It's pretty impossible to describe enlightenment in any other way. I blame the primitiveness of our languages. It definitely feels like con, but is also a hilarious "cosmic" joke. It's not that "mystics" obscure the issue on purpose, but the ones you regularly criticize use that ambiguity to mislead their followers for their personal gain. However, those folks would not know the truth even if it bit them in their asses. I guess, there are indeed "mystics" that use deception in order to hasten the process of knowing in their "pupils", but I'm not a fan of those methods as they interfere with personal autonomy (and are pretty risky for the "pupil"). And of course, first and foremost, I'm no "mystic" :D

Naturally, there's a distinction between potential and realization. It's the realization. So, it may be said that there is gain and that gain is knowledge. But it's basically only loss of illusion (another ambiguity LOL) -- before one knows, one believes and imagines. Sometimes pretty wild things that have no basis in reality. Afterward one knows. But that "knowledge" is revealed to be in our faces all along, we just literally don't pay attention to it, because it's so obvious. It's like suddenly realizing one has hands, even though one already uses them all their life.

And yes, if we were all brought up by "enlightened" parents in "enlightened" society, there would be absolutely no need for Buddhism (or any other strain of the same).