"All the world's a stage..."

There is a place of peace within each of us which remains ever still,  simply observing the drama of life unfold.  At some point, somehow, by sheer Grace, we are gifted the experience of it.  And so begins the Process for which we were born.

The start of the journey is simply this: the dawning of awareness that such a space of Stillness even exists in us.

The next stage is occupied with Doing.  We choose things which resonate with our hearts: how we come into that space, what we do to reach it...worship, practices, ceremony, becoming a chela, a devotee. At first, we "get there" just for snippets of consciousness, milliseconds of time.  We begin to sip the tiniest sips of the Divine Nectar.  All we want is to get Drunk on it, but we recognize that we are not yet properly conditioned.  We are like budding athletes-we know we have to train hard for the Big Event.

So, we enter the next phase of the journey, which is occupied with discipline and tempering of the steel of our spirits, and control of our mind.  We find we begin to linger more in that internal cocoon.  We see our life shift. Many distractions drop away.  The usual material goals become meaningless. What we long for most is that deep "peace that passeth understanding" and Union with The Source of All Things.  Oh how we long. Nothing seems to fill the void and stem the craving. The more we drink the nectar, the more we want.  We are like crazed addicts.

And then, one day, just like that, all desire leaves us. Impartially, we watch even that go. We are now Ready.

The culmination of the journey is this: the recognition that the journey itself was a mirage...all of it! However, paradoxically, it was of vital importance, for without it, we could not see through it.  We laugh and laugh and laugh at the absurdity of it all.  We laugh so much, the yet-blind ones call us "mad", which only makes us laugh some more. 

At last, we SEE: we never were anything but that which we sought.  We come Home to our true Self and see for the first time that we were There all along.  The Union was always Complete.  And now, all that remains is Bliss.  

The culmination of the journey is Being.