Personally I think the word "Enlightened" sounds a tad presumptious but more importantly has too many religious connotations as well as an aura of exclusiveness. Don't get me wrong, I agree with SG that it's the most awesome and important thing in the universe, I just find that the word itself seems to do more harm than good.

In order to be constructive I'd like to offer two alternatives, one of my own and one that an enlightened woman who is very relaxed used.

My contribution: Ego-deprived

Enlightened womans contribution: Totally normal

I also like the expressions "ditched the split" or "flipped the switch".

I have been reading about de-personalisation / de-realisation disorder recently - DP/DR which is a recognised medical condition which bears some similarities to the basic awakened condition and maybe a term based on that like

Liberated DPDR, or sane DPDR , or healthy DPDR maybe?

or just full time non-dual perception, or non-dual awareness (which seems to be starting to be used in science literature) is good I think.

I agree that the terms like enlightenment & awakening are too loaded. However there is a more basic problem - that even if you explain the condition of perceptual non-duality to someone, without using the E-word, they still become scared/offended, just because the concept of it is terrifying to the 'self'.

Agreed 100%. I find it fascinating (and somewhat sad) to see how peoples ego's immediatly go into self-defense mode no matter how the subject is being discussed. It seems as if even when the 'conscious' part of the ego can't understand the subject, the defenses still go up.

This is basically why I've all but stopped talking about the issue completely unless the person is quite obviously not just interested but willing to let go of the idea of separation. Considering my context, living in the worlds least spiritual country, this makes my social interactions limited, which happens to suit me fine at this time.

Maybe just "Liberated" would be a good substitution? It has positive (but still mildly threatening/radical connotations) and is not usually connected to religion or spirituality...

Namaste