations, appearing to not care about what others think about me is something I’ve learned is counter-productive. But as soon as the conversation is over with, I forget about it.

You arrive at enlightenment through the process of focused and continued surrender. Non-duality is simply constant surrender. You surrender thoughts as soon as they arise. But surrender itself produces positive personality traits, not negative ones. Anyone can do it, not just Buddhists. Christians in particular have their own method of practicing surrender. The popular A Course In Miracles is a methodology of reaching enlightenment through focused surrender.

You cannot reach any psychiatric disorder through any sort of practice. The conditions are in-born or result from actual physical damage to the brain. Personality disorders foul up the mind and make it difficult to surrender properly

Enlightenment has another component, consciousness growth. It takes an extremely large and well-developed consciousness to maintain a non-dual perspective. The ego is clinged to like a crutch, enlightenment tosses away the crutch and forces you relearn how to walk. This isn’t a problem for enlightened people that have learned to acclimate to the condition, in fact, it presents opportunities for unique experience.