Enlightenment, so-called or otherwise

I received an email asking:

What do you think about the so called enlightened people – Osho, Ramana Maharishi, …. (list becomes dubios)..? Do you think there are altered states of consciousness where the ‘existential angst’ and ‘metaphysical uncertainties’ vanish and a state of tranquility and certainty prevails?

My reply:

‘Existential angst’ and ‘metaphysical uncertainties’ vanish, or do not even exist, in ignorance. Tranquility does not require certainty to prevail. Absence of extraordinary consciousness and sensibility to one's environment is good enough for quietude.

From the earliest times to the end of mankind, there would be some who would earnestly want to understand life, and therefore, death, and unavoidably, the meaning of the in-between. For some of these men, it becomes an earnest endeavour, which they pursue with questionable and differing results. Some, taking advantage of the prevailing gullibility and need for anchors among fellow human beings, for not comprehending life and its purport, make it their vocation to pander half-baked views; most of those in this so-called 'enlightened' profession are exploitative charlatans.

Very few, very very few indeed, can understand life in terms of absolutes, in terms of relativity and connectivity. And out of their own intrinsic honesty, they find only meaninglessness, so much so that they lose motivation to spread their message, because even that would be meaningless and futile.