Stephen Hawking was considered an enlightened individual. Do you think he was content or happy, at peace? I doubt it... Only the love of God can truly satisfy the human soul. Enlightenment is just wisdom. If you gave people a choice between love and wisdom, they would undoubtedly choose love. That is why the new age is so appealing. People are trying to fill the void of love with wisdom and answers that only love can fill. Only Gods love... The Bible teaches that Gods love is the ultimate fulfillment and salvation for man. New Age ideas emphasize wisdom and enlightenment as the ultimate pursuit and destination and though this is profitable and beneifical it is empty at the end of the day. You can be as wise and enlightened as they come, but still without Gods love to sustain your soul you are empty on the inside. I never went away feeling content or fulfilled immersing myself in vain literature. In fact the most I ever felt alive was when love was present in my situation. It speaks to a reality about human nature and what our soul was designed to need. Its the love of God....
Well that would explain why Buddhism speaks of the "two accumulations", compassion and wisdom. Both are essential elements of the path and need to be cultivated. In fact with real wisdom compassion naturally follows, having insight into the true nature of reality we naturally behave in a way which is beneficial to our fellow beings. Of course this isn't necessarily what the world labels "'love", which is sometimes lust, sometimes sentiment, sometimes self-delusion. We have to learn how to really love, and this is a long process.
The Sutras are far different from the literature of the "New Age", which is at best diluted and at worst completely misguided or even created with bad intent.
And as for Stephen Hawking, he was just a person with a lot of intellectual knowledge, not a person who would be considered Enlightened by Buddhists.
I've considered vipassana before. Have you ever try Ayahuasca? I came very close to take part of the ceremony but of course I founded Christ before that happened.
If you really knew as much about Buddhism as you are claiming on another thread, you would have a very solid idea of what Vipassana is. I note that you haven't responded to that thread, so I will ask you a question here. How exactly did you achieve the apparent "high state of meditation" you claim to have reached? Did you make a three or seven year silent retreat? A Bardo retreat? Many hours of daily practise? Because you are making a claim to have reached some high level of Buddhist practise, so I assume you put in the efforts required to attain such a level?