No. It’s actually much harder to awaken if you’re privileged, that is, if you’re having a good dream. Being privileged in this context just means being loved, respected, looked up to, having good relationships, many friends etc. It’s much harder. It is most certainly possible, but if you’re having a good dream, you just don’t have the incentive. It’s quite comfortable for the ego, it gets the validation it craves. There are some examples of “privileged” people who have awakened, one is Jim Carrey, but he had struggled with depression all his life, in spite of being a successful and loved actor. Life was very hard for him. Internal life and how one is viewed by others often times don’t match.

Historically, most people who awakened either tried everything in life and came to a point where nothing satisfies any more, like Gautama, or were having a pretty bad dream, like Tolle. I was having a pretty bad dream myself, I always liked people more than they liked me, it was pretty much the story of my life. I also never understood the cruelty, and in Samsara, if you don’t understand the cruelty, people will be cruel to you. There’s not much choice there, really - you’re either cruel or being cruel to, that’s the difference between happy people and unhappy people. Happy people think “I’m better”, unhappy people think “I’m worse”. Subconsciously, of course, it’s all the same and deep down ego still thinks it’s much better than all these cruel people and hates them for their cruelty, but it’s much harder to start questioning everything when on the surface you are content.

So the way I see it, there are only 3 situations in life which you must approach before you can truly, authentically awaken:

The yearning to know the truth that is so strong that it can be said to be above your own life

The extreme level of suffering

When all is tried and tired in life - failures were had, successes were had, loves found, loves lost, everything was tried and there’s no desire to try anything else because happiness never came from any of it

My situation was the combination of 2 and 3, which then led to 1. Notice that in all three scenarios, life presents you with a sort of an impasse - there’s nowhere left to go, but inwards. That’s when it happens. For as long as the external things in life are still appealing, you will never wake up.

It’s like having a night dream in which something cool and interesting going on. You can even be lucid dreaming and know it’s not real, but for as long as you’re entertained, you will not open your eyes. If it’s a nightmare, the chance is much greater.

So, it has nothing to do with privilege, no.

Now, whether one travels the road from awakening to enlightenment is another matter. Sometimes it happens, more often it doesn’t.